How the Big Dipper and the World Came to Be

This is an ancient creation myth that explains the origin of the world, the sun, moon, stars and constellations.

Transcript

Long before the flow of time ever began, there was the goddess known as Earth and the god known as Sky. Having seen nothing but plain darkness for eons, Earth and Sky had grown bored of the void. Seeking to find meaning in their existence, they decided to create something so extraordinary that no one could ever take their eyes off of it. A beautiful place that would one day be known as World.

Earth began her work by spreading clay across the bottommost parts of the heavens. She would soon realize, however, that she would not have enough clay to cover the whole universe. Instead, she decided to shape World into a sphere. She cast a spell upon it so that no one would ever slip and fall off the edge.

Now it was Sky’s turn to add something. He summoned clouds made from cotton, soaked them in water and squeezed them dry. This caused the first rainfall. It rained so much that it covered most of World in water, giving rise to vast oceans. With the land now wet and muddy, Sky cultivated the soil and grew forests, jungles and plains of grass.

With World now lush and green, Earth used some spare clay to shape the animals and placed them all throughout the land and sea. It was truly an amazing sight. But it was not yet complete. Earth and Sky both realized that it was time to do something that no other god could ever do: create a human.

The two spent a long time carefully designing what a human may look like, making sure that it would be a suitable steward and protector of World and all the other plants and animals that lived upon it. They decided that two humans were needed. Earth carefully designed their bodies out of clay while Sky bestowed upon them a soul from the clouds. From their labors came Wisdom and Patience, the first humans. Earth and Sky gave them their first command: to populate the land with their children.

Although World was beautiful and full of life, it was still a very dark place. The humans could not see where they were going, and they begged Earth and Sky to give them some sort of light to guide their way. To solve this, Earth and Sky boiled chunks of salt in water and scattered them high above. These chunks of salt remained in the air, becoming stars that shone down upon the land below.

One star known as Sun grew so bright that it lit up half of World all at once, turning the heavens above a brilliant light blue. Humanity could now see for many miles. On the other side grew a star named Moon which was not quite as bright, but still bright enough to gently illuminate the dark.

Moon became jealous that Sun was much brighter than he was. Hoping to grow as big as Sun, he began to feast on the animals of the World. He swooped down to the land below, snatched a rabbit and swallowed it whole. Sky witnessed this transgression and punished Moon, for only the humans and animals were allowed to eat the rabbits. Sky branded Moon’s face with that of the rabbit he devoured, sealing his mouth shut so that he could never eat again. Moon begged for forgiveness, so Sky entrusted Moon with a simple task. Follow Sun from east to west so that all parts of the World could share in the light equally. When Sun was in the sky, it was called “day”. And when it was Moon’s turn, it was called “night”.

It was exhausting for Moon to keep up with Sun, so his light would dim as he flew across the sky. When he had the chance to catch his breath, Moon lit up once more. This cycle of dimming and lighting became the phases of the Moon. He could follow Sun for one month before needing to catch his breath.

Unfortunately, the humans could not always see Moon at night. They would find themselves lost in the dark if Moon had ever run out of breath trying to catch up to Sun. To help out the humans, Earth took two bears from the forest and gave them to Sky to place in the northernmost part of the heavens. These two bears, now adorned with stars, became known as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

For three thousand years, the two bears guided the humans during times of night when Moon could not be seen. Humanity could also navigate the oceans under the bears’ guidance. This allowed them to spread across World and build great cities and empires. All was right.

Despite becoming celestial beings, the two bears longed for their time back in the forest. They missed the taste of fish which they used to catch from the river. But they knew if they went back down to World to catch a fish, they would be punished just as Moon was. They despised that rule and thought it unfair. Who were Earth and Sky to tell them what to do? So perhaps it was time to overthrow the rule of the gods.

The two bears patiently waited and waited. They studied the schedules of Earth and Sky: when they would work the fields, when they would water the plants, when they would sleep. When the time was right, the two bears ambushed Earth and Sky, slashing at them with razor sharp claws. This act of betrayal was the start of the War of the Heavens.

For six hundred long years, the two bears fought tooth and claw against Earth and Sky, setting the heavens ablaze. The violence shook the universe with roaring thunder. It knocked the stars from the heavens and sent them crashing to the ground. But some of these stars fell into the ocean, filling the water with salt. Because of this, humans could no longer drink from the ocean, but they were resourceful enough to realize that salt could still be used to preserve food.

When the violent war came to an end, Earth and Sky had lost much of their power. Sky became cursed with the same hunger as Moon and the two bears. To make the best of it, he learned how to use the bow to hunt for food just as the humans did. To this day, he is known as Orion the Hunter, and his constellation can still be seen in the night sky.

The War of the Heavens had also thrown World off balance, causing it to sink into the void below. Earth turned into a tortoise and used her shell to hold up World before it could fall any further. She would have to endure its weight as it grew with the universe for the millennia to come.

To celebrate their victories, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor went down to World to eat some fish. While they were down there, they learned from the humans how to cook food using metal pots. When they ate a cooked fish for the first time, they became delighted.

As a reward for humanity’s generosity, the two bears decided to make navigation at night easier than ever, especially after the war had shaken up the placement of the constellations. The two bears placed a star in the sky named Polaris that would always be wherever north was. Now, humanity would never get lost at night.

When Ursa Major and Ursa Minor returned to the heavens, they took their cooking pots with them so that they could cook and eat fish whenever they wanted. When you look up at the sky, you can still see them with those cooking pots today. We now call them the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.

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