Cosmic Hunt: Variants of Siberian-North American Myth

Abstract

The mythological motif of the Cosmic Hunt is peculiar to Northern and Central Eurasia and for the Americas but seems to be absent in other parts of the globe. Two distinct Eurasian versions demonstrate North-American parallels at the level of minor details which could be explained only by particular historical links between corresponding traditions. The first version (three stars of the handle of the Big Dipper are hunters and the dipper itself is an animal; Alcor is a dog or a cooking pot) connects Siberian (especially Western Siberian) traditions with the North-American West (Salish, Chinook) and East (especially with the Iroquois). The second version (the Orion's Belt represents three deer, antelopes, mountain sheep or buffaloes; the hunter is Rigel or other star below the Orion's Belt; his arrow has pierced the game and is seen either as Betelgeuze or as the stars of Orion's Head) connects the South-Siberian -Central-Eurasian mythologies with traditions of North-American West -Southwest. Both variants unknown in Northeast Asia and in Alaska probably date to the time of initial settling of the New World. The circum-Arctic variant(s) (hunter or game are associated with Orion or the Pleiades) are represented by neighbouring traditions which form an almost continuous chain from the Lapps to the Polar Inuit. This version could be brought across the American Arctic with the spread of Tule Eskimo.

Cosmonymy In Bashkir Folklore: Traditions And Modern Preservation In The People'S Memory

“…Illustrative coincidences of the American Milky Way with the cosmonyms of the Turkic and Mongol peoples of Southern Siberia and Central Asia (Berezkin, 2006), parallels common with the Andamanians, Papua and Australian aborigines identified by geneticists (Skoglund et al, 2015) and population studies (Moreno-Mayar et al, 2018) actualize new approaches, in-depth studies of folklore, linguistic culture, worldview of ethnic groups. All this will reveal the archaic layers, patterns of understanding of the universe, their connections, ethnosemantics of their own local creations, as well as information about movements of peoples around the world.…”

Seven Brothers and the Cosmic Hunt: European sky in the past

“…The different psychological characteristics of the three hunters are highly specific details that evidence in favour of historic links between the Circum-Yenissei and Orochon versions. These links can be further followed to the North American Salishan (in particular Thompson) traditions of the Northern Plateau (Teit 1900: 341-342) and to Iroquois and Algonkian traditions of the Northeast (Fox, Seneca and probably other Five Nations, Micmac, Lenape) as well as to the Cherokee who lived to the South of other Iroquois (Berezkin 2006a). In most of these versions, both American and Siberian, Alkor is either a cooking pot or a dog and three hunters possess different characteristics though in the American Northeast they are not men of different nations but birds of different species.…”

Plejaadid kui taevaavad, Linnutee ja neiu Kuul: kultuuriseosed Põhja-Euraasias

“…Põhja-Euraasiast kaugemal leidub kujutelm Plejaadidest kui avaust ümbritsevatest tähtedest veel odžibve (ojibwa) rahva seas (Speck 1915: 48). Võttes arvesse asjaolu, et Aasia ja Põhja-Ameerika mütoloogiate vahele saab tõmmata teisigi paralleele (Berezkin 2006), ei saa välistada ajaloolist seost selle kujundi ja Siberis levinud arusaamade vahel.…”