THE PLEIADES.
Among the most remarkable of the constellations is a group of seven
stars arranged in a kind of triangular cluster, and known as the
Pleiades. It is not, strictly speaking, one of the constellations, as it
forms only part of one. We have seen that one of the ancient signs of
the zodiac is the Bull, or Taurus; the group of stars we are now
speaking of forms part of this, lying towards the eastern part in the
shoulders of the Bull. The Pleiades scarcely escape anybody's
observation now, and we shall not be, therefore, surprised that they
have always attracted great attention. So great indeed has been the
attention paid to them that festivals and seasons, calendars and years,
have by many nations been regulated by their rising or culmination, and
they have been thus more mixed up with the early history of astronomy,
and have left more marks on the records of past nations, than any other
celestial object, except the sun and moon.
The interesting details of the history of the Pleiades have been very
carefully worked out by R. G. Haliburton, F.S.A., to whom we owe the
greater part of the information we possess on the subject.[1]
Let us first explain what may be observed with respect to the Pleiades.
It is a group possessing peculiar advantages for observation; it is a
compact group, the whole will appear at once; and it is an unmistakable
group and it is near the equator, and is therefore visible to observers
in either hemisphere.
Now suppose the sun to be in the same latitude as the Pleiades on some
particular day; owing to the proximity of the group to the ecliptic, it
will be then very near the sun, and it will set with it and be invisible
during the night. If the sun were to the east of the Pleiades they would
have already set, and the first view of the heavens at sunset would not
contain this constellation; and so it would be so long as the sun was to
the east, or for nearly half a year; though during some portion of this
time it would rise later on in the night. During the other half year,
while the sun was to the west, the Pleiades would be visible at sunset,
and we immediately see how they are thus led to divide the whole year
into two portions, one of which might be called _the Pleiades below_,
and the other _the Pleiades above_. It is plain that the Pleiades first
become visible at sunset, when they are then just rising, in which case
they will culminate a little after midnight (not at midnight, on account
of the twilight) and be visible all night. This will occur when the sun
is about half a circle removed from them--that is, at this time, about
the beginning of November; which would thus be the commencement of one
half of the year, the other half commencing in May. The culmination of
the Pleiades at midnight takes place a few days later, when they rise at
the time that the sun is really on the horizon, in which case they are
exactly opposite to it; and this will happen on the same day all over
the earth. The opposite effect to this would be when the sun was close
to the Pleiades--a few days before which the latter would be just
setting after sunset, and a few days after would be just rising before
sunrise.
[1] Mr. Haliburton's observations are contained in an interesting
pamphlet, entitled _New Materials for the History of Man_, which
is quoted by Prof. Piazzi Smyth, but which is not easy to obtain.
It may be seen, however, in the British Museum.
We have thus the following observations, that might be made with respect
to this, or any other well-marked constellation. First, the period
during which it was visible at sunset; secondly, the date of its
culmination at midnight; thirdly, its setting in the evening; and
fourthly, its rising in the morning: the last two dates being nearly six
months removed from the second. There are also the dates of its
culmination at sunrise and sunset, which would divide these intervals
into two equal halves. On account of the precession of the equinoxes,
as explained in the last chapter, the time at which the sun has any
particular position with respect to the stars, grows later year by year
in relation to the equinoctial points. And as we regulate our year by
the date of the sun's entrance on the northern hemisphere, the sidereal
dates, as we may call them, keep advancing on the months. As, however,
the change is slow, it has not prevented years being commenced and
husbandry being regulated by the dates above mentioned. Any date that is
regulated by the stars we might expect to be nearly the same all over
the world, and the customs observed to be universal, though the date
itself might alter, and in this way. So long as the date was directly
obtained from the position of the star, all would agree; but as soon as
a solar calendar was arranged, and it was found that at that time this
position coincided with a certain day, say the Pleiades culminating at
midnight on November 17, then some would keep on the date November 17 as
the important day, even when the Pleiades no longer culminated at
midnight then, and others would keep reckoning by the stars, and so have
a different date.
With these explanations we shall be able to recognise how much the
configurations of the Pleiades have had to do with the festivals and
calendars of nations, and have even left their traces on customs and
names in use among ourselves to the present day.
We have evidences from two very different quarters of the universality
of the division of the year into two parts by means of the Pleiades. On
the one hand we learn from Hesiod that the Greeks commenced their winter
seasons in his days by the setting of the Pleiades in the morning, and
the summer season by their rising at that time. And Mr. Ellis, in his
_Polynesian Researches_, tells us that "the Society Islanders divided
the year into two seasons of the Pleiades, or _Matarii_. The first they
called _Matarii i nia_, or the _Pleiades above_. It commenced when, in
the evening, these stars appeared at or near the horizon, and the half
year during which, immediately after sunset, they were seen above the
horizon was called _Matarii i nia_. The other season commenced when at
sunset these stars are invisible, and continued until at that time they
appeared again above the horizon. This season was called _Matarii i
raro_, i.e. _the Pleiades below_." Besides these direct evidences we
shall find that many semi-annual festivals connected with these stars
indicate the commencement of the two seasons among other nations.
One of these festivals was of course always taken for the commencement
of the year, and much was made of it as new-year's day. A new-year's
festival connected with and determined by the Pleiades appears to be one
of the most universal of all customs; and though some little difficulty
arises, as we have already pointed out, in fixing the date with
reference to solar calendars, and differences and coincidences in this
respect among different nations may be to a certain extent accidental,
yet the fact of the wide-spread observance of such a festival is certain
and most interesting.
The actual observance at the present day of this festival is to be found
among the Australian savages. At their midnight culmination in November,
they still hold a new-year's _corroboree_, in honour of the
_Mormodellick_, as they call the Pleiades, which they say are "very good
to the black fellows." With them November is somewhat after the
beginning of spring, but in former days it would mark the actual
commencement, and the new year would be regulated by the seasons.
In the northern hemisphere this culmination of the Pleiades has the same
relation to the autumnal equinox, which would never be taken as the
commencement of the year; and we must therefore look to the southern
hemisphere for the origin of the custom; especially as we find the very
Pleiades themselves called _Vergiliae_, or stars of spring. Of course we
might suppose that the rising of the constellation in the _morning_ had
been observed in the northern hemisphere, which would certainly have
taken place in the beginning of spring some 5,000 years ago; but this
seems improbable, first, because it is unlikely that different phenomena
of the Pleiades should have been most noticed, and secondly, because
neither April nor May are among any nations connected with this
constellation by name. Whereas in India the year commenced in the month
they called _Cartiguey_, which means the Pleiades. Among the ancient
Egyptians we find the same connection between _Athar-aye_, the name of
the Pleiades, with the Chaldeans and Hebrews, and _Athor_ in the
Egyptian name of November. The Arabs also call the constellation
_Atauria_. We shall have more to say on this etymology presently, but in
the meantime we learn that it was the phenomenon connected with the
Pleiades at or about November that was noticed by all ancient nations,
from which we must conclude that the origin of the new-year's spring
festival came from the southern hemisphere.
There is some corroboration of this in the ancient traditions as to the
stars having changed their courses. In the southern hemisphere a man
standing facing the position of the sun at noon would see the stars rise
on his right hand and move towards his left. In the northern hemisphere,
if he also looked in the direction of the sun at noon, he would see them
rise on his left hand. Now one of a race migrating from one side to the
other of the equator would take his position from the sun, and fancy he
was facing the same way when he looked at it at noon, and so would think
the motion of the stars to have altered, instead of his having turned
round. Such a tradition, then, seems to have arisen from such a
migration, the fact of which seems to be confirmed by the calling the
Pleiades stars of spring, and commencing the year with their
culmination at midnight. In order to trace this new-year's festival into
other countries, and by this means to show its connection with the
Pleiades, we must remark that every festival has its peculiar features
and rites, and it is by these that we must recognise it, where the
actual date of its occurrence has slightly changed; bearing, of course,
in mind that the actual change of date must not be too great to be
accounted for by the precession of the equinoxes, or about seventy-one
years for each day of change, since the institution of the festival, and
that the change is in the right direction.
Now we find that everywhere this festival of the Pleiades' culmination
at midnight (or it may be of the slightly earlier one of their first
appearance at the horizon at apparent sunset) was always connected with
the memory of the dead. It was a "feast of ancestors."
Among the Australians themselves, the _corroborees_ of the natives are
connected with a worship of the dead. They paint a white stripe over
their arms, legs, and ribs, and, dancing by the light of their fires by
night, appear like so many skeletons rejoicing. What is also to be
remarked, the festival lasts three days, and commences in the evening;
the latter a natural result of the date depending on the appearance of
the Pleiades on the horizon at that time.
The Society Islanders, who, as we have seen, divided their year by the
appearance of the Pleiades at sunset, commenced their year on the first
day of the appearance, about November, and also celebrated the closing
of one and the opening of a new year by a "usage resembling much the
popish custom of mass for souls in purgatory," each man returning to his
home to offer special prayers for the spirits of departed relatives.
In the Tonga Islands, which belong to the Fiji group, the festival of
_Inachi_, a vernal first-fruits' celebration, and also a commemoration
of the dead takes place towards the end of October, and commences at
sunset.
In Peru the new-year's festival occurs in the beginning of November, and
is "called _Ayamarca_ from _aya_, a corpse, and _marca_, carrying in
arms, because they celebrated the solemn festival of the dead, with
tears, lugubrious songs, and plaintive music; and it was customary to
visit the tombs of relations, and to leave in them food and drink." The
fact that this took place at the time of the discovery of Peru on the
very same day as a similar ceremony takes place in Europe, was only an
accidental coincidence, which is all the more remarkable because the two
appear, as will be seen in the sequel, to have had the same origin, and
therefore at first the same date, and to have altered from it by exactly
the same amount. These instances from races south of the equator prove
clearly that there exists a very general connection with new-year's day,
as determined by the rising of the Pleiades at sunset, and a festival of
the dead; and in some instances with an offering of first-fruits. What
the origin of this connection may be is a more difficult matter. At
first sight one might conjecture that with the year that was passed it
was natural to connect the men that had passed away; and this may indeed
be the true interpretation: but there are traditions and observances
which may be thought by some to point to some ancient wide-spread
catastrophe which happened at this particular season, which they yearly
commemorated, and reckoned a new year from each commemoration. Such
traditions and observances we shall notice as we trace the spread of
this new-year's festival of the dead among various nations, and its
connection, with the Pleiades.
We have seen that in India November is called the month of the Pleiades.
Now on the 17th day of that month is celebrated the Hindoo Durga, a
festival of the dead, and said by Greswell to have been a new-year's
commemoration at the earliest time to which Indian calendars can be
carried back.
Among the ancient Egyptians the same day was very noticeable, and they
took care to regulate their solar calendars that it might remain
unchanged. Numerous altered calendars have been discovered, but they are
all regulated by this one day. This was determined by the culmination of
the Pleiades at midnight. On this day commenced the solemn festival of
the Isia, which, like the _corroborees_ of the Australians, lasted three
days, and was celebrated in honour of the dead, and of Osiris, the lord
of tombs. Now the month Athyr was undoubtedly connected with the
Pleiades, being that "in which the Pleiades are most distinct"--that
is, in which they rise near and before sunset. Among the Egyptians,
however, more attention was paid to astronomy than amongst the savage
races with which the year of the Pleiades would appear to have
originated, and they studied very carefully the connection between the
positions of the stars and the entrance of the sun into the northern
hemisphere, and regulated their calendar accordingly; as we shall see
shortly in speaking of the pyramid builders.
The Persians formerly called the month of November _Mordad_, the angel
of death, and the feast of the dead took place at the same time as in
Peru, and was considered a new-year's festival. It commenced also in the
evening.
In Ceylon a combined festival of agriculture and of the dead takes place
at the beginning of November.
Among the better known of the ancient nations of the northern
hemispheres, such as the Greeks and Romans, the anomaly of having the
beginning of the year at the autumnal equinox seems to have induced them
to make a change to that of spring, and with this change has followed
the festival of the dead, although some traces of it were left in
November.
The commemoration of the dead was connected among the Egyptians with a
deluge, which was typified by the priest placing the image of Osiris in
a sacred coffer or ark, and launching it out into the sea till it was
borne out of sight. Now when we connect this fact, and the celebration
taking place on the 17th day of Athyr, with the date on which the Mosaic
account of the deluge of Noah states it to have commenced, "in the
second month (of the Jewish year, which corresponds to November), the
17th day of the month," it must be acknowledged that this is no chance
coincidence, and that the precise date here stated must have been
regulated by the Pleiades, as was the Egyptian date. This coincidence is
rendered even stronger by the similiarity of traditions among the two
nations concerning the dove and the tree as connected with the deluge.
We find, however, no festival of the dead among the Hebrews; their
better form of faith having prevented it.
We have not as yet learnt anything of the importance of the Pleiades
among the ancient Babylonian astronomers, but as through their tablets
we have lately become acquainted with their version of the story of the
deluge, we may be led in this way to further information about their
astronomical appreciation of this constellation.
From whatever source derived, it is certain that the Celtic races were
partakers in this general culture, we might almost call it, of the
Pleiades, as shown by the time and character of their festival of the
dead. This is especially interesting to ourselves, as it points to the
origin of the superstitions of the Druids, and accounts for customs
remaining even to this day amongst us.
[Illustration: PLATE V.--THE LEGENDS OF THE DRUIDS.]
The first of November was with the Druids a night full of mystery, in
which they annually celebrated the reconstruction of the world. A
terrible rite was connected with this; for the Druidess nuns were
obliged at this time to pull down and rebuild each year the roof of
their temple, as a symbol of the destruction and renovation of the
world. If one of them, in bringing the materials for the new roof, let
fall her sacred burden, she was lost. Her companions, seized with a
fanatic transport, rushed upon her and tore her to pieces, and scarcely
a year is said to have passed without there being one or more victims.
On this same night the Druids extinguished the sacred fire, which was
kept continually burning in the sacred precincts, and at that signal all
the fires in the island were one by one put out, and a primitive night
reigned throughout the land. Then passed along to the west the phantoms
of those who had died during the preceding year, and were carried away
by boats to the judgment-seat of the god of the dead. (Plate V.)
Although Druidism is now extinct, the relics of it remain to this day,
for in our calendar we still find November 1 marked as All Saints' Day,
and in the pre-Reformation calendars the last day of October was marked
All Hallow Eve, and the 2nd of November as All Souls'; indicating
clearly a three days' festival of the dead, commencing in the evening,
and originally regulated by the Pleiades--an emphatic testimony how much
astronomy has been mixed up with the rites and customs even of the
English of to-day. In former days the relics were more numerous, in the
Hallowe'en torches of the Irish, the bonfires of the Scotch, the
_coel-coeth_ fires of the Welsh, and the _tindle_ fires of Cornwall, all
lighted on Hallowe'en. In France it still lingers more than here, for to
this very day the Parisians at this festival repair to the cemeteries,
and lunch at the graves of their ancestors.
If the extreme antiquity of a rite can be gathered from the remoteness
of the races that still perform it, the fact related to us by Prescott
in his _History of the Conquest of Mexico_ cannot fail to have great
interest. There we find that the great festival of the Mexican cycle was
held in November, at the time of the midnight culmination of the
Pleiades. It began at sunset, and at midnight as that constellation
approached the zenith, a human victim, was offered up, to avert the
dread calamity which they believed impended over the human race. They
had a tradition that the world had been previously destroyed at this
time, and they were filled with gloom and dismay, and were not at rest
until the Pleiades were seen to culminate, and a new cycle had begun;
this great cycle, however, was only accomplished in fifty-two years.
It is possible that the festival of lanthorns among the Japanese, which
is celebrated about November, may be also connected with this same day,
as it is certain that that nation does reckon days by the Pleiades.
These instances of a similar festival at approximately the same period
of the year, and regulated (until fixed to a particular day in a solar
calendar) by the midnight culmination of the Pleiades, show conclusively
how great an influence that constellation has had on the manners and
customs of the world, and throw some light on the history of man.
Even where we find no festival connected with the particular position of
the Pleiades which is the basis of the above, they still are used for
the regulation of the seasons--as amongst the Dyaks of Borneo. This race
of men are guided in their farming operations by this constellation.
"When it is low in the east at early morning, before sunrise, the elders
know it is time to cut down the jungle; when it approaches mid-heaven,
then it is time to burn what they have cut down; when it is declining
towards the west, then they plant; and when in the early evening it is
seen thus declining, then they may reap in safety and in peace;" the
latter period is also that of their feast of _Nycapian_, or
first-fruits.
We find the same regulations amongst the ancient Greeks in the days of
Hesiod, who tells us that the corn is to be cut when the Pleiades rise,
and ploughing is to be done when they set. Also that they are invisible
for forty days, and reappear again at harvest. When the Pleiades rise,
the care of the vine must cease; and when, fleeing from Orion, they are
lost in the waves, sailing commences to be dangerous. The name, indeed,
by which we now know these stars is supposed to be derived from the word
[Greek: plein], to sail--because sailing was safe after they had risen;
though others derive it from [Greek: peleiai], a flight of doves.
Any year that is regulated by the Pleiades, or by any other group of
stars, must, as we have seen before, be what is called a sidereal, and
not a solar year. Now a year in uncivilised countries can only mean a
succession of seasons, as is illustrated by the use of the expression "a
person of so many summers." It is difficult of course to say when any
particular season begins by noticing its characteristics as to weather;
even the most regular phenomena are not certain enough for that; we
cannot say that when the days and nights become exactly equal any marked
change takes place in the temperature or humidity of the atmosphere, or
in any other easily-noticed phenomena. The day therefore on which spring
commences is arbitrary, except that, inasmuch as spring depends on the
position of the sun, its commencement, ought to be regulated by that
luminary, and not by some star-group which has no influence in the
matter. Nevertheless the position of such a group is much more easily
observed, and in early ages could almost alone be observed; and so long
as the midnight culmination of the Pleiades--judged of, it must be
noticed, by their appearance _on the horizon_ at sunset--fairly
coincided with that state of weather which might be reckoned the
commencement of spring conditions, no error would be detected, because
the change in their position is so slow. The solar spring is probably a
later discovery, which now, from its greater reasonableness and
constancy, has superseded the old one. But since the time of the sun's
crossing the equator is the natural commencement of spring, whether
discovered or not, it is plain that no group of stars could be taken as
a guide instead, if their indication did not approximately coincide with
this.
If then we can determine the exact date at which the Pleiades indicated
by their midnight culmination the sun's passage across the equator, we
can be sure that the spring could only have been regulated by this
during, say, a thousand years at most, on either side of this date. It
is very certain that if the method of reckoning spring by the stars had
been invented at a more remote date, some other set of stars would have
been chosen instead.
Now when was this date? It is a matter admitting of certain calculation,
depending only on numbers derived from observation in our own days and
records of the past few centuries, and the answer is that this date is
about 2170 B.C.
We have seen that, though it was probably brought from the southern
hemisphere, the Egyptians adopted the year of the Pleiades, and
celebrated the new-year's festival of the dead; but they were also
advanced astronomers, and would soon find out the change that took place
in the seasons when regulated by the stars. And to such persons the date
at which the two periods coincided, or at least were exactly half a year
apart, would be one of great importance and interest, and there seems
to be evidence that they did commemorate it in a very remarkable manner.
The evidence, however, is all circumstantial, and the conclusion
therefore can only claim probability. The evidence is as follows:--The
most remarkable buildings of Egypt are the pyramids. These are of
various sizes and importance, but are built very much after the same
plan. They seem, however, to be all copies from one, the largest,
namely, the Pyramid of Gizeh, and to be of subsequent date to this.
Their object has long been a puzzle, and the best conclusion has been
supposed to be that they were for sepulchral purposes, as in some of
them coffins have been found. The large one, however, shows far more
than the rest of the structure, and cannot have been meant for a funeral
pile alone.
Its peculiarities come out on a careful examination and measurement such
as it has been subjected to at the devoted hands of Piazzi Smyth, the
Astronomer Royal for Scotland. He has shown that it is not built at
random, as a tomb might be, but it is adjusted with exquisite design,
and with surprising accuracy. In the first place it lies due north,
south, east, and west, and the careful ascertainment of the meridian of
the place, by modern astronomical instruments, could not suggest any
improvement in its position in this respect. The outside of it is now,
so to speak, pealed, that is to say, there was originally, covering the
whole, another layer of stones which have been taken away. These stones,
which were of a different material, were beautifully polished, as some
of the remaining ones, now covered and concealed, can testify. The angle
at which they are cut, and which of course gives the angle and elevation
of the whole pyramid, is such that the height of it is in the same
proportion to its circumference or perimeter, as the radius of a circle
is to its circumference approximately. The height, in fact, is proved by
measurement and observation to be 486 ft., and the four sides together
to be 3,056 ft., or about 6-2/7 times the height. It does not seem
improbable that, considering their advancement, the Egyptians might have
calculated approximately how much larger the circumference of the circle
is than its diameter, and it is a curious coincidence that the pyramid
expresses it. Professor Piazzi Smyth goes much further and believes that
they knew, or were divinely taught, the shape and size of the earth, and
by a little manipulation of the length of their unit, or as he expresses
it the "pyramid inch," he makes the base of the pyramid express the
number of miles in the diameter of the earth.
Now in the interior of the apparently solid structure, besides the usual
slanting passage down to a kind of cellar or vault beneath the middle of
the base, which may have been used for a sepulchral resting-place, there
are two slanting passages, one running north and the other running
south, and slanting up at different angles. Part of that which leads
south is much enlarged, and is known as the grand gallery. It is of a
very remarkable shape, being perfectly smooth and polished along its
ascending base, as indeed it is in every part, and having a number of
steps or projections, pointing also upwards at certain angles, very
carefully maintained. Whether we understand its use or not, it is very
plain that it has been made with a very particular design, and one not
easily comprehended. This leads into a chamber known as the king's
chamber, whose walls are exquisitely polished and which contains a
coffer known as _Cheops' Coffin_. This coffer has been villainously
treated by travellers, who have chipped and damaged it, but originally
it was very carefully made and polished. It is too large to have been
brought in by the only entrance into the chamber after it was finished,
and therefore is obviously no coffin at all, as is proved also by the
elaborateness of the means of approach. Professor Piazzi Smyth has made
the happy suggestion that it represents their standard of length and
capacity, and points out the remarkable fact that it contains exactly as
much as four quarters of our dry measure. As no one has ever suggested
what our "quarters" are quarters of, Professor Smyth very naturally
supplies the answer--"of the contents of the pyramid coffer." There are
various other measurements that have been made by the same worker, and
their meaning suggested in his interesting book, _Our Inheritance in the
Great Pyramid_, which we may follow or agree to as we can; but from all
that has been said above, it will appear probable that this pyramid was
built with a definite design to mark various natural phenomena or
artificial measures, which is all we require for our present purpose.
Now we come to the question, what is the meaning of the particular
angles at which the north-looking and south-looking passages rise, if,
as we now believe, they must have _some_ meaning.
The exits of these passages were closed, and they could not therefore
have been for observation, but they may have been so arranged as to be a
memorial of any remarkable phenomena to be seen in those directions. To
ascertain if there be any such to which they point, we must throw back
the heavens to their position in the days of the Egyptians, because, as
we have seen, the precession of the equinoxes alters the meridian
altitude of every star. As the passages point north and south, if they
refer to any star at all, it must be to their passing the meridian.
Now let us take the heavens as they were 2170 B.C., the date at which
the Pleiades _really_ commenced the spring, by their midnight
culmination, and ask how high they would be then. The answer of
astronomy is remarkable--"_Exactly at that height that they could be
seen in the direction of the southward-pointing passage of the
pyramid._" And would any star then be in a position to be seen in the
direction of the other or northward-looking passage? Yes, the largest
star in the constellation of the Dragon, which would be so near the pole
(3 deg. 52') as to be taken as the Pole Star in those days. These are such
remarkable coincidences in a structure admittedly made with mathematical
accuracy and design, and truly executed, that we cannot take them to be
accidental, but must endeavour to account for them.
The simplest explanation seems to be, that everything in the pyramid is
intended to represent some standard or measure, and that these passages
have to do with their year. They had received the year of the Pleiades
from a remoter antiquity than their own, they had discovered the true
commencement of solar spring, as determined from the solar autumnal
equinox, and they commemorated by the building of the pyramid the
coincidence of the two dates, making passages in it which would have no
meaning except at that particular time.
Whether the pyramid was built _at that time_, or whether their
astronomical knowledge was sufficient to enable them to predict it and
build accordingly, just as we calculate back to it, we have no means of
knowing. It is very possible that the pyramid may have been built by
some immigrating race more learned in astronomy, like the Accadians
among the Babylonians.
Either the whole of the conclusions respecting the pyramid is founded on
pure imagination and the whole work upon it thrown away, or we have here
another very remarkable proof of the influence of the Pleiades on the
reckoning of the year, and a very interesting chapter in the history of
the heavens.
Following the guidance of Mr. Haliburton, we shall find still more
customs, and names depending in all probability on the influence the
Pleiades once exerted, and the observances connected with the feasts in
their honour.
The name by which the Pleiades are known among the Polynesians is the
"Tau," which means a season, and they speak of the years of the Tau,
that is of the Pleiades. Now we have seen that the Egyptians had similar
feasts at similar times, in relation to this constellation, and argued
that they did not arise independently. This seems still further proved
by their name for these stars--the Atauria.
Now the Egyptians do not appear to have derived their signs of the
Zodiac from the same source; these had a Babylonian origin, and the
constellation in which the Pleiades were placed by the latter people was
the Bull, by whatever name he went. The Egyptians, we may make the fair
surmise, adopted from both sources; they took the Pleiades to indicate
the Bull, and they called this animal after the Atauria. From thence we
got the Latin Taurus, and the German Thier.
It is possible that this somehow got connected with the letter "tau" in
Greek, which seems itself connected with the sacred scarabaeus or
Tau-beetle of Egypt; but the nature of the connection is by no means
obvious. Mr. Haliburton even suggests that the "tors" and "Arthur's
seat," which are names given to British hill-tops, may be connected with
the "high places," of the worship of the Pleiades, but of this we have
no proof.
Among the customs possibly derived from the ancients, through the
Phoenicians, though now adopted as conveying a different meaning in a
Christian sense, is that of the "hot cross bun," or "bull cake." It is
found on Egyptian monuments, signifying the four quarters of the year,
and sometimes stamped with the head and horns of the bull. It is found
among ourselves too, essentially connected with the dead, and something
similar to it appears in the "soul cake" connected originally with All
Souls' Day.
Among the Scotch it was traditionally thought that on New Year's Eve the
Candlemas Bull can be seen, rising at twilight and sailing over the
heavens--a very near approach to a matter-of-fact statement.
We have seen that among the ancient Indians there was some notice taken
of the Pleiades, and that they in all probability guided their year by
them or by some other stars: it would therefore behove them to know
something of the precession of the equinoxes. It seems very well proved
that their days of Brahma and other periods were meant to represent some
astronomical cycles, and among these we find one that is applicable to
the above. They said that in every thousand divine ages, or in every day
of Brahma, fourteen Menus are successively invested with the sovereignty
of the earth. Each Menu transmits his empire to his sons during
seventy-one divine ages. We may find a meaning for this by putting it
that the equinox goes forward fourteen days in each thousand years, and
each day takes up seventy-one years.
These may not be the only ones among the various customs, sayings, and
names that are due in one way or other to this primitive method of
arranging the seasons by the positions of the stars, especially of those
most remarkable and conspicuous ones the Pleiades, but they are those
that are best authenticated. If the connection between the Pleiades and
the festival of the dead, the new year and a deluge, can be clearly made
out; if the tradition of the latter be found as universal as that of the
former, and be connected with it in the Mosaic narrative; if we can
trace all these traditions to the south of the equator, and find
numerous further traditions connected with islands, we may find some
reason for believing in their theory who suggest that the early
progenitors of the human race (? all of them) were inhabitants of some
fortunate islands of even temperature in the southern hemisphere, where
they made some progress in civilisation, but that their island was
swallowed up by the sea, and that they only escaped by making huge
vessels, and, being carried by the waves, they landed on continental
shores, where they commemorated yearly the great catastrophe that had
happened to them, notifying its time by the position of the Pleiades,
making it a feast of the dead whom they had left behind, and opening
the year with the day, whether it were spring or not, and handing down
to their descendants and to those among whom they came, the traditions
and customs which such events had impressed upon them.
Whether such an account be probable, mythical, or unnatural, there are
certainly some strange things to account for in connection with the
Pleiades.