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What are the other names for the Big Dipper along with their cultural origin?

April 26, 2017big Cultural Dipper names origin

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kevinkevin kimkim kevin kim Posted

What are the other names for the Big Dipper along with their cultural origin?

1 Answer

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Valerie Gaglione Schott Posted

The Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major or "Great Bear". Most cultures have had their hand in naming the different constellations and also in naming the Big Dipper. Some cultures described the parts of the Big Dipper while others gave it a formal name. A few of those names and descriptions are as follows:

Hindu: Seven Sages (or wise men)

Romans: Big Bear

English: Plough

Ancient Chinese: Special Chariot for the Emperor of Heaven

Early Egyptians: the thigh and leg of a bull.

French: Saucepan

Mirmac Indians: the bowl was the bear and the stars in the handle were hunters who were tracking the bear.

Ancient Maya: a parrot called Seven Macaw

Skidi Pawnee Indians: a stretcher on which a sick man might be carried

and my favorite…

The freed slaves saw the Drinking Gourd (as they called the Big Dipper) as a symbol of freedom as they followed it in the Underground Railroad to bring them to the northern states.