Indigenous astronomy in lands claimed by Canada

The tradition & historical record

Indigenous astronomy in lands claimed by Canada encompasses traditional Indigenous practices of observing, naming, depicting, and narrating celestial bodies, as well as work to bring Indigenous perspectives into scientific astronomical practice and education. It includes the peoples whose traditional territories include lands claimed by Canada, though those territories also extend into Greenland (claimed by Denmark) and into lands claimed by the USA. The twenty-first-century Indigenous resurgence has led to extensive research into and publishing of Indigenous astronomical traditions by Indigenous scholars, and Indigenous astronomy has gained a significant place in Canadian school curricula. ¹

The night sky is a living guide that has guided humans since time immemorial. The movement of stars would tell people when to plant and harvest food, and when frost was coming. Indigenous peoples used cosmic cycles to predict migration timing, mating patterns, and seasonal changes long before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar and meteorological seasons. Some sources emphasise that intergenerational celestial knowledge has been accurately passed down through oral traditions and ceremonies. Other sources put more emphasis on variation in oral tradition. For example, the elders of Igloolik who informed John Macdonald's work on Inuit astronomy noted that their understandings of the sky might be specific to their particular families, while David A. Robertson has celebrated the variety of star-stories both within and across First Nations. Indigenous astronomical traditions are partly shaped by a culture's local environment. For example, whereas a person on the equator can observe Earth's whole celestial sphere during the course of a year, the visible proportion of the celestial sphere diminishes the closer you get to the poles (such that a person on the north pole would only be able to observe the northern celestial hemisphere, with the same stars visible all year round). Thus more southerly traditions may reference more stars than northern ones. Indigenous societies sometimes used the appearance or disappearance of stars to measure time through the year, and the stars chosen varied with latitude. ¹

Much traditional Indigenous knowledge was disrupted or even lost due to Canada's cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples, which included forced sedentarisation of nomadic peoples, the banning of traditional ceremonies, and residential schools. Cultural genocide has affected the survival and transmission of astronomical knowledge. Technological change associated with colonization, such as light pollution and methods of hunting that require less time outdoors, has also affected the transmission of astronomical knowledge. European scientific astronomy itself played a technological role in facilitating colonization. Moreover, due to astro-colonialism and climate change, there is now an ecological mismatch between Indigenous tradition and the environment. The ongoing formation of satellite mega constellations is a type of "astro-colonialism". The prevalence of satellites in the sky can disrupt this Millenia long history of the indigenous connection between the cosmos and the land. It is estimated that one out of 14 lights in the night sky will be moving satellites by 2035. Today, there is a worsening ecological dissonance due to climate change. Earth's biological systems and cosmic cycles do not correlate the way they did in the past, with the timing of migratory patterns, harvests, and spawning runs, becoming misaligned with celestial signals. Indigenous astronomy did not begin to attract extensive interest from colonial scholars until the rise of archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy in the 1960s–70s. ¹

Anishinaabeg astronomical traditions connect celestial observations with seasonal changes and relationships with the natural world. The stars, Moon, and Constellations have tradionally been used to understand the passage of time and the changing seasons. Anishinaabeg understandings of the night sky vary between communities and geographical regions. The Ojibwe Giizhig Anung Masinaa'igan (Ojibwe Sky Star Map), developed by Annette S. Lee, et al. 2012 illustrates several traditional constellations and their relationships to the seasons. These include: ¹

Biboonkeonini (the wintermaker), associated with Orion; Mooz (the Moose) Mooz (the Moose), associated with the stars in Pegasus Ojig (the Fisher), associated with Ursa Major Maang (the Loon), associated with the Usra Minor Jiinay Miikana (Spirit Path), associated with the Milky Way Madoodiswan (the Sweat Lodge), associated with Corona Borealis One Anishinaabeg creation account describes a spider lowering the first humans from the Sky World to Earth through Bagone'giizhig (the Hole-in-the-Sky), guarded by seven sisters. This celestial formation is associated with the Pleiades in Western astronomy. The story demonstrates the connection between celestial bodies, spiritual understanding, and the Anishinaabeg accounts of human origin. The Moon also plays an important role in the Anishinaabeg understanding of time. A traditional lunar calendar recognizes thirteen moons, with names reflecting season events. Examples include Makwa Giizis (Bear Moon), Miin Giizis (Berry Moon), and Minoomini Giizis (Wild Rice Moon). ¹

According to Blackfoot scholar Eldon Yellowhorn, the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot people) understand celestial bodies as more than physical objects, the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars all represented as beings beings within long traditional narratives. These stories preserve cultural knowledge and describe relationships between earthly and celestial worlds. The Sun, known as Natosi, holds an important place in Blackfoot cosmology, alongside the Moon known as Kookomi'kiisomm. Other celestial beings include the Morning star and Scarface, a prominent figure in Blackfoot oral traditions. The story of Scarface describes his journey to the celestial world and his encounter with the sun, who heals his facial scar. The narrative is connected to Blackfoot ceremonial traditions and reflects the relationship between humans and celestial beings. Several constellations also serve practical and cultural purposes. The Big Dipper is associated with the seven siblings, whose movement around the North Star was used to measure time during the night. The Pleiades, known as Miopoisiks (Bunched Stars), are associated with a story about a group of neglected boys who became stars. The seasonal appearance and disappearance helped the Blackfoot determine the appropriate time for communal buffalo hunts. The Milky Way is know as the Wolf Trail and also appears in traditional Blackfoot celestial narratives. As of 2005, Blackfoot astronomical knowledge continues to be shared through oral storyelling and educational initiatives. ¹

Cree communities tell many stories about the stars and use these stories to explain phenomena such as the calendar, the origin of things present in the world and mor… ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Indigenous astronomy in lands claimed by Canada”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Indigenous astronomy in lands claimed by Canada is field of academic study, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²