The Great Bear and the Big Dipper©

 

 

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Everyone knows how to find the North Star with the Big Dipper, right? ... Well, okay most people know how to ... Right, right, but anyways, everyone should know how to! 

 

But what hardly anyone knows is the part that the Great Bear and the Big Dipper have played in human culture and thought since as far back as paleolithic times, that is more than 400 generations or at least 12,000 years.

 

The Great Bear (Ursa Majoris) and the Big Dipper are two different star patterns that both make up one larger star constellation.  This constellation can be seen from most places on Earth, except those locations closer to the South Pole, such as Argentina, the south of Australia or some parts of South Africa.  It is considered to be the oldest constellation and has been known by many names over many years and many different cultures.  It was called the bear in Asia, in northern Europe, and in Egypt and Greece.  In North America, the Native Americans called this constellation the “Bear and the Hunters”, since they envisioned the three stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, as three hunters hunting the bear in front of them.  For some of the Finno-Ugric people of northern Europe, the Big Dipper was seen as a celestial elk (a moose in North America) during the winter and a celestial bear during the summer.

  

In fact, there is some thought that the paleolithic bear cult that was common throughout northern Europe, might have been tied to the Great Bear constellation, because of remnant legends and practices that continued until the 18^th and 19th centuries in northern Scandinavia, the Baltic areas and Finland.

 

Since the Great Bear is a northern circumpolar constellation and since the Greeks called this constellation “Arctos”, the area around the north pole is called the Arctic, and the south pole, is called Antarctic, which means “opposite of the Arctic”.

 

The Great Bear/Big Dipper rotates slowly around the current north pole star, Polaris, in a counter-clockwise direction through the night and through the seasons.  In the spring it will rise upside down directly over the North Star and set to the west of the star; in the summer it will rise west of the star and before setting below the star; in the autumn it will rise directly under the star, before setting to the east of the star; and in the winter it will rise to the east of the star and then set upside down directly over the North Star.

 

For information on how to tell time with the Big Dipper go HERE.

  

So now we know, and next time you are enjoying a game of Trivial Pursuit, maybe this will help!

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

 

Sources

 

Banksy; “Fast Food Caveman”, from Pyramid America Framed Plexi Posters on Amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Pyramid-America-Caveman-Graffiti-enmarcada/dp/B01NBC0CIB, accessed November 12, 2024

 

Harding, Arthur M.; Astronomy, [Garden City Publishing Company, Garden City, NY, 1935] pages 278 to 283, https://books.google.com/books?id=pf8_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA278&dq=%22great+bear%22+%22the+plough%22+%22big+dipper%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjeu_-9r8aLAxXPkokEHQg-EKIQ6AF6BAgNEAM#v=onepage&q=%22great%20bear%22%20%22the%20plough%22%20%22big%20dipper%22&f=false, accessed February 15, 2025

 

Kinney, Muriel; Stars and Their Stories, [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1926], page 23, https://books.google.com/books?id=6Dl0twR6WnQC&pg=PA23&dq=%22great+bear%22+%22the+plough%22+%22big+dipper%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNwIS0_8OLAxWHFVkFHbAkB7UQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=%22great%20bear%22%20%22the%20plough%22%20%22big%20dipper%22&f=false, accessed February 15, 2025

 

Ridderstad, Marianna P.; “The Bear and the Year: On the Origin of the Finnish Late Iron Age Folk Calendar and its Connection to the Bear Cult”, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 16, No 4, 2016, pages 355-341, https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/ba73551f-3c12-46bc-bae2-3cbcdfc222d8/content, accessed February 15, 2025

 

Stone, Elena; “Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) Explained For Kids. Facts, Myth & Stars”, [Little Astronomy], https://littleastronomy.com/ursa-major-explained-for-kids/, accessed February 15, 2025

 

Wikimedia, “Starry Night Over the Rhône”, by Vincent van Gogh, 1888, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starry_Night_Over_the_Rhone.jpg, accessed February 15, 2025