Native American Skies: Pawnee Morning Star Ritual, Part 4

Skidi Pawnee Sacred Bundle

There is no “visible” Big Black Star in the night sky so why did the Pawnee name it “Black” Star?  There are numerous references where the Pawnee called the star “The Big Black Meteoric Star” or referenced a Sacred Bundle as “The Big Black Star Meteoric Bundle”.   Astronomer, Von Del Chamberlain, speculated that a meteorite may have fallen from the part of the sky near Vega (thought to be the Big Black Star).  Since meteorites are black soon after they hit the earth, the Pawnee may have taken it to be a message from the star.  Sacred Owlwolf posted a story on “nativeartsculture” which he credits his “great aunt Sini Rain Drops Caller” for telling him.  It is the story of “Osage Sky-Seeing” who saw a falling star one night and found it the next morning.   The meteorite spoke to him in his dreams and told him that it had come from “a star that stands in the heavens a little to the east, but south.”  Although, the meteorite that belonged to Osage Sky-Seeing is not the same one associated with Big Black Star, it illustrates how the Pawnee might have associated a meteorite as a messenger from a star and named it accordingly.

As discussed in Part 3, each Pawnee village had a “Sacred Bundle” that contained those things used for their ceremonies and rituals.   The Sacred Bundle for the Big Black Star contained a buckskin map with painted stars on it and represented a detailed map of the sky.   It is not an accurate reproduction of the night sky according the Ray A. Williamson (Living the Sky) but, rather, “it was likely to be more important to the Pawnee to paint the crucial constellations as they understood them from their corpus of myths.  In use, I suspect that the chart served to remind the owner of the bundle and his intimates of the stellar patterns and their stories.”

Skidi Pawnee buckskin Sky Chart

So, what is on the Pawnee Star Chart?  Again, from Williamson, “The North Star, whose name in Pawnee is literally, “the Star That Does Not Walk Around,” they compared to the god Tirawahat.  North Star was chief over all the other stars and saw to it that they did not lose their way. … Rotating around the north star and nearest to it were the groups of stars that represented stretchers.  According to the myth, in the first council, when decisions were being made about where the various gods would stand in the sky, two people became ill.  The stars placed them on stretchers in order to carry them along.  They still journey in the sky, traveling continually about the Star That Does Not Walk Around, and serving as a pattern for humans.  The stretchers are the bowls of the Big and Little Dippers.  The stars that follow (that is, the respective handles) are the Medicine Man, his wife, and Errand Man.

“The chart is divided roughly in half by a series of small painted dots and tiny crosses that represent the Milky Way.  … the Pawnee … considered it the road to the world of the dead.  … Near the center of the chart and below the Milky Way is a large circle of eleven stars called the Council of the Chiefs, who were in the sky to watch over the people.

“… Opposite the Council of chiefs on the other side of the Milky Way is the Pleiades, a compact group of six stars.  The priests used the appearance of the Pleiades, as seen through the lodge smoke hole just after sunset in early spring, to establish the time for planting ceremonies.

“…The arrival of spring … was watched for in the skies by the heliacal appearance of the two stars called the Swimming Ducks.  These were identified by the astronomer Ray Moulton as the stars Lambda and Upsilon Scorpio, which form the stinger of the Western constellation Scorpius.”

James R Murie, whose mother was Pawnee, explained, “The time for the ceremonies of the Evening Star bundle was primarily determined by the recurrence of the thunder in the spring; but it should be understood that it was not at the very first sound of the thunder that the ceremony was held, for it might have thundered at any time.  The approximate time was fixed by the appearance of two small twinkling stars (the Swimming Ducks) in the northeastern [sic: this should read southeastern] horizon near the Milky Way.  When low, deep, rumbling thunder was heard, starting in the west and rolling around the entire circuit of the heavens, then it was time for the Thunder Ritual to be recited.”

The Swimming Ducks were on the star chart near the Milky Way.  To the right was what the Pawnee called the snake, which was the body of the Western constellation Scorpius.  The rolling thunder was symbolic of Tirawahat’s messenger Paruxti telling the Pawnee that life was renewed and the ceremony signified the beginning of the year for the Pawnee and a tribute to the gods.

 

This is not all of the stars depicted on the buckskin Star Chart.  Many of the others have not been identified.  But, there is no question that they also served as sacred reminders of the special relationship the Pawnee had with star gods of the night sky.

 

Link to Part 1

Link to Part 2

Link to Part 3

-- Courtney Miller

Native American Skies: Pawnee Morning Star Ritual, Part 2

Morning of Spring Equinox, 1838. 
Mars (Morning Star) is rising and chasing
 Venus (Evening Star)  higher and to the right
[captured from Starry Night software]

In part 1, I presented the last known Pawnee Morning Star Ritual involving human sacrifice – the sacrificing of Haxti, an Oglala Sioux teenager captured specifically for the ritual.  It is difficult for us to understand why anyone would do such a seemingly cruel and violent act.  In this article, I will try to give the Pawnee side.

According to Ray A. Williamson, in his book “Living the Sky”, “The practice of sacrifice to Morning Star was part of the rites of the Skidi band of the Pawnee, a group that had developed a unique relationship to the stars.  Of all the Native American groups, no one had developed such an intricate and direct affinity to the stars.  For them, the stars were kindred souls; they took much of the direction of their life from the sky.”

James R. Murie, whose mother was Skidi Pawnee, wrote, “Over all is Tirawa (or Tirawahat), the One Above, changeless and supreme.  From Tirawa comes all things: Tirawa made the heavens and the stars.

“In the west dwelt the White Star Woman, the Evening Star, who must be sought and overcome that creation might be achieved.  From the east went forth the Great Star, the Morning Star, to find and overcome the Evening Star, that creation might be achieved.  The Morning star called to his younger brother: “Take the Sacred Bundle, bear it over thy shoulder and follow.”  And the Morning Star journeyed to the west.  As ever as he journeyed, the Evening Star moved, came and drew him towards her.  (For men may see how the Evening Star moves nightly.  One night she is low in the heavens, another night she is high in the heavens.  Even so she moved and drew the Morning Star.)  Yet when the Evening Star beheld the Morning Star draw near, she placed in his path Hard Things to hinder his approach.  Thus, even as the Morning Star first saw the Evening Star, she rose and looked on him and beckoned him.  He started towards her, but the earth opened and waters swept down, and in waters was a serpent with mouth wide opened to devour.”

Mars (Morning Star) catches up to
Venus (Evening Star) July 23, 1838
[From Starry Night program]

Morning Star [Mars] defeated the serpent by throwing a fireball into its mouth.  But then Evening Star [Venus] put up nine more “hardships” to discourage him which he also defeated.  When he finally reached her lodge, he had to defeat four beasts guarding the four directions.  Again from Murie, “And the Morning Star spoke [to the stars] and said, “I have conquered, and ye shall obey my command.  Thou, black Star, shalt stand in the northeast, whence cometh night.  Thou art Autumn.  Thou, Yellow Star, shalt stand in the northwest, where is the golden setting of the sun.  Thou art Spring.  Thou, White Star, shalt stand in the south, facing north, whence cometh the snow.  Thou art Winter.  Thou, Red Star, shalt stand in the southeast.  Thou art Summer.”

But Evening Star was not ready to relent to Morning Star and placed more “hardships” before him.  He even had to create the rain and the sun to provide water, light, and heat for her garden.  When, at last, Evening Star submitted to Morning Star, their maiden child descended to earth and married a boy and their children peopled the earth.

Astronomer Von Del Chamberlain suggests that the details of the capture and preparation of a maiden for sacrifice is all part of the symbolic re-enactment of the original conquering acts of Morning Star, as seen in the heavens.  The ritual ceremony was critical to ensure the fertility of the earth for planting and the abundance of buffalo for hunting.

In Part 3, I will explain how the Pawnee used their knowledge of the stars to guide their lives.

 

Link back to Part 1

 

-- Courtney Miller