Short stories about celestial bodies

The Sun and the Moon

Master Sun wanted to devour the children of the Moon, who were beautiful little stars.  The Sun was also surrounded by his own beautiful little stars.
-    Mistress, said the Sun to the Moon, I’m tired of seeing the same stars around me all the time.  Let’s exchange our children.
-    All right, my Master, said the Moon.  This is what I suggest we do.  Every day you send me one of your children, and in return I’ll send you one of mine.
-    Agreed, my Mistress, said the Sun.

The next day, the Sun sent his first child.  The Moon dressed this child to look like one of her own, and sent it back to the Sun, who promptly ate the child.  In this way, the Sun devoured all of his children and the Moon managed to keep all of hers.  Ever since, when the Sun rises in the morning he is all alone in a sky without stars, whereas the Moon, when she appears, is always surrounded by all her children.

The moral of this story is that it is better to take action before actions take you by surprise.

Auxence Contout, from the book “La Guyane: ses contes” (“Guiana and its Tales”)

The Night Lamp

Humphrey Akalepjo is a Galibi, one of six Amerindian ethnic groups in French Guiana.  He has worked at the space base since 1983.  Humphrey works for Cegelec Space as a technician, preparing satellites, and has managed to retain strong links with his culture.  “For us, Nouno, the Moon, is the Night Lamp.  Our traditional festivities always take place during the full moon.  Nouno is our guide, for instance helping us to decide when to plant the cleared ground; if you plant during the full moon, Nature will help the crops to grow well.  We also call on her when fishing: her position tells us whether the tide is high or low.  As for Uweyu, the Sun, he is our guide during the day and is essential to life.”  And when the two bodies cross, the Amerindians tremble: “We sleep in hammocks beneath the carbet (traditional dwelling).  Before, eclipses often used to happen at night and we would say that the Moon had been wounded by the Sun because its red colour looked like blood.  Out of fear that it might flow onto us, we would throw out anything ready-prepared and edible: food and cachiri (a fermented liquor).  And we would make a great deal of noise, praying to the spirits of Nature until the Moon became normal again.  We even grabbed our dogs by the tail to make them bark too.”  As a people close to Nature, the Galibis have established strong bonds with the stars, chiritcho.  This term refers to “a constellation of seven stars, visible once a year between 4 and 6 o’clock in the morning, in the shape of a man’s head.  Chiritcho therefore also denotes a year.  For us it is a reference date like your New Year!”  But the most wonderful story is that of Alukuma, undoubtedly the planet Venus: “when adults can see that Alukuma is directly above their heads, around midnight, they go and wake their children to enable them to observe her too, as she makes the children shine.  Babies that cannot yet walk are placed on rooftops to receive the star’s blessings.  A child who sleeps badly or cries often will thus be helped by Alukuma.”  Humphrey finishes by stating calmly that “when we need something, we ask Nature for it while looking at the stars.”

God’s Hatchet

Today, Asobi Samson, who everyone simply calls Samson, has three favourite planets: Venus, Mars and Jupiter-1.  A maintenance man at the space base since 1980, he takes care of the buildings daily as an employee of Sodex Net. Samson tells us that “in the land of Saramaca, they say that there is no jealousy between day and night: every day the Sun, Sonoe, gets up at around 6:00am and goes to bed at around 6:30pm.”   As for stars, the Businenge people mention two, “very bright and close to the Moon: Kenge, the nearest, the Lady of the Moon, and Dongo, who doesn’t see her husband every day, so they say!  For us, they represent the alternation of everything.”  For the Businenge, an eclipse “is a bad time: it is dark during the day, which is not logical.  So the people pray to the Ancients.  We also fear shooting stars and meteorites, Gaan Gadu matjau, God’s hatchet”: the Saramaca believe that meteorites break free from the Moon in a filament of fire and fall to Earth where they risk setting fire to the forest.  NB: around 500 rocks the size of a tennis ball reach Earth each year [Editor’s note].  In addition, the celestial bodies hold an important place in traditional Businenge art, the Tembe.  Sculpted or painted, patterns that have a connection with the heavens have largely positive symbolism: beauty, happiness, infinity and other great qualities.  Born in Distrikt Brokopondo in Surinam, Samson is a Saramaca, one of the six Businenge ethnic groups.  They are descended from African slaves who fled into the Amazonian forest after 1700 in order to fight for their freedom.

The Beautiful Lady

A child of the “first people to have drawn a map of the skies and noted the passing of comets,” Christelle Ying Ping has been working for space and Europe for many years.  Born in Taiwan but living in France since she was fifteen, this friendly Chinese lady coordinates the optical-video activity at CSG within the IEC/Sarvis consortium.  Now Christelle follows Ariane’s flight towards the skies with her own eyes, but when she was little she looked towards another lady, at the time of the Mid-Autumn Festival also known as the Moon Festival.  “One legend told of Chang’E who married the courageous archer Hou Yin.  Having become king after destroying nine of the ten suns that were consuming the Earth, Hou Yin turned out to be a tyrant who was obsessed with immortality.  Stealing his elixir of youth and drinking it in order to save the people from her husband’s cruelty, Chang’E felt her body floating away to find refuge on the Moon.  Hou Yin loved his wife so much that he decided to spare the Moon.”  According to legend, during the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival the Moon shines particularly brightly and is rounder than any other time of the year [15 August according to the Chinese lunar calendar, or 15 September in the Western calendar].  If you observe the Moon very closely you might just see Chang’E in her palace. Christelle remembers very clearly those evenings when her mother showed her the Moon: “Look, the beautiful lady is up there!”  From conversations with her father, she has built up a picture of a nation making a long series of discoveries, helped by the planets and a tenuous link with the stars: “For a long time, astrology and astronomy were linked.  The Chinese believe that the position of the planets influences human life.  In addition, the Chinese calendar indicates the luckiest dates for particular events.”