NPPF: CANTO ONE (2) on behalf of Charles

[Jasper Fidget]

Great Bear - Ursa major, also Big Dipper.....

"The constellation Ursa Major contains the group of stars commonly called
the Big Dipper. The handle of the Dipper is the Great Bear's tail and the
Dipper's cup is the Bear's flank. The Big Dipper is not a constellation
itself, but an asterism, which is a distinctive group of stars. Another
famous asterism is the Little Dipper in the constellation Ursa Minor. 

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you can use the Big Dipper to find
all sorts of important stars: 

* If you draw an imaginary line from Merak through Dubhe out of the cup of
the dipper (see the picture above) and continue five times as far as Dubhe
is from Merak, you will arrive at Polaris, the North Star. 

* Now draw an imaginary line along the handle of the dipper and continue the
arc across the sky. Eventually this will lead you to the very bright star,
Arcturus in the constellation Boötes. If you continue the arc further, you
will reach Spica in Virgo. You can remember this by saying "Arc to Arcturus
and Speed to Spica." 

*If you follow the other two stars in the cup of the dipper (Megrez and
Phecda) down below the cup, you will get to Regulus.html, the brightest star
in Leo. 

According to some Native American legends, the bowl of the Big Dipper is a
giant bear and the stars of the handle are three warriors chasing it. The
constellation is low in the sky in autumn evening sky, so it was said that
the hunters had injured the bear and its blood caused the trees to change
color to red. 

Although the whole of Ursa Major is difficult to see without very dark
skies, the Big Dipper is one of the most recognizable patterns in the
northern sky. In other cultures it was identified as a wagon or cart, a
plow, a bull's thigh, and (to the Chinese) the government. 

The Big Dipper was also a very important part of the Underground Railroad
which helped slaves escape from the South before the Civil War. There were
songs spread among the slave population which included references to the
"Drinking Gourd." The songs said to follow it to get to a better life. This
veiled message for the slaves to flee northward was passed along in the form
of songs since a large fraction of the slave population was illiterate. "

http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Ursa_Major.ht
ml

 

more:

" The name "The Great Bear" seems to have been assigned to the constellation
in antiquity, due to its northern latitudes. Only a prodigious bear could
live in such a northerly clime. Interestingly, a number of North American
tribes (Algonquin, Iroquois, Illinois, and Narragansett, among possibly
others) also associated the constellation with a gigantic bear. 

In Greek mythology Callisto, daughter of King Lycaon, was chosen as a young
child to be one of Artemis's companions. Now Artemis was Apollo's sister,
patroness of childbirth and protector of babies and of suckling animals. The
one thing she prized above all was her chastity; she even asked Zeus for
eternal virginity, which he granted. 

Artemis gathered about her a number of young nymphs. Reflecting her own vows
on chastity, she also required complete fidelity from these young women
(girls actually, who would grow into womanhood). One of these was Callisto. 
Zeus had the habit of seducing young maidens, and eventually he got around
to Callisto. When Artemis discovered that Callisto was pregnant, she took
her revenge. Artemis loved to hunt; she would take her revenge in the chase.
So she changed Callisto into a bear. (Remember that Artemis is the same
goddess that caught Actaeon watching her bath. She turned him into a stag
then set his own hounds on him. They ripped him to pieces.) 

So Artemis's plan was to have Callisto, as a bear, hunted down and killed.
But Zeus took pity, and sent Callisto to the heavens, keeping the same form
of a bear. Her son Arcas would grow up to be the ancestral founder of the
Arcadians, before he too joined his mother in the heavens as Ursa Minor. "

http://www.dibonsmith.com/uma_con.htm

but for those who can overlook poor editing, I like this version better...

" Mythological Background: 

According to greek mythology one day the Godfather Zeus saw a beautiful
girl, the nymph Kallisto, and fell in love with her. But Kallisto was one of
the virgin followers of the virgin goddess Diana, the huntress. So Zeus took
the form of Diana to approach Kallisto and managed it to make love to her.
Once Diana saw what had happened (Kallisto was obviously pregnant, when
Diana and all her nymphs take a bath), she send Kallisto away. Even worse,
Hera, the wife of Zeus heard about Kallisto and her now born son Arkas and
become terribly jealous. In her anger she turned her into a bear.
Years later Kallisto, still a bear, met her son Arkas, but was of course not
recognized by him. In his fear Arkas tried to kill the bear, but Zeus
himself took both of them an placed them between the stars and made them two
neighbouring constellations.

When Hera saw Kallisto glittering with the stars she furiously went down to
the ocean to meet Thethys and Oceanos. She told them the story and ask a
favour: that the bear never ever is able to reach the water. And indeed, as
said above, in the northern hemisphere, the constellation of the Great Bear
never touches the ocean. (This story can be found in "Metamorphoses, book
II" by the roman poet Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BC to 17 AC). Its's an
intersting that he speaks of the seven stars of the Bear. This implies that
in those times just the stars forming the asterism of the Big Dipper were
meant to form the bear. Though these stars are even nowadays called the
Great Bear, the constellation is a bit more extended.) "

http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/ursamajor.html