Cohamc

Authors: ASE Tech Team

---

Seri constellation: Cohamc (the wife and husband) in the planetarium software Stellarium (CC-BY Raúl Pérez-Enríquez in Stellarium)

Cohamc is Seri constellation name. This constellation is referring to the wife and husband.

Etymology and History

All this knowledge of Comca'ac people comes from prehispanic epoch, and it has prevailed through centuries. Still today, it is possible to hear the stories and legends behind the naming of constellations and the events on the sea and on the desert.

The description of the Comca'ac (Seri) Constellations presented here comes from the book "Bajo el cielo Comca'ac: Astronomía entre el mar y el desierto", written by Arturo Morales Blanco, in which it is possible to identify the relations between sky, sea and desert, as they are recovered by oral tradition and family memories.

This knowledge has arrived to us by oral transmission from generation to generation through time and shows how the events from the sea like the appearance of crabs or the abundance of Totoaba (a large fish, now in danger), comes along with the presence of sets of stars in the sky.

Origin of Constellation

About October 18th, an alignment of stars takes place in the morning sky and it is called, since ancient times, as Cohamc constellation, women. Then four or five days after the rains begin to fall with intensity and the wind runs by the desert. The star that is at the north of the alignment, the Comca'ac's name is Hacamta, the husband, and is the one appearing behind the other six named women, (the star Psi of Ursa Major); the six stars appear in sequence, two by two. The forecast of this bad weather motivated their ancestors to go to the caves in the mountain and to go far from the beach. After the difficult days, around two months later, Comca'ac people returned to the beach carrying with them all the food and materials kept along: dried meat, fish, 'caguama' turtle, honey, and flour from 'péchita de mezquite' (seeds from Mesquite tree), between them.

References

• References (general)