Podcaster: Ni Nyoman Ayu Cinde Dhitasari or Dhita Pettit
Title: East meets West: The Plough Constellations
Organization: Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Space Odyssey Exhibit
Links: http://www.dmns.org/
Description: In this podcast we will explore two different Plough Constellations in two cultures, and how the ancient Javanese people of Indonesia used their Plough Constellation as a guide in farming
Bio: Ni Nyoman Ayu Cinde Dhitasari, or simply Dhita Pettit is a volunteer at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Space Odyssey Exhibit. An Astronomy enthusiast, she just discovered her passion for the relations of culture, both ancient and modern/pop, and Astronomy. She hopes to explore more of the ancient astronomy of her own home country, Indonesia.
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Transcript:
Hello everyone! Welcome to 365 Days of Astronomy podcast! This is Dhita from Indonesia, and I am a volunteer at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Space Odyssey Exhibit. Today we will talk about Plough Constellations. Wait….did I say constellations? There is more than just one Plough Constellation? The answer is….yes!!
In the Western countries, people refer the asterism Big Dipper, a part of the constellation Ursa Major as the Plough. It really makes sense, because the configuration of its brightest stars resembles a modern- day plough. This asterism of seven stars is commonly used to navigate the polar north.
However, when you go to the island of Java, Indonesia and talk about the Plough Constellation, you might get lost in translation. You are talking about the Big Dipper, but the Javanese people might talk about a different constellation. How can this be? It’s all rooted in a farming calendar of the ancient Javanese, called the Pranata Mangsa.
Ancient Javanese were mostly farmers. In 1856, the Sultanate of Surakarta in Central Java developed a farming calendar as a guide for rice farmers. This was an era when rice farming was still a traditional process and only gain one harvest per year instead of the modern rice farming that can gain 3 to 4 harvests a year. Because of that, the timing of farming is very important.
The calendar observes the signs of nature as their main guide, including a constellation. They called this constellation the Plough, but it’s not the Big Dipper! It turns out to be the constellation Orion. On the equator, Orion appears on its side. For Javanese people the three stars of Orion’s belt and Orion’s major stars, excluding Betelgeuse, resembles their traditional plough, or commonly known as Weluku. How do they use Orion as a farming guide? Here is some of the general guides from Pranata Mangsa:
- Summer solstice is the beginning of the planting year. During this time Orion is on its heliacal rise: it appears on the pre-dawn sky in the east. Javanese people see the Weluku or the plough as upright, then it’s a sign that the planting year has begun. Not necessarily the planting activity itself, but the planting year.
- Five months later, Orion is on its acronical rise: it appears during sunset in the east. This is a sign for the farmers to begin the rice planting. The women will sow the seeds to the nursery fields while the men will start plowing the main field, preparing it for when the seedlings are ready.
- Once the seedlings are ready, the farmer will move them from the nursery field into the main field. As they do this Orion rises higher and higher in the sky. Eventually, when all the planting process is done, Orion reaches its culmination at dusk.
- Four months after the beginning of the planting season, Orion appears lower and lower in the sky. At the end of this period Orion appears low in the western sky after sunset in the shape that perceived by Javanese people as an upside down plough. Javanese people put their plough upside down when not in use during the non-planting season. For them, the upside down plough in the sky indicates the end of the planting season. When Orion eventually disappears from the sky it’s a sign that the planting year is officially over.
Of course, Orion is not the only guide they use, but it’s pretty neat! So now we know that Plough Constellation might be a different constellation in different places!!!
Thank you for listening!!
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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