Tracing the celestial deer – an ancient motif and its astronomical interpretation across cultures
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 62–65
Pub. online: 20 December 2008
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
26 October 2007
26 October 2007
Revised
25 May 2008
25 May 2008
Published
20 December 2008
20 December 2008
Abstract
Ancient cultures of the northern hemisphere created symbols, myths, and rituals that related deer to certain astronomical phenomena, to cosmological and cosmogonical ideas, and to hunting calendars. From their knowledge of the animal’s appearance, behaviour, and phenology they derived conceptions of power, fertility, creation and renewal, life and death, and psychosomatic transformation during a shamanistic seance.