Reachable stars patterns in the ethnoastronomy of eastern North America - Lankford, George E. (University of Alabama Press, 2007)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-297) and index
Four ethnoastronomies -- The star husband -- The morning stars -- The morning star of the Winnebago -- Stars in the north : bears, biers, and boats -- The star cluster -- The star women -- The path through the stars -- The starry hand -- The serpent in the stars -- Some ethnoastronomical insights
Modern Westerners say the lights in the sky are stars, but culturally they are whatever we humans say they are. Some say they are Forces that determine human lives, some declare they are burning gaseous masses, and some see them as reminders of a gloried past by which elders can teach and guide the young & mdash;mnemonics for narratives. Lankford's volume focuses on the ancient North Americans and the ways they identified, patterned, ordered, and used the stars to light their culture and illuminate their traditions. They knew them as regions that could be visited by human spirits, and so the lig