by Leilehua Yuen
illustration: watercolor by Leilehua Yuen
The Pleiades, though a tiny constellation, is striking in appearance. It is so noticeable that cultures around the world use it in navigation and to mark the seasons of the year.
The star cluster Pleiades, Πλειάδες in Greek, is known by many different names. In ancient India it was known as क्रृत्तिका Kṛittika. In ancient Arabia, الثريّا al-Ṯurayyā. In English it is called The Seven Sisters, and in Irish, Streoillín. Every culture which can see them has named them in its own language. Astronomers know it as M45 is known, an open star cluster. It contains over a thousand stars that are loosely bound by gravity, but it is visually dominated by a handful of its brightest members. Each group of people who name the cluster use a name which suites the way they relate to it. Hawaiian people gave the cluster several names, depending on whether they were using it for agriculture, navigation, religious rituals, or other purposes.
Huhui – cluster, Huihui – cluster, Huihuiamakaliʻi – the cluster of Makaliʻi, Huihuikōkōamakaliʻikauiluna – the netted cluster of Makaliʻi hung above, Kahuihuiomakali’i – the cluster of Makaliʻi, Kūpuku – clustered thickly, Makaliʻi – little eyes, Nāhiku – the seven, Nāhui – the group, Nāhuihui – the collection, Nāhuihuiomakaliʻi – the collection of Makaliʻi, Nākokoamakaliʻi – the net of Makaliʻi, and other names.
Legends and myths are associated with the names. In the winter, wwe like to tell the story of how ʻIole, the Hawaiian Rat, saved the Hawaiian people from starvation. There were different chiefs named Makaliʻi. One was a great navigator. Another was a great farmer. The one in this story is a bad chief. Selfish and greedy.
Chief Makaliʻi had taxed the people so heavily that they were starving. He had taxed the fish and the fruits, the pigs and the chickens, and even the plants the people needed as seed for the next season. He so selfish that after he taxed them, he put all the food in a net which he hung high in the sky where they could not reach it.
The people were tormented, seeing the food hanging there out of reach. The entire world was angry with Chief Makaliʻi for his selfishness. At last the elementals of the world decided they would withdraw. The wind stayed away. The rain stayed away. Only the sun shone, burning down, even in the winter. It was so dry that even if there were seed plants, they would not be able to grow. The people were starving. There was not enough food for even an ʻiole, a rat.
ʻIole sat in the barren sweet potato fields and thought about this. He decided to go up to the net and get that food! He found a coconut tree and climbed it, and from there was able to grab a rope woven from moonbeams. He climbed the rope to the moon and when he was close enough to the net he chewed a hole in the side.
All of the sweet potatoes, taro, bananas, and other food tumbled back down to earth and the people, and the rats, were saved!
For a full-length version of the story, visit Leilehua’s Kindle Vella page.
Below is an image of a page from Sidereus Nuncius showing Galileo’s drawings of the stars in the Pleiades star cluster. Image courtesy of the History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries. The image is from the History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries – http://hos.ou.edu/galleries/17thCentury/Galileo/1610/Galileo-1610-016c-r%20-%20Version%202-image/ via Wikipedia.
Learn more about the Hawaiian night sky here.
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