The big bird that takes away water

 

The constellation of the Southern Cross has inspired similar myths among indigenous peoples as far apart as Australia and South America. Why?

Southern Cross (Wikipedia – Yulanlu97). 

 

 

Did people cross the Pacific in pre-Columbian times? This question has aroused renewed interest with the discovery of sweet potato remains at Polynesian sites dated to A.D. 1000. There also seem to be loan-words of Polynesian origin in some Amerindian languages (Jones et al. 2011). Finally, we have strong evidence that Polynesians introduced chickens to the west coast of South America in prehistoric times, probably A.D. 1300-1420 (Fitzpatrick and Callaghan 2009).

 

A new piece of evidence is the similarity between a myth told by Aboriginal Australians, particularly those of southeast Australia, and a myth told by indigenous peoples in Argentina and central Brazil. In both cases, one finds the same two elements:

 

- A large flightless bird that can cause the land to dry up.

- The constellation of the Southern Cross and two adjacent regions of the sky: the Southern Pointers (Alpha and Beta Centauri) and the Coalsack Nebula

 

These similarities are mentioned by Gullberg et al. (2020) in a cross-cultural study of beliefs about the 'Dark Constellations':

 

Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi, Euahlayi, and others (Australia)

 

The Emu in the Sky is perhaps the best-known Aboriginal dark constellation (Figure 2). It is the silhouette of an emu traced out by the dark nebulae within the plane of the Milky Way and is featured in the traditions of Aboriginal people across Australia. The Coalsack Nebula, near the Southern Cross, forms the head, and the body extends along the dust lanes through Centaurus in the Milky Way, to the body as outlined by the galactic bulge in Scorpius and Sagittarius (Gullberg et al. 2020, p. 392)

 

When the celestial emu swings to where it is low on the horizon in October and November, the galactic bulge is now seen as the backside of an emu sitting in a waterhole, displacing the water and causing the land to dry up as the hot summer months approach. (Gullberg et al. 2020, p. 393)

 

Moqoit (Argentina)

 

Due to this crucial role of the Milky Way and the fact that it is a huge area of diffuse brightness interrupted by dark spots, it is not surprising that the Moqoit pay attention to dark patterns on it. The most important of all of them is the Mañic, the master of the South American rheas, a large flightless bird similar to an emu or ostrich shown in (Figure 5)

 

[…] We know many Moqoit stories mention that in the time of the origins, the master of Mañic used to shelter in a number of burrows, under the roots of an ombú (a very big tree, seen as the world tree—the Milky Way), and eat humans. Lapilalaxachi, a powerful human ancestor of the Moqoit people identified with the Pleiades, decided to face the Mañic. He chased the Mañic throughout the world and the cornered Mañic climbed up the ombú trunk to the sky.

 

Today, the shadow-soul (la 'al) of the Mañic can be seen in the Milky Way's dark clouds, with its head in what we know as the Coalsack (around -59° 50' galactic longitude). Alpha and Beta Centauri are the dogs of the man chasing the Mañic and bite at its neck (López and Giménez-Benítez, 2008). The Mañic's head is the Coalsack.

(Gullberg et al. 2020, p. 396)

 

Tupi (central Brazil)

 

In a similar view, the Tupi people of central Brazil also perceive a rhea in the sky, making essentially the same shape as the Aboriginal emu. The rhea and the emu are both large, flightless birds with a similar appearance and breeding cycle. Just as in Moqoit traditions, the head of the rhea is the Coalsack, and the body is traced out by dust lanes in Centaurus and Scorpius. The Tupi associate the rhea with the end of the world. The stars of Crux are holding the head of this animal. If it escapes, it will drink all the water of the world (Alencar, 2011)

(Gullberg et al. 2020, p. 397)

 

 

Why is this myth found only in Australia and South America? Why is it absent in-between? Actually, a version does exist on the Polynesian island of Tonga, except that the large flightless bird is a giant duck and it simply keeps people from getting access to water:

 

Tongans (Polynesia)

 

Polynesians of the Pacific recognise dark spaces in the Milky Way, focusing on the Coalsack Nebula and relating it to fish or fishing. Polynesian traditions of Tonga describe it as Humu (a giant triggerfish). In their traditions (Gifford, 1924), a Tongan chief named Ma'afu took a lizard wife and had twin sons, which they wanted gone as the chief's subjects were afraid of the pair. Ma'afu sneakily instructed the brothers to collect water from a waterhole containing a giant duck that would kill and consume anyone who came too close. The boys were attacked by the duck but grabbed it by the neck and killed it. When the boys returned unharmed, the father instructed them to obtain water from a more distant waterhole, inhabited by Humu, a triggerfish (these are large aggressive animals with powerful teeth designed for crushing shellfish). The boys killed the triggerfish and in anger at this, the father blurted out his secret to have the boys killed. The boys walked away and ascended to the stars, each carrying one of the two animals they killed. The twins became the Magellanic Clouds, the duck became the Southern Cross (with the duck's bill as γ Crucis), and Humu became the Coalsack Nebula

(Gullberg et al. 2020, p. 398)

 

 

My thoughts

 

This myth seems to have begun in one of three areas (Australia, Polynesia, South America) and then spread to the other two. If it began among Aboriginal Australians, the myth could be very old, going back perhaps 65,000 years. If it began among the Amerindian peoples of South America, it may go back 10,000 years. Finally, if it began among the Polynesians, the time depth would be no more than 3,500 years. The first and last scenarios seem most likely, given that oceanic travel was much easier from Polynesia to South America than the reverse (Fitzpatrick and Callaghan 2009).

 

Nonetheless, all of the scenarios run into a big problem: the myth is known to South American groups on the east side of the continent but not to those on the west side (which would be more consistent with trans-Pacific contact). I can think of only one other scenario. Given that the Americas were once inhabited by a population related to Aboriginal Australians and similar groups in Southeast Asia (Frost 2015), the myth may have originated in Asia more than 65,000 years ago and then spread in two directions: to Australia via Southeast Asia and to the Americas via the Bering Strait. But could a myth survive intact for that long?

 

Two other things leave me wondering. Why would the sky around the Southern Cross be seen as a large flightless bird? Gullberg et al. (2020) provide several pictures of that part of the sky and trace the outline of a bird on them. To my eyes, one could just as easily trace the outline of many other animals.

 

Finally, is this evidence, à la Von Däniken, of extraterrestrial contact? Keep in mind that the region of the Southern Cross includes the closest star system to ours. And if that system does have intelligent life, should we be reaching out to them and inviting them over? The last time around they didn’t leave a good impression.

 

Enough! I shouldn’t let myself get carried away. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and a single myth hardly qualifies as extraordinary.

 

 

References

 

Fitzpatrick, S.M. and R. Callaghan. (2009). Examining dispersal mechanisms for the translocation of chicken (Gallus gallus) from Polynesia to South America. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(2): 214-223.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.002

 

Frost, P. (2015). Guess who first came to America? Evo and Proud. August 1

http://evoandproud.blogspot.com/2015/08/guess-who-first-came-to-america.html

 

Gullberg, S.R., D.W. Hamacher, A. Martin-Lopez, J. Mejuto, A.M. Munro, and W. Orchiston. (2020). A Cultural Comparison of the 'Dark Constellations' in the Milky Way. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 23(2): 390-404.

http://www.narit.or.th/files/JAHH/2020JAHHvol23/2020JAHH...23..390G.pdf

 

Jones, T.L., A.A. Storey, E.A. Matisoo-Smith, and J.M. Ramirez-Altamira (eds). (2011). Polynesians in America: Pre-Columbian Contacts with the New World. Rowman Altamira.