2.5: Native American Stories
Native American Stories
Native Americans have wonderful stories about the night skies and constellations. The Yakima Tribe, from what is today central Washington state, saw Cassiopeia as a stretched, drying elk skin. Cherokees saw two bright stars in today’s Canis Major — the great dog — as two dogs guarding the path to the land of souls. That path indicated by the Cherokee? The Milky Way. And, according to the East Coast Mesquakie Tribe and the Great Lakes Iroquois Tribe, the bowl stars of the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major (the Big Bear) form a bear, with the stars of the Big Dipper’s handles as hunters. (1)
- Authored by : Florida State College at Jacksonville. License : CC BY: Attribution