Lesser Festival (Anglicanism)

Transcription

DOUG HERMAN: Our first three speakers have taken us to different latitudes here in the Americas. Now we are going to swing across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa. Dr. Babatunde Lawal is a Professor of Art History at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He specializes in African and African Diaspora art, with a personal research focus on the ancient and contemporary arts of Nigeria, particularly the visual culture of the Yoruba and its influences in the Americas. His publications on Yoruba art examine its ontological, social, cultural, religious, and aesthetic implications as well as the dynamics of change. Much of his data derives from formal and iconographic analyses, reinforced with field interviews and from the Odù Ifá, a collection of origin myths, astronomical speculations, philosophical commentaries, and remedies handed down from the past and often referenced by Yoruba diviners to help clients in times of crisis. As we will learn, cultural astronomy looms large in Yoruba culture and art being used for a variety of purposes, such as social control, measuring time, determining direction, coping with the vicissitudes of the existential process and most importantly reinforcing their belief in life after death. Dr. Lawal’s presentation is titled “A Big Calabash with Two Halves: The Yoruba Vision of the Cosmos”. Please welcome Babatunde Lawal. [applause] DR. BABTUNDE LAWAL: Thank you very much. First of all I want to thank the Smithsonian Institution for inviting me to participate in this symposium. Well, I’ll go straight to the topic. As is well known, cultural astronomy is a complex subject. It is much more than an inquiry into the nature and significance of heavenly bodies. It also entails the use of celestial observations for measuring time, controlling human behavior, as well as for creating ritual and agricultural calendars, among others. In addition, cultural astronomy is in different parts of the world has given rise to a variety of cosmological speculations and belief systems, all aimed at giving life meaning and purpose. My presentation today examines this phenomenon among the Yoruba of West Africa and how they use it through the visual and performing arts to educate the public, measure time, determine direction, cope with the existential process, and above all reinforce their quest for eternal life. Numbering more than 25 million people, the Yoruba found in present day republics of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo; most of them live in Southwestern Nigeria divided into numerous kingdoms. Major towns are headed by monarchs or by - - descends from [foreign language], a divine ancestor often identified as the first king of Ile-ife, the ancient city widely venerated as the cradle of Yoruba culture and where the world was created. Hence, the popular saying [foreign language]; the land of sunrise. By the beginning of the second millennium of the common era, Ile-ife had become a major urban center with highly sophisticated religious, social, and political institutions. In fact they are monolith for measuring time, and we have Professor Willet [phonetic] of Cambridge Society of Intensive Archaeological work. The city is world famous for its arts, whose style varies from the naturalistic to the highly stylized; all reflecting a period, by the - - between the 11th and 17th centuries all reflecting a period of advanced cultural and economic developments. As in other parts of Africa, the Yoruba have astronomers and astrologers called [foreign language]. These are philosophers, our star readers [foreign language]. They are professional diviners revered as keepers of Yoruba divination narratives called Odu Ifa comprising creation stories, details of time honored rituals, quasihistorical accounts, often sited to relate the past to the present; in an attempt to predict or solve problems. Scholars of Yoruba history, arts, religion, and cultural astronomy are fortunate in that several volumes of Odu Ifa have been published for teaching and research publicists. In fact in the Americas here there are institutions helping to advance the knowledge of Ifa, In fact in 2005 UNESCO recognized Ifa divination practice among the Yoruba as a world heritage. My interpretation of Yoruba cosmology has benefitted immensely, not only from Odu Ifa, but also from Yoruba oral traditions, as well as interviews with indigenous astrologers and from my own research. It is worth mentioning that Yoruba oral traditions include special terms, and a - - for - - horizon and interpreting the visual and performing arts. A review of Yoruba cosmology reveals a strong belief in a supreme creator called Olodumare, the eternal one or the ultimate cause, the generator of ase. Ase is a vital force or power that enables the sun to shine, the moon and stars to glitter, the winds to blow, the rain to fall, and the river to flow. It gives form to the formless, motion to the motionless, and life to living things. It is present in all phenomenon, both animate and inanimate. This power sustains the cosmos, which the Yoruba conceptualize as the big calabash with two halves. [Foreign language] also called igba iwa, the calabash of existence. The top half signifies sky or heaven or the spirit world, and the domain of [foreign language], also known as [foreign language]. the source of ase The bottom half of the calabash represents the primeval waters out of which the physical world was later created. Unlike the creator deities in other African cultures, the Yoruba supreme creator does not act directly, but makes things happen through a host of spirits and nature forces called orisa. Each orisa personifies a natural or cultural phenomenon. Those of oboatala exemplifies creativity as well as communication, or Yoruba divination, knowledge, wisdom, divine kings, and so on and so forth. In fact, technology is also personified; agriculture, all these elements are personified to facilitate some kind of communication between the human and the superhuman and in the process will enable the Yoruba to influence and manipulate the forces of nature. As the story goes, in the beginning only water existed below the sky. That is in the bottom half of the calabash of existence. [Foreign language] later gave [foreign language] a sacred bird and a bag of sand with which to transform the primeval waters into habitable land. The one on the right is a contemporary interpretation of this creation myth. Oduduwa descended from the sky, poured the sand on the primeval waters, and released the bird to spread the sands, eventually creating land. The Yoruba term [foreign language] that is the ocean turned into land commemorates this event. In view of its participation in creation, the bird motif features prominently in Yoruba rituals as a power symbol and one can see the messengerial function of the bird here because it can live between heaven and earth it is seen as a symbol of ritual agency. The chameleon is another important creature in Yoruba cosmology. For it was the chameleon that Olodumare reportedly asks to go and ascertain if the newly created land was solid enough for human occupation. No wonder the chameleon signifies clairvoyance, caution, immunity, and a metaphysical capacity to survive against all odds, among others. Hence its motif has a talismanic significance in Yoruba rituals and headdresses. After receiving reports that a newly created land below the sky was ready for occupation, the supreme being commissioned the creativity deity of Atalla [phonetic] to mold the first human images from clay. The images were then infused with ase or a soul or different souls, and subsequently placed inside the lower female half of the cosmic calabash symbolizing the womb to be delivered by pregnant women. As a result [foreign language] on women are anxious to have children. They are advised to go and get dolls to implore Obatala to give them a child. In fact, the creation of the body by [foreign language] is commemorated in the name [foreign language]. The deity created a work of art so there’s an attempt here to trace the origin of artistic creativity among humans to this ritual. As a result, the body is perceived by the Yoruba as a work of art that makes the soul manifest in the physical world, defining individual existence [foreign language]. So one can see some kind of correlation between the body and a work of art, but to the Yoruba it is much more than flesh, bones, and blood. It signifies the self in various ways. As a result, to the Yoruba - - life is an interface of spirits and matter, a kind of performance in time and space during which the body articulates in the individual existence in response to the rhythm generated by the soul. According to one divination text, [foreign language] on the origin of the universe, the Yoruba word for humanity [foreign language] is an abbreviation of [foreign language]; that is the Homo sapiens. That is those specially commissioned by Olodumare to transform the primeval wilderness below the sky into an orderly estate. In other words, or in effect, the word [foreign language] not only identifies to the human body as a divinely inspired intelligent form, it also implies that the capacity to create and appreciate art is an integral part of humanity, accounting for the aesthetic impulses in poetry, music, dress, pottery, sculptures, and other forms of material culture. Now it is worth mentioning that some of the orishas including Obatala, the artist deity, allegedly assumed the same human body in order to accompany the first models to the earth. In fact Ogun the deity of tools and weapons is said to have led the way; that is the first mortals and other deities using its machete to cut a path through the primordial jungle laying the foundation for Yoruba culture and civilization. In fact during festival for going to see priest using the machete as though clearing a path, creating civilization. So the popular name [foreign language] commemorates this event. In short, all the principles - - allegedly contributed significantly to the transformation of the earth into the civilization it has become today. Besides some Orisha allegedly became rulers of certain towns during their sojourn on earth into marrying with humans, - - them as divine ancestors. Other deities miraculously disappeared leaving behind figurative or known figurative symbols for communicating with them in the spirit world. This legend soon gave rise to a tendency among the Yoruba to identify a culture of heroes on the grounds that they are supernatural beings, temporarily incarnated in human form to facilitate direct interaction with mortals. So it is that some Yoruba deities are personified in art and artists. Others can be embodied through spirit mediumship. Now the popular Yoruba saying, aye l'oja, orun'nile, the world is a market; heaven is home, throws more light on the Yoruba concept of humanity. It connotes the descent of an embodied soul from heaven to participate metaphorically in a business venture on earth, which will end at death. However to the Yoruba death, iku, is not the end of life, but rather a kind of disembodiment of the soul and its return home to heaven where it may reincarnate as a newborn baby to start a new life on earth. For instance, whenever children are born immediately after the death of grandparents they are named after those grandparents being perceived as those grandparents reincarnated. For instance my own name Babatunde means father returns implying that my grandfather is reincarnated in me. If a woman - - mother returns. On the other hand, the symbolic equation of the marketplace with the physical world derives in part from the deification or identification of the earth as a goddess who provides the bulk of the raw materials that sustains a culture’s economy while men are often in charge of production especially of crops and livestock, women dominate retail business. As Margaret - - points out, women control the central markets and its administrative head holds a position in the king’s council of chiefs. In effect, the marketplace metaphor in Yoruba culture identifies elderly existence as a complex web of social interactions and negotiations, a kind of business venture that requires an individual to develop special skills so as to make life profitable. The emphasis on the head, ori, in Yoruba visual culture deserves special attention here. It reflects a strong belief that the head is to the body what a king is to a kingdom and by extension what the Supreme Being is to the cosmos, a source of power. Moreover, the head of an individual is thought to have two aspects; the physical head that is the visible one, which identifies the self, and the metaphysical head, the seat of the soul that not only empowers existence, but also enables certain individuals especially diviners to develop extraterrestrial perceptions reflected in cultural astronomy. Needless to say success in life also depends on how well one is able to make good use of one’s head. No wonder in the past adult Yoruba were expected to dedicate an altar to their inner head because this inner head localizes the ase, connecting the individual to the supreme god. Note the recurrence of the cone motif in Yoruba visual culture because it denotes the apical position of the head on the human body and in the cosmos. To the Yoruba the top of the cone connotes the - - edge that the head provides in solving problems or negotiating the vicissitudes of life. In fact the Yoruba adage, says [foreign language], it is with the head that a fish cuts through the deep, it is with the head that the bird moves through the sky, may my head continue to guide me. Of course, the head is the seat of the brain, which enables humanity to observe and study the sky and use the knowledge for various purposes. In fact, the gurus at NASA have special heads that enable them to develop all kinds of gadgets and so note the importance of the head. Now while most divination verses are silent on how the sun and the moon came into being, nonetheless, they identify sun and the moon as children of the Great Mother called [foreign language]. The sun is regarded as male and moon, female. The latter being associated with the menstrual cycle, [foreign language] , hence during the waxing phase of the moon, maidens and newly married women pray to the moon to bless them with children. Moreover certain rituals called [foreign language] that is wake up and feel younger and performed during the waxing phase of the moon to promote longevity and prosperity. Hence the popular saying, [foreign language], as fresh as a new moon. So these rituals associated with the moon easily explain the frequency of the crescent motif in Yoruba art as one can see here. The stars are perceived as children of the sun and moon. There are stories of frequent conflicts in the past between both, resulting in solar and lunar eclipses. As cultural geographer - - explains, in order to reduce such conflicts between the sun and the moon to the barest minimum, - - separated them allocating to the sun the day and to the moon the night. Each has since been supreme in its own territory and period. As the sky belongs to the moon during the night, the sun stole back in a flash from the West to East a midnight in order to get ready the following day. The moon in a similar manner assumed its position in the sky at midday when the sun was too much engaged to have time to interfere. The seasonal irregularities in the sun’s nightly return flights resulted in clashes with the moon; eclipse of the moon and so on and so forth. So these solar and lunar movements are associated with the cardinal points; East implying sunrise, the moon North—the North midday and so on and so forth, and then the Southwest sunset and then the South associated with the night, the transition and soon and so forth. At the same time the cardinal directions are associated with major deities as a result time can be calculated on the basis of the appearance of the sun and the moon. In fact, in many parts of Ile-ife there are monoliths dating back to the 11th century allegedly used to the timing, directions of the sun, as well as shadows. In fact, a German explorer visiting Ile-ife around 1910 was told how the shadows were interpreted along with the cries of certain birds to determine time. The diurnal movements of sun and moon also determined the four days of the Yoruba week in the past, and then these days are associated with various deities or Orishas and so on and so forth. Admittedly, Yoruba tradition are vague on the topography of the top half of the calabash. Yet there’s a strong belief that it has many layers, about seven, and that the Supreme Being occupies the topmost one. And in the lower half dwell the deities of that is heaven and celestial beings, souls of deceased ancestors, while the bottom half represents the domain of the earth goddess. But the middle portion here is called the [foreign language], the world of the living. So the Yoruba landscape is divided into three parts; you have residential areas called [foreign language], that is the cultivated land. Then you have adjacent farms, [foreign language], part of the ordered sphere. And then we have the wilderness a kind of terra incognito occupied by all kinds of spirits. The existence of lagoons and lakes here and there on the surface of the earth has given rise to a popular belief that the landscape floats on a body of water accessible through wells and other holes. In fact the Yoruba speculate that there is a big river underground that souls of the dead must cross on their way to heaven. As a result, whenever somebody dies that person is said to have crossed the river. The Rainbow Deity, the celestial snake is said to connect the earthly river to the sky helping to recycle water that falls as rain from the sky. And it is this water that helps to sustain the physical world as a commercial center. In fact, one can see here emphasis on the rainbow associated with prosperity, because of that and so on. Now there is a problem here because in Yoruba cosmology there is a belief that the world is a complex of opposing forces. In fact, the first and second speakers mentioned opposing forces in the universe. In fact, the Yoruba perception of the eclipse as a conflict between the sun and sky is part of this widespread belief. So what we see here there’s a belief kind of opposition or complementarity of sun and moon, day and night, hot and cold, wet and dry, visible and invisible, all complimenting one another. Hence there’s this popular saying [foreign language], that is the world is sustained by good and evil. And that [foreign language], it is out of a black pot that the white porridge comes out. In other words, you use a black pot to cook and make white porridge. The implication here apart from signifying that good things can come out of a bad event and vice versa, it also relates night to daylight because daylight comes out of the night. No wonder Yoruba cosmology has forces associated with those on the right and those on the left. Those of the left are associated with evil, and those of the right with good. And so on and so forth, so there are all kinds of implications for this. As a result of that, there’s a belief that there are certain deities created by - - to reconcile these forces that are in perpetual opposition to one another, part of dualism. And one of the deities associated with this balancing act is Esu-elegba, the divine messenger, who is associated with the crossroads. And then we have Ifa associated with divination to help humans to find solutions to problems. So Esu is frequently represented as double-faced emphasizing its ability to negotiate with the forces of good and those of evil. It’s also associated with the crossroads because in links the north to the south, east and west, and one can see this metaphor in some Esu symbols with three or four figures. The other deities, Ifa, the deity of wisdom. In fact, Ifa sort of signifies the intelligence of the supreme being and then notes four figures here alluding to the cardinal points in addition to Esu. So the interaction of Ifa and Esu , especially during divination process has allowed humans to find problems to find solutions to all kinds of problems. And we see here those individuals who specialize in the knowledge of the cosmos using divination tray to help find these solutions. So the divination tray comes in various sizes; the round or - - evoke the calabash, the cosmic calabash. The semicircular divination trays may either signify the upper half or the lower half and then we have a rectangular or square calabash representing the four corners of the world. In this 18th century divination board, but we see a combination of this circular and the rectangular to emphasize the interconnectedness of heaven and earth. So this is the diviner trying to communicate with the otherworldly, and then note the faces alluding to the cardinal points. In fact the center of the divination board connects heaven and earth. In fact, in some more recent interpretation of the divination board you can see the star in the center, so that the center mirrors the world above and the face is said to represent that of the divine messenger who communicates messages from heaven to earth and vice versa. So this is a priest or a divination priest. Again note the occurrence of the bird motif on that. Another important deity in Yoruba cosmology is Sango associated with a thunderstorm and social justice. And note, the double axe aspect of Sango representing the interaction of male and female in the cosmos because life sort of depends on this interface. And Sango is also associated with the positive and negative through rainfall, agriculture is possible, but the same rainfall is attended by lightning that can lead to the destruction of life and property. In fact, one can see the allusion to fire from the sky descending into the earth, the body of Mother Earth or the goddess and then during the thunderstorm certain lamps may be lit in an attempt to control the movement of Sango across the sky, because when there is lightning Sango is said to be riding fire like a horse, so there’s an attempt to control. This control also entails the use of the human body to manifest the power and presence of Sango. Note how even male priest braid their hair. The implication here is that you are trying to feminize the male body to make it as powerful spiritually as that of women because women use their body to mediate souls of babies from heaven to earth and the power with which they’re able to procreate is different from muscular power, so they will begin to see how men try to acquire certain aspects of female power in an attempt to mediate, use their body to mediate this powerful deity without sustaining serious injury. Note the color of Sango red associated with fire Fire can be negative when it burns the body, burns the environment, but can be positive when it is used for cooking. Fire—red is also associated with blood, which invigorates the body. In fact Sango can manifest in the body of a priest. And note the use of blue associated with water; red fire; white spirituality. And one can see here the albino is a male priest with braided hair to signify the descent of fire from the sky to be absorbed by Mother Earth. And then movement of the flame is associated with Oya, the Tornado Goddess who collaborates with Sango during a thunderstorm. In fact the Yoruba believe that without Oya the female part of Sango, Sango is powerless. So begin to see this emphasis on the complementarity of the male and the female. Note the fire motif here because Orisha has a major influence on Sango, she’s able to either use the fan to cool Sango’s temper or at the same time use that fan to infuriate Sango. So one can see this -- and this emphasis on dualism in Sango art. So one can see the correspondence between the thunderbolts burned by the priest with the fire, this is fire, this is fire, the container here is also trying to contain Sango’s power. And you can see the duality here. Sango is also believed to have the power to punish offenders and then reward those who are righteous. And then finally we look at Earth Goddess who controls the market. There’s a society called Ogboni individuals men and women who have attained distinguished positions in their professions, they become members of this society. They call themselves [foreign language], children of the same mother. Even though the earth is perceived as female, most of the altars have male and female figures implying that she has, the earth has elements of maleness and femaleness metaphysically, not in the way we identify gender in the physical world. A male and female aspect also signify the ability of the mother to reward because the female body is soft associated with motherhood, and then the male, punishment, hardness. So in Yoruba culture, female gentility, men forceful, so we see these two elements combined and then you can see some images of the Mother Earth with two faces, one male, punish, the other female. And then this is the symbol of members called Ogboni. An Ogboni formula, 1+1 may equal three because a male and a female is conjoined by the presence of Mother Earth, an invisible witness to human beings who can see these elements. And then this is the female figure with the male heart, emphasizing that Mother Earth is able to have the power to punish and then to reward at some time. Finally we see a [foreign language] mask used to embody the soul of ancestors returning to the society, emphasizing the belief that the body is a mask and at death the soul leaves the mask. A human mask can be created as a substitute, as a surrogate for the body, and that is why during annual festivals masks are used to incarnate the souls of returning ancestors. Note the emphasis on the face; naturalism in Yoruba art signifies the body physical, or flesh whereas stylization, the metaphysical body emphasizing the dislocation of the soul from the body. So the [foreign language] attempts to provide a new body, and then note the stylized face, emphasizing the essence of humanity rather than the specificity of a particular individual. So one can see an attempt to use a kind of call and response to ignite the mask. In fact, igniting in Yoruba culture means do away you - - your body; there’s a synergy in the body and that is what we have here, so that during the performance of the [foreign language] the colors evoke the rainbow that the cycles elements in the universe and one sees that this attempts to make a spirit manifest so that to the Yoruba death is not a finality, it’s only a separation of the soul from the body. So it is a victory of the human spirit over death. In fact the Yoruba world [foreign language] shame and death celebrates this belief that life is eternal the body, the material body is temporal. In fact that tradition also survives in the U.S., in many parts. In fact, recently the tradition has been revived in many parts to remember real life, important people, and in fact you can see here [foreign language]. So we see in art an attempt to read celestial phenomenon and then use the knowledge to reinforce life and sort of mask the belief in a kind of life after death. Thank you very much. [applause] DOUG HERMAN: Wonderful. Fantastic. Thank you very much. Well, we’ve sort of been all over the planet now and in up and down. What I’d like to do now in our remaining time, but yes we’re going to go for a while longer and have some questions and answers. So I’m going to ask our speakers to come up onto the stage and we’re going to pull some chairs out here. I apologize that Dr. Urton had another appointment that he had to go to so he will not be joining us for this. And I want to remind you that if you want to ask a question please use the microphone in the center of the room so that the people out there in computerland and our webcasting audience can hear your question otherwise it will be totally lost. Okay thank you. Would someone like to start with a question? I know you guys are dying to ask some stuff. Please go up to the microphone. Yes that one right there. Oh, Hi, Stephen. STEPHEN: Thank you all for a really exciting afternoon. It was just wonderful to flip around between this place and the other place and all over the world, I really appreciate all the speakers. I’m an archaeologist, I work in the Arctic and I wanted to touch on another aspect of astronomy, which is meteorites. I know Mr. Price mentioned it briefly and in the Arctic there was a famous meteorite fall, which was iron rich and so people traveled to get this meteorite to make tools out of. But I’m wondering if any of the speakers had any other insights into those less permanent aspects of astronomy, but meteorites and comets, if there was native knowledge of observations or thoughts about meteorites and comets? JOHN MACDONALD: In 20 years of interviewing Igloolik elders I can honestly say that there was no mention of comets, very little mention of the planets, and I think there’s a reason for that. When the sky is unavailable for three or four months of the year because of the midnight sun or extended twilight, it’s very difficult to observe other features of the sky like planets or comets. I’ll just mention that the planet Venus, as far as I could see that was recognized and it was called The Great Star [foreign language]. And we only had one interview in which as the planets as their name implies are wanderers, you can’t really predict through let’s say basic observation you can’t really predict their position in the sky. And I can remember one elder was extremely alarmed around Christmas time one year when Venus didn’t appear in the sky and she felt that perhaps this had huge significance because she always associated Venus with the Christmas period. Obviously this was after the introduction of Christianity, and the absence of Venus from the sky at a time she usually saw it bothered her. With respect to meteorites, they were called [foreign language], meaning they were really fiery and they distinguished them from shooting stars, which to be light about it were called— when they saw shooting stars they said it was the star’s defecating but the meteorites, and I think you were referring particularly to the ones in Greenland. There was a long history of these that I won’t go into now, but from the Igloolik point of view, meteorites were recognized, but very little stories connected with them. Thank you. DR. LAWAL: Okay the Yoruba regard stars as [foreign language]. Now meteorites and shooting stars are also called [foreign language]. Yet when you have a shooting star across the sky, some suspect that a great tree has fallen, an important person must have died, and if you check very well, all of Yoruba country maybe an important person has died, one aspect. Then Venus is identified as [foreign language], very close to the sun. And then Sirius is called [foreign language], because of its use by fishermen at night for direction. Otherwise, all the other stars are just regarded as children of the moon as a result of some kind of marriage to the sun. MICHAEL WASSEGIJIG PRICE: In the Ojibwa tradition, the words that I’ve come across for a shooting star is basically [foreign language] and for meteorites or for like meteorite showers, the Ojibwa came up with a word or had a word called rain stars, [foreign language] and that’s about all I know at this point. I’m still researching and asking questions about those names, but those are the two that I’ve come up with thus far. DOUG HERMAN: Other questions? FEMALE VOICE: I’m just wondering because this is an astronomy symposium, I’m curious about whether you have thoughts, theories, or actual facts about the upcoming December 21, 2012 astronomical lineup or whatever that is supposed to be occurring that day? My other question is very mundane, it’s that the city in South Carolina, that place in South Carolina, what is the large city near it? DR. LAWAL: That is Sheldon in South Carolina. In fact, between July and August, a lot of African Americans, Hispanic Americans with trace ancestry to the Yoruba congregate in Sheldon to celebrate the Yoruba heritage. In fact there’s a Yoruba village there where ancestors are remembered, there are masks and the tradition is spreading to other parts of the Americas and not only that, if you go to Brazil, in fact, time limitation did not allow me to show masking in Brazil, Shagon monuments in Brazil, in the Caribbean, in Cuba, everywhere. So of course people say the world is becoming a village. During the celebrations even Anglo Americans participate because of the Yoruba cosmology, which says, the world started at - - and that both black and white left - - . In fact in the past whenever white people visited - - they were greeted, welcome home and that is what they did to the first enslavers only to been slaved later, even the Colonial masters were gathered as spirit beings. In fact [foreign language] is said to have created people in many colors, of many shapes, and that if we were all to look alike either all beautiful or ugly, this world would be monotonous and that is why it is necessary to have this variety of colors in humanity. Humanity is one, the material aspect of the body may differ in the interest of variety. DOUG HERMAN: Any of you guys want to take a shot at the other question? MR. WASSEGIJIG PRICE: Yeah I don’t particularly know anything about that tradition. Right, yeah. DOUG HERMAN: Good. Microphone please. FEMALE VOICE: Yeah, I think the closest representative has already left. I think she’s referring to the end of the Mayan long count on the 12th. That’s a guess. DOUG HERMAN: I was wondering if that’s what you were talking about. FEMALE VOICE 1: Yeah. Well that gentleman had a question though before my question if you wanted to come up. So walking from the north to the south, the transition of Orion in the far north means you get to sleep in daylight. The transition of Orion in Minnesota means spring roughly coming? I wasn’t quite sure. I didn’t know if you gentle people had the opportunity to track what certain transitions of constellations means as you move further south. I noted that the first speaker thought that the Pleiadies were kind of the big thing, the big marker for seasons and so forth, but I would be personally curious to hear what is thought among the Puebloan peoples or among the Apache who are kind of in between whether particular constellations rising and falling mean a particular thing; planting time, harvest time, that sort of thing? DOUG HERMAN: If Dr. Urton were here, I think what he would say, because I read his book, is that our understanding of the stars is always culturally based and that culture base he argues almost always comes down to food. So we’re using this to help us understand whether it’s agricultural cycles, whether it’s hunting cycles, or whatever. But he also makes the point, and this was sort of the question I had down here, is that the sky to some extent we can talk about the night sky as being kind of a cultural Rorschach in which we see what we already understand. I mean it helps us to understand some things, but then there’s also what we project onto it. I had an experience the other night, I can see a little bit of the northern sky from my apartment in Baltimore, and I can see the Big Dipper going around the North Star and I can’t see a whole lot else and there’s all this urban light that stops me from seeing a whole lot of stars, but on a particularly clear night I can say, oh, wow, I can see those, I can see those, gosh, I wonder what they are. I wish I knew my constellations. And then having read Gary Urton’s book I said, I can just make up my own, that’s the big triangle, that’s the big W over there. It’s why do I need somebody else’s map if I just look at the sky I can make sense of it myself. So I don’t know if that really answers your question, but I think that we will find, nd it’s an interesting question, I don’t know if anyone has done that kind of comparative cultural astronomy, but that we would find that these things mean different things in different places and it depends on their mode of production, and all these other kinds of things. Pleiades very important in a lot of cultures, which I find very interesting; Hawaiian culture very important. Gentlemen? the Hopi Pueblos look at Pleiades as a time to plant and a time to harvest and they just happen to be at that particular latitude where their growing seasons correlate. But with the Pleiades for us being farther north, that would not correlate. Well for one thing we’re not agricultural traditionally, but the Pleiades had for us a cosmological, and I didn’t include that in my presentation, he Pleiades was a cosmological constellation called [foreign language], which means the hole in the sky. And right about the time of the winter solstice the [foreign language] is almost overhead and that is kind of an alignment of the four worlds of the Ojibwa, the four levels of the universe. So that’s how come that the cedar tree is sacred to us because it is like a cosmological axis that aligns the world with the [foreign language], with the hole in the sky. So that’s why we use cedar in our ceremonies. But it gets really complex when they start telling that story and I didn’t feel totally confident I bringing that story here until I have learned more about those teachings. DOUG HERMAN: Another little thing about the Pleiades again in South America, there was a very interesting scientific study done where some scientist guy or whatever was out there and was told by the villagers that every year this certain group of elders goes to this certain mountain top before dawn and watches for the rise of the Pleiades. And depending on what they see, that determines what the year is going to be like and when they should plant. And so this was just written down as one of these kind of cultural knowledge things. And then the scientist guy said, all right let me check this out, o he went and checked it out. And it had to do with the density of the atmosphere and how that made the Pleiades appear, which is kind of a Farmer’s Almanac way told them okay it’s going to be a wet year or a dry year and he was able to document this and to prove it scientifically. That they actually had science going on here it wasn’t just some kind of, I dare say the word, superstition. And I think what we see and a lot of what we’ve talked about here is that there is deep cultural knowledge in all of these things that combine science, cultural understanding, psychology, a whole range of the human experience. DR. LAWAL: Now among the Yoruba some astrologers instead of looking at the sky, get a bowl of water to reflect the heavens and it is from this bowl that the stars of certain individuals can be identified. So that if somebody is rich and famous and say [foreign language], my star is shining, and then individuals will align with the identifying particular—with their own destiny. And when kings die there are beliefs that certain stars will disappear from or recede back into space until a new king is installed. Of course the body is a mask for mediating souls through reincarnation, through rites of passage. So stars are significant, but they are still children of their subject to other forces. They are all [foreign language], it’s a power, it’s a force in the universe all emitting from a source. MR. MACDONALD: And this is going back a bit to the question I think this point has been made before, but I think it’s important to know and repeat that the constellations as we know them are not what always what other people see. So when it comes to Orion, Orion—excuse me Inuit don’t see Orion in the same sense that we do, it’s broken up. The three main stars in Orion, the ones that I explained, the runners, they’re just separated out of that to be a constellation that’s actually linked with the Hiodies [phonetic] and also with the major star Aldebaran. Similarly the other two stars that we are familiar with in Orion, that’s - - Bellatrix, they’re ones that are completely different constellation or asterism as you might call it, within Inuit culture. And these are called [foreign language] because of their separation, they mean two stars apart. And I’ll just make a very quick point about the gathering of astronomical information these days from lesser known peoples. This is a huge amount of acculturation that native astronomies are undergoing. I did some interviews in communities in Northern Quebec, near the Labrador Coast and I heard to my astonishment that they referred to the Big Dipper as [foreign language]. And I said, I always thought it was [foreign language], meaning the caribou, and this middle aged lady said, no it's [foreign language]. And I said, well when you translate that it means dipper. So I said, where did you first learn that it was called [foreign language] and she said an Anglican minister when I was very young came into our house in a dark night and said it was beautiful clear tonight and that’s how she learned it. So through the backdoor all our acculturations creep in nd begin to really infect and affect native cultural astronomies. Thanks. DOUG HERMAN: I’m afraid I have been given the time up signal, so I’m going to end the formal discussion and hope that those of you who have further questions will stick around and discuss with us, and I apologize for that. [applause] Thank you to all of our speakers and to the National Museum of African Art for their initiating these African art stellar cosmos project. I would just like to say in closing one of the things that we’ve seen here is that we take the sky as a constant nd geologically speaking over time it’s not really, but for our purposes it pretty much is except that it differs what you see from one latitude to the next. And we’ve heard some stories here where stars are in fact ancestors or when you die you become a star, and I would just like to suggest that stars and the stories, the associated artifacts, and the landscape that have been described by some of our speakers here actually are a means by which our ancestors communicate with the people of today, conveying knowledge and ideas. Thank you very much. [applause]