Our island forebears knew the stars
By THOMAS HUKAHU
THE knowledge of the stars and suns as shared with you last week could be found in textbooks or websites.
A lot about the heavens though was known by our traditional people, particularly islanders, and that knowledge helped them navigate their sailing canoes in long sea voyages, or fish in the sea for different types of fish, as well as planting of crops.
This is what I learned decades ago from my maternal uncles, who are islanders. (Some of this knowledge on traditional astronomy was shared in a conference on indigenous knowledge systems at the University of Papua New Guinea back in 2004. Part of my talk then can be found in the book Reframing Indigenous Knowledge – Cultural Knowledge and Practices in PNG. It is a compilation of articles presented in the conference which were edited by Dr Steven Winduo of UPNG.)
Western astronomy as we know it
Much of western astronomy came from the old Greek empire, including the names of constellations that we still use, which are based on characters in Greek mythology – like Orion (the Hunter); Pleiades (the seven daughters), Scorpius (the Scorpion) and Centaurus (the Centaur).
But knowledge from Greece must have come from the older empires from the Middle East (Babylon), as well as from Persia and Egypt.
The old American empires as those of the Aztecs and Mayans, as well as other Indian tribes, had developed their own form of astronomy too. Those who travelled the American prairies would certainly use the stars at night to guide them should they miss important natural landmarks like mountains or rivers.
In a sense, traditional astronomers were scientists and mathematicians. Shigeru Nakayama in a History of Japanese Astronomy says, “Astronomy is the oldest mathematical science in many cultures; China and Japan are no exception.”
Astronomy is also said to be the oldest and perhaps the most typical of natural sciences.
My uncles taught me traditional astronomy
My introduction to traditional astronomy (also called indigenous astronomy or ethno-astronomy) came in an interesting way.
About eight years after I read the book on astronomy in Grade 12, and while I was back home in East Sepik and teaching high school science, I interviewed two of my maternal uncles (who are islanders) regarding concepts of telling weather patterns as practised by our traditional people.
What the two (Waw Gabriel and the late Waw Benjamin) told me that Saturday afternoon in the mid-1990s brought back to life a few concepts that I read in the book years ago.
The horizontal calendar
If you watch the rising sun every morning, you will notice that it will not rise in the same position every day.
This knowledge, which is called the horizontal calendar (from horizon), was known by astronomers all over the world for centuries.
People watching the sun regularly will notice its rising (or setting) position would change over the course of the year. (This is due to the tilt of the earth on its axis and is the cause of our changing weather patterns.)
That knowledge has enabled traditional people everywhere (in Egypt, Babylon, Britain, the Aborigines of Australia and Americas, as well as Pacific islanders) to tell the end or onset of different seasons.
Over the course of the year the rising (or setting) sun will seem to change its position from a most northerly position (the winter solstice in June 20-22) to its most southerly position (the summer solstice in Dec 20-22). The sun will cross the middle point of the journey two times in the year, on March 20 and Sept 22-23. These are the equinoxes, the days when the sun is actually moving over the equator.
Traditional people use natural landmarks like mountains, or neighbouring islands, to monitor the rising or setting sun and note the solstices and equinoxes. That would help them plan for the different seasons, including the change in the winds, like the dominant seasonal north-westerly and south-easterly winds.
The traditional astronomy of Koil islanders
My two uncles are from Koil, a small island 65km to the northeast of Wewak, the provincial capital on the mainland of East Sepik. Koil is one of the islands in the Schouten Islands, a group that includes Vokeo (the most westerly), Koil, Wei, Ruprup, Kadovar and Biem.
People on Koil can tell the end or start of seasons by watching the position of the sun setting in the west. Mt Turu, the highest mountain in East Sepik, is the natural marker that the islanders use to tell how far north or south of Mt Turu the sun sets.
Koil is much flatter than Vokeo, its bigger sister to the west, and it is my belief that they have refined their astronomical knowledge better to help them in the navigation of their sailing canoes used in the traditional Wonkau trade expedition.
The Wonkau expedition involves the islanders travelling to the mainland as far as to Murik, on the eastern coast of the mainland, where the islanders trade galip nuts and fish for sago and other mainland crops as well as tobacco (brus).
If they were travelling at night (or early morning) to Murik, they will ensure they are travelling towards where the Southern Cross would be at its highest point. They would also use that in their travel back home after the expedition.
Another way of telling seasons
The horizontal calendar is one way of telling the change in seasons.
However, not all islanders live in places where natural markers (like mountains on the mainland or neighbouring islands) are present. In that case, they use the constellations.
For a star gazer, it is obvious that Orion as well as Pleiades are usually present in the sky most of the night towards the end of or starting of the year. Six months later, they would be on the different part of the sky, while constellations like Scorpius can be seen most of the night.
Micronesians and Polynesians see Pleiades (in Taurus) and Antares (in Scorpius) as stars that control the weather. The former can be seen towards the end of the year while the latter can be seen towards mid-year.
Maori sailors passing on their knowledge
These days some traditional sailors or navigators are still passing their traditional astronomy and navigation skills to their younger generation.
In 2012, while I was in Nouméa, New Caledonia, for a course, I noticed a traditional sailing canoe berthing in the Port Moselle Harbour one afternoon. When I went there to investigate, I was met by two Maori sailors – Howard James and Panau Karlo – on their vaka (traditional Maori sailing vessel) who informed me that they were travelling down from Vanuatu and would later go on to Auckland.
James said they were a group known as Pacific Voyagers, and they had a number of young people on board (including a girl) who they are teaching their traditional skills of navigating the vessel. The vaka uses the wind to sail and at times get help from a small engine powered by solar energy.
Capt James Cook sought Pacific navigators
Traditional navigators in the Pacific Islanders have been acknowledged in history. When Capt James Cook came to the Pacific on HMS Endeavour in his first journey (1768-71), he dropped by Tahiti and engaged Tupaia, a traditional navigator/priest from Ra’ateia to help with navigation around the islands.
You see, Cook came from the Northern Hemisphere and he was not too sure about the islands in the south as well as the constellations in the southern night sky to use and navigate his ship. Even the Southern Cross, which all Pacific Islanders knew, is unknown to most people in the other hemisphere.
It was Tupaia who helped Cook in guiding his ship to Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the southern continent (Australia). There is a story too about Tupaia becoming an interpreter and communicating with his Polynesian cousins, the Maoris, who approached Cook and his delegation when they went ashore in New Zealand. In Cook’s second journey to the Pacific he took on board Omai (also called Mai) another native from Ra’iatea, to help guide him.
Traditional astronomers were chiefs and priests
In many traditional societies, including the old empires as in America and Egypt, the work of preparing a calendar and announcing the change in times were roles performed by a noble group of people, usually the priests or chiefs of traditional societies.
The ancient Egyptians did the same where they watched the ascent of Sirius (the Dog Star in Canis Major) with the rising sun in the east. This event heralded the overflow of the Nile.
Priests announced the event to the people who prepared for the planting of crops.
They were like the astronomers and meteorologists (people who studied the atmosphere or weather) of their people.
n Next week: Physics: Exciting and for the bold. Thomas Hukahu is a freelance journalist.