African Skies
The planetarium show will explore the African Skies and African
astronomical mythology. The diverse African peoples have a large
body of cosmological legendary tales which are short, often
humorous, and always educational. The sun, moon, and stars were used
to keep calendars which was used to determine planting, fishing,
hunting, and yearly festivals. The tradition of using songs to
convey information about the sky that would be useful to people on
earth saw further development in the (Follow
the Drinking Gourd Collection story). African-American slaves
used this navigation song to determine the direction of their flight
to freedom from slavery. The underground railroad used the big
dipper (Ursa Major) to orient people on which direction was north in
the little dipper (Ursa Minor). Come to the planetarium and
you too will learn that the night sky still has useful information
about life on earth.
A very interesting site on the differences in the
dirinking gourd song and its uses.
web page by Dr. Harold Alden Williams
last changed on February 1, 2018 at 2:26PM.
Montgomery
College's
Planetarium
home
page