Lore of the Seven Sisters

• Three biblical references refer to the Pleiades (here quoted from the New American Standard Version):

  Job 9:7-9

  Who commands the sun not to shine,
  And sets a seal upon the stars;
  Who alone stretches out the heavens,
  And tramples down the waves of the sea;
  Who makes the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades,
  And the chambers of the south.

  Job 38:31-33

  Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
  Or loose the chords of Orion?
  Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
  And guide the Bear with her satellites?
  Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
  Or fix their rule over the earth?

  Amos 5:8

  He who made the Pleiades and Orion
  And changes deep darkness into morning,
  Who also darkens day into night,
  Who calls for water of the sea
  And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
  The Lord is His name.

• Greek mythology of the Pleiades

• The Western Mono Indians saw in the Pleiades 6 wives who ate onions and were thrown off their huts by angry husbands. They wandered off to the sky and became the Pleiades. Later the husbands felt lonely and sorry and looked for their wives, but they were never found again.

• The Navajo Indians tell the legend of the Flint Boys.

.. more to come soon ..

Last Modification: 28 Oct 1999, 23:30 MET