Tonight, I was reading in my textbook for my Cultural Astronomy class and came across an extremely beautiful legend. The text that I'm reading is an anthropological study of the Bororo tribe, who are the natives of Brazil... I believe. The man who wrote this book, his last name is Fabian, lived among this tribe to learn their customs and beliefs in order to write his dissertation for his Doctorates degree in Anthropology. His focus was to learn how this tribe relates to the Heavens and what their Astrological belief systems were and still are. It's quite beautiful, the legends that he narrates in this book. The narrations are brief in comparison to the science aspect of all of it, but they are beautiful all the same. The specific legend I am going to relate to you is the legend of how the Bororo tribe believes the stars came to be.
It was during a time when the men of the tribe were out hunting and gathering, so it was a season of hunting. They left their home to go out to gather and provide for their people. While the men were gone, the women every day would go out to the land to try to find food for their children. The women would be gone for a long time and would return at night with no food for their children. They told the children that they were not able to find anything to bring to them. One day, a particularly pesky child convinced his mother to let him go out with her to find food. She let him. And while he was with the women, they came across a massive corn field and the women ate corn all day, when they returned to their children, they claimed that they could not find food. The next day when the women left, this little boy told the other children what he saw and all the food that their mothers found but would not share with them. The children discussed what they should do and it was decided that they would run away from their mothers. They sent Hummingbird up to the sky with a string, and Hummingbird flew to the Heavens and secured the string for the children to climb up in order to escape their mothers. The children began to climb, higher and higher. The mothers came home and looked for their children, wondering where they had gone. One mother looked to the Heavens and saw the last of the children climbing away from them. She exclaimed to the other mothers and all the mothers looked up and tried to encourage their children to come down and nurse from them for nourishment. When their enticing didn't work, the m others began to climb up the string to go after the children. As the last child finished his climb, he looked down in to the face of his mother and he cut the string. The mothers all fell to the earth and turned into wild animals, left to forever roam the earth in search for food. The men returned to the village and could not find their children. They heard the laughter of their children above them and looked up towards the Heavens where they saw their children. Their children became stars of the Heavens and beautified the sky.
I couldn't help but think to myself after I read that, how sad the fathers must have been when they got home and found that their children were missing. And then the sorrow mixed with joy that they must have felt when they realized that their children were the stars the lit up the night of the sky. They must have longed for them so much and missed them so much, but at the same time, they must have cherished them even more for lighting up their lives and making their darkest nights bright. They must have watched the skies every night in anticipation of their children growing up and moving on... and when the seasons changed, their children would move one, but eventually they would come back to see their fathers. And their fathers must have watched patiently every night for the return of the light of their beloved children.
It's hard not to hear that legend and think of Baby Boy. He is a bright star and I get to watch him from a distance. I miss him, but I'm happy that he gets to shine so brightly in his surroundings with his family and siblings. I think I know how those fathers of old felt when they would gaze up at the sky at their children. Maybe that's why that legend is so beautiful, is because I feel like I can relate to it. And maybe that's what makes it so beautiful, is that a person of such modern understanding can feel and tangibly understand the emotions connected with the belief of a culture that still believes in ancient legend to understand the Heavens. And, I think, beyond that... any parent can relate to this legend, not just birth parents. There comes a time when all children "leave" their parents and move on to another place in life. There is a disconnect that occurs... and in most cases, the children eventually make their way back to their parents, but they've changed. I don't know what the future will bring, but I hope that one day Baby Boy makes his way back to me... not to act as his mother, but to know the woman that I am and will become. I will always benefit from his light because I will always be aware of him and I will always know his beauty and perfection. If he doesn't choose to know me, then I hope the things he learns of me will prove to be a light to him in his life because he is the light of mine. I hope I can be the same for him in return.
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