The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters, is the brightest and most celebrated cluster of stars in the sky. The cluster contains more than 400 stars but only six are easily seen with the unaided eye. The individual cluster stars are not particularly bright, but seen together in a dark sky they are quite prominent and look like a casket of diamonds in the sky. In Greek mythology they are the daughters of the titans Atlas and Pleione. The cluster’s name is almost certainly derived from their mother.
The significance of the Pleiades is that, 5,000 years ago, their dawn rising signaled the time of the spring equinox. This event herald the return of life on earth following the harsh northern hemisphere winter. For the peoples of Europe and Asia it marked the beginning of the year. Great temples, such as the Parthenon, were aligned to their rising.
The dawn rising of the Pleiades also signaled the opening of the sea lanes and the beginning of sea trade for that year. It was a sign that it was safe to undertake a sea voyage. They were known to mariners as the Sailors Stars. When the stars rose and the sea lanes opened it was customary to release pigeons, consequently the Pleiades also became known as the Hen and Chicks.
When the migrations into the Pacific began the Polynesians took this new-year tradition with them. In Aotearoa, New Zealand, the Pleiades are known as Matariki (Little Eyes), and their dawn rising in June heralds the beginning of the Maori new-year. Matariki is usually figured as an old woman and her six daughters. She was known as the ‘Food-bringer’, because her dawn rising in June was the herald of a time of plenty.
For lots more come to ‘Legends of Matariki’, 4pm Friday June 28 at Stonehenge Aotearoa.
Photo credit – NASA