New stamps glow with the stars of the southern skiesBy Johan Kruger Stars and constellations of the Southern Skies Since time immemorial, humankind has been gazing up at the skies in wonder. The beliefs of South Africa’s peoples are celebrated on a limited edition of stamps and envelopes featuring the stars and constellations of the southern hemisphere. The stamps depict ancient beliefs, but they will appeal even to the youngest people in the 21st century. Printed with glow-in-the dark ink, the stamps shine like proper stars. The set consists of ten stamps and two first-day covers designed by artist Anande Nöthling. The first stamp features Canopus, called the Horn star (Naka) in the South African languages Sotho, Tswana, Venda, Lobedu, Ndebele and Pedi. The |xam people invoked this star when in search of ant eggs. A stamp featuring three delightful little warthogs celebrates the three stars known as Orions’ Belt among English speakers. These stars are known as the Bush Pigs – Dikolobe – among Sotho and Tswana speakers. Sirius is called ‘Pulls the Night Across’ – Kgogamasigo – in Tswana, with similar names in Sotho, Venda and Zulu. The Xhosa people call it The Champion – iQhawe. This constellation is featured on the third stamp. A beautiful stamp featuring a heraldic lion celebrates the Scorpius stars; the Khoikhoi people called them The Lion’s Eyes – Xami di mura. The !Xu people, a tribe belonging to the earliest hunter-gatherers in southern Africa, called it the Fire-Finishing Star. The Southern Cross is called the Male Giraffe – Thutlwa – by Sotho, Tswana and Venda speakers. The legendary South African philosopher Credo Mutwa called this constellation the Tree of Life. Naturally this constellation also features on a stamp. In dried form the Mopane Worm is a delicacy among indigenous South Africans. Gakgala, meaning mopane worm, is the name for the constellation Delphinius among the Tswana people and the star as well as the larvae of the Mopani moth feature on this stamp. The stamp featuring Centaurus, contains the Two Pointers. For the |xam, the two pointers to the Southern Cross are the Lion Stars - two lions transformed into stars by a young woman. The |xam people saw the star Alde-baran as the Male Hartebeest, one of the most highly evolved ungulates capable of reaching speeds of up to 70 km/h. These qualities gave rise to their name, which means “tough ox.” A French astronomer, Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, while visiting Cape Town to chart the southern skies, grouped some very faint stars together to create “Mons Mensa”, Latin for “Table Mountain”, next to the Large Magellanic Cloud. This is the only constellation that represents a geological feature on earth. Look up at the southern skies in an area where there is no light pollution, and you will be stunned by the sight of the Milky Way. The |xam believed the Milky Way originated when a girl of the Early People scooped up a handful of ashes and roots from the fire and flung it into the sky. The colours of the roots made the colour of the stars. To other peoples in South Africa, the Milky Way represents a supernatural foot path across the sky along which the ancestral spirits walked. The tenth stamp features this most dramatic feature of the southern night skies. The one first day cover features the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Several San groups named these stellar clouds after the male and female steenbok, a charming little antelope that pairs for life and fiercely defend their territory. The |xam people, who once lived across the Northern Cape of South Africa, called the Magellanic clouds ostrich eggs. The Pleiades star cluster, known in the west as the Seven Sisters, features on the second first day cover. The Xhosa would watch for the first appearance of isiLimela, as it is called in their language, in June. The coming-out ceremony of the abakwetha initiation school, a rite of passage where boys would become men, was determined by the appearance of this stellar grouping. It is customary for Xhosa men to count their years of manhood from this date. The Khoikhoi used the Pleiades to forecast the start of the rainy season. Acknowledgements: Auke Slotegraaf. Chair, Centre for Astronomical Heritage. Honorary Member of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society • Case Rijsdijk. www.assa.saao.ac.za • Magda Steicher • Chris de Coning • Prof Johan van Staden. |
