Myths about Stars

While many civilizations developed associated myths with various combinations of stars in the sky, some also associated specific stars with their myths. The stories below provide a mix of stories about stars and star groups from various cultures around the world.
This is a Pawnee Indian shown in ceremonial dress. The Pawnee people were one of the largest and most powerful of the Native American groups.  They, like many indigenous groups, had a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy.  They also had many stories (myths) that connected their people to the natural world.<p><small><em> Image is now in public domain.  It was originally published by Powell, J. W. <i>Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology - Part 2.</i> Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904.</em></small></p>The Pleiades (Tianquiztli) are portrayed in the upper left of this image. Other symbols represent other constellations, a meteor, the sun, the moon, and eclipses. From the Primeros Memoriales, a sixteenth-century colonial manuscript compiled by Fray Bernardino de Sahagun.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of David Carrasco and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. University Press of Colorado, 1992. </em></small></p>

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