Native American Skies: Lunar Standstill at Chimney Rock

During the month, the moon rises at different points across the eastern horizon.  When it reaches the farthest point north it pauses, or rises in the same spot for a couple of days, and then reverses course.  This pause is called a “Lunar Standstill”.  The same thing happens two weeks later at its farthest point south.   You may have noticed that the sun does the same thing, but it takes the sun a year to move from its farthest point north (Summer Solstice) to its farthest point south (Winter Solstice) and back again.  At each solstice, the sun pauses before reversing course and this is called a Solar Standstill. 

[refer to last week’s article: Native American Skies: Lunar Standstill]

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Native American Skies: Perceiving Spring

Native American Skies: Perceiving Spring

 

Twice a year, a day comes along where the length of daylight equals the length of darkness.  Today we call that day the “equinox”.  We recognize the vernal equinox as the first day of spring and the autumnal equinox as the first day of fall.  These two days have always been important indicators for man since even ancient times.

Before Europeans came to America, Native Americans did not have bankers, insurance agents, or real estate agents so where did they get their calendars?  How did they know when spring or fall arrived?  They had someone more important to them than our bankers or agents are to us, they had astronomers.

 

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--Courtney Miller