Taci Mama - Revision history

HaochengLyu: Added a voyage map

2026-10-24T06:57:56Z

Added a voyage map

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:57, 24 October 2026
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	Beside the star-great-goddess [[Nadan Narhūn\|Elden Hehe]] there were two important attendant goddesses — the elder '''Taci Buli''' (塔其布离) and the younger '''Taci Uli''' (塔其乌离) — star deities born when Abka Hehe split in her struggle with Yeruri and given to [[Nadan Narhūn\|Elden Hehe]] to help govern the sky-dome, patrolling from east to west on schedule.<ref name="fu2007"/> Taci Buli and Taci Uli are sister deities. After Abka Hehe's earnest persuasion, Elden Hehe let Taci Uli part from her sister Taci Buli: one remained in the clear sky of the heavens, one went into the vast sea, sharing the flow of time. Taci Uli thenceforth attended the East Sea goddess '''Dergi Omo Mama'''. ("East Sea" referring to the Sea of Japan)<ref name="fu2007"/>		Beside the star-great-goddess [[Nadan Narhūn\|Elden Hehe]] there were two important attendant goddesses — the elder '''Taci Buli''' (塔其布离) and the younger '''Taci Uli''' (塔其乌离) — star deities born when Abka Hehe split in her struggle with Yeruri and given to [[Nadan Narhūn\|Elden Hehe]] to help govern the sky-dome, patrolling from east to west on schedule.<ref name="fu2007"/> Taci Buli and Taci Uli are sister deities. After Abka Hehe's earnest persuasion, Elden Hehe let Taci Uli part from her sister Taci Buli: one remained in the clear sky of the heavens, one went into the vast sea, sharing the flow of time. Taci Uli thenceforth attended the East Sea goddess '''Dergi Omo Mama'''. ("East Sea" referring to the Sea of Japan)<ref name="fu2007"/>
			[[File:Umesiben voyages map.png\|alt=A schematic map showing the five voyages of Umesiben Mama to the east, with no details of the fourth voyage mentioned in the original book. (Haocheng Lyu verifies and draws based on the original legend)\|thumb\|A schematic map showing the five voyages of Umesiben Mama to the east, with no details of the fourth voyage mentioned in the original book. (Haocheng Lyu verifies and draws based on the original legend)]]
	Dergi Omo Mama sent Taci Uli down to the world, borne away by a golden eagle and an oriole; Taci Uli first fell to the earth as a dumb girl and was born into the Ubusun tribe of the East Sea, growing up to become the culture heroine Umesiben Mama.<ref name="fu2007"/> On earth, Umesiben reformed the calendar of the East Sea tribes — "the East Sea had no years or months from of old" — teaching phenological timekeeping and creating a "flower-bird-fish chronology", a 75-year grand cycle that unified the hitherto year-less tribal calendars.<ref name="guo2013"/> Star-timekeeping remained the commonest method and used the Taci Buli stars as its reference: for the Ubusun people's ritual verification of a chief, "at the first night, the Taci Buli stars deity rose to the middle of the sky".<ref name="guo2013"/><ref name="fu2007"/>		Dergi Omo Mama sent Taci Uli down to the world, borne away by a golden eagle and an oriole; Taci Uli first fell to the earth as a dumb girl and was born into the Ubusun tribe of the East Sea, growing up to become the culture heroine Umesiben Mama.<ref name="fu2007"/> On earth, Umesiben reformed the calendar of the East Sea tribes — "the East Sea had no years or months from of old" — teaching phenological timekeeping and creating a "flower-bird-fish chronology", a 75-year grand cycle that unified the hitherto year-less tribal calendars.<ref name="guo2013"/> Star-timekeeping remained the commonest method and used the Taci Buli stars as its reference: for the Ubusun people's ritual verification of a chief, "at the first night, the Taci Buli stars deity rose to the middle of the sky".<ref name="guo2013"/><ref name="fu2007"/>

	Umesiben united the East Sea tribes into a league, traditionally reckoned as "seven hundred gašan" — a figurative number for the many villages under her sway rather than a precise count.<ref name="guo2013"/> She undertook five sea voyages in search of the sun. The voyages carried her to '''Olhon Island''' (modern Hokkaido), to '''~~Kuwu~~ Island''' (modern Sakhalin), and to '''Kanja''' (the Kamchatka Peninsula).<ref name="fu2007"/><ref name="guo2013"/> On the final voyage she reached the far north, near the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Strait — evoked in the epic by the image "The sun rises, and a white bear on the ice clad in a red shirt." — and there she fell ill and died at sea.<ref name="fu2007"/>		Umesiben united the East Sea tribes into a league, traditionally reckoned as "seven hundred gašan" — a figurative number for the many villages under her sway rather than a precise count.<ref name="guo2013"/> She undertook five sea voyages in search of the sun. The voyages carried her to '''Olhon Island''' (modern Hokkaido), to '''Kuye Island''' (modern Sakhalin), and to '''Kanja''' (the Kamchatka Peninsula).<ref name="fu2007"/><ref name="guo2013"/> On the final voyage she reached the far north, near the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Strait — evoked in the epic by the image "The sun rises, and a white bear on the ice clad in a red shirt." — and there she fell ill and died at sea.<ref name="fu2007"/>

	Before her death, Umesiben saw the northern-sky Taci Buli stars transform into a goddess who came over, took her hand and said: "Little sister, we have come to fetch you; it is time you went home, went home!"<ref name="fu2007"/> Dergi Omo Mama welcomed back Umesiben, and the epic states that the Taci Buli stars is the very countenance of the ~~mother~~, who comes out every night to point out direction and time for the world.<ref name="fu2007"/>		Before her death, Umesiben saw the northern-sky Taci Buli stars transform into a goddess who came over, took her hand and said: "Little sister, we have come to fetch you; it is time you went home, went home!"<ref name="fu2007"/> Dergi Omo Mama welcomed back Umesiben, and the epic states that the Taci Buli stars is the very countenance of the sister-goddess Taci Mama, who comes out every night to point out direction and time for the world.<ref name="fu2007"/>

	In the introductory song of ''Umesiben Mama'', she is praised as follows:		In the introductory song of ''Umesiben Mama'', she is praised as follows:

HaochengLyu: Added Maps and Info Box

2026-10-24T04:44:59Z

Added Maps and Info Box

Show changes

HaochengLyu: Added page "Taci Mama"

2026-10-24T03:39:43Z

Added page "Taci Mama"

New page

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Taci Mama (ᡨᠠᠴᡳ ᠮᠠᠮᠠ)}}

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Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}}
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[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|Image that shows the earliest map or drawing]]
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|Image that shows the cultural object (e.g. in archaeological museum)]]
'''Taci Mama''' (Manchu: ᡨᠠᠴᡳ ᠮᠠᠮᠠ, "the Taci Goddess"), a Manchu shamanic constellation identified with the five bright stars of the W-shaped [[Cassiopeia]].<ref name="fu1988"/><ref name="fumeng1991"/> In Manchu tradition she is a timekeeping and directional goddess, worshiped as an attendant of the sky goddess Abka Hehe.<ref name="dzd1993"/>

In the Manchu epic ''Umesiben Mama'', she appears as the skyborne elder sister '''Taci Buli''', while her younger sister '''Taci Uli''' descends to earth as the culture heroine Umesiben Mama.<ref name="fu2007"/>

== Concordance, Etymology, History ==

The reason Taci Mama came to govern timekeeping lies in the astronomy of Cassiopeia itself. At the high northern latitudes of the Manchu homeland the constellation is circumpolar: its distinctive chain of five bright stars lies close to the North Celestial Pole and rotates around it throughout the night and across the seasons. Because it never sets and its orientation — the angle of the W — changes predictably with the hour and the season, Cassiopeia functions as a natural celestial clock and compass.<ref name="fu1988"/> The folk description that Taci Mama "folds a dipper once per day" is a direct observation of this daily circumpolar revolution.<ref name="dzd1993"/>

=== Name and etymology ===

The name ''Taci Mama'' consists of ''Taci'' and ''Mama''. ''Mama'' is a Manchu honorific for a goddess or grandmother-level deity.

The Manchu root and meaning of ''Taci'' are not securely established. The known related lexemes all point to "learning" or "custom" rather than to timekeeping: the verb ''tacimbi'' (ᡨᠠᠴᡳᠮᠪᡳ) means "to learn, to study", and the noun ''tacin'' (ᡨᠠᠴᡳᠨ) means "custom, habit, usage".<ref name="norman"/> Neither bears on the name of a timekeeping star goddess, and the etymology of ''Taci'' as a star name therefore remains an open question. The variant ''Tacin Mama'' used in some Western scholarship is a misreading: ''tacin'' means "custom" and is unrelated to this proper name.<ref name="backer2000"/>

=== Myth and ritual ===

==== Folk layer ====

Taci Mama is described as a cluster of five bright stars shaped like a hunchback, and is therefore popularly called the '''Hunchback Star'''; because she also resembles a bending snake she is also called the '''Snake Star'''. She rises after sunset, travels lying flat, and at dawn stands aslant in the northwestern sky having "folded a dipper", and is thereby also called the '''Dipper-basket Star'''.<ref name="dzd1993"/> She is an important timekeeping and directional star of the ancients and an important goddess at the side of Abka Hehe; when the sun and moon rest, it is she who keeps time.<ref name="dzd1993"/>

In the creation myth, Abka Hehe made one of the nine Cloud-Mother goddesses become an eternal timekeeping star; the Cloud-Mother goddess turned into the great and dutiful Taci Mama star deity under the star-spreading bureau of [[Nadan Narhūn|Elden Hehe]], keeping time for all the gods day and night. The demon Yeruri could never catch her or recognise her, and therefore could never tell time or direction.<ref name="fuwang1995"/>

According to a Xu-clan shamanic oracle, the clan's ancestors once met an avalanche in the mountains and were guided out by the light of the Taci Mama goddess above their heads; a few survived, ate elm bark in an elm grove, and grew into a great clan. Later generations venerate this goddess of grace and also sacrifice to the elm spirit as ''Hailan Eyun''.<ref name="wang1993"/>

A star hymn addresses her:

<blockquote>O Taci star, in the north of the sky, the star that keeps time, turning somersaults, turning somersaults.<ref name="wang1993"/></blockquote>

In the shamanic wild sacrifice a Taci Mama idol was worshipped — hunchback-shaped and always laid on its side, so that the goddess's face could not be seen; the side-laid posture mirrors the creation-layer injunction that she "walk always on one's side" so that Yerüli cannot recognise her.<ref name="dzd1993"/><ref name="fuwang1995"/>

==== Epic layer (Umesiben Mama) ====

Beside the star-great-goddess [[Nadan Narhūn|Elden Hehe]] there were two important attendant goddesses — the great goddess '''Taci Buli''' (塔其布离) and the great goddess '''Taci Uli''' (塔其乌离) — star deities born when Abka Hehe split in her struggle with Yeruri and given to Elden Hehe to help govern the sky-dome, patrolling from east to west on schedule.<ref name="fu2007"/> After Abka Hehe's earnest persuasion, Elden Hehe let Taci Uli part from her sister: one remained in the clear sky of the heavens, one went into the vast sea, sharing the flow of time. Taci Uli thenceforth attended the East Sea goddess '''Dergi Omo Mama'''.<ref name="fu2007"/>

Dergi Omo Mama sent Taci Uli down to the world, borne away by a golden eagle and an oriole; Taci Uli first fell to the earth as a dumb girl and grew up to become the culture heroine Umesiben Mama.<ref name="fu2007"/> On earth, Umesiben reformed the calendar of the East Sea tribes — "the East Sea had no years or months from of old" — teaching phenological timekeeping and creating a "flower-bird-fish chronology", a 75-year grand cycle that unified the hitherto year-less tribal calendars.<ref name="guo2013"/> Star-timekeeping remained the commonest method and used the Taci Buli star as its reference: for the Ubusun people's ritual verification of a chief, "at the first night, the Taci Buli star deity rose to the middle of the sky".<ref name="guo2013"/><ref name="fu2007"/> Umesiben also united the East Sea tribes into a nine-tribe alliance of seven hundred gašan (villages) and undertook five sea voyages in search of the sun, dying on the fifth voyage.<ref name="guo2013"/>

Before her death, Umesiben saw the northern-sky Taci Buli star transform into a goddess who came over, took her hand and said: "Little sister, we have come to fetch you; it is time you went home, went home!"<ref name="fu2007"/> Dergi Omo Mama welcomed back Umesiben, and the epic states that the Taci Buli star is the very countenance of the mother, who comes out every night to point out direction and time for the world.<ref name="fu2007"/>

In the introductory song of ''Umesiben Mama'', she is praised as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Manchu
!English
|-
|''De u le le, Je u le le,''
|(Interjection; carries no actual meaning.)
|-
|''De u liyei li, Je liyei!''
|(Interjection; carries no actual meaning.)
|-
|''Banai šun omolo,''
|Offspring of the sun upon the earth,
|-
|''Banai šun omolo,''
|Offspring of the sun upon the earth,
|-
|''Eldengge, eldengge,''
|O radiant, O radiant,
|-
|''[[Gasha|Enduri Gasha]] eldembi,''
|The divine bird brings forth radiance,
|-
|''[[Gasha|Enduri Gasha]] eldembi,''
|The divine bird brings forth radiance,
|-
|''Sain erden,''
|Fair morning,
|-
|''Erden bana,''
|morning earth—
|-
|''Umesiben Mama buli.''
|All is bestowed by Umesiben Mama.
|}

=== Identification of stars ===

=== Maps (Gallery) ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!historical map
!modern identification
!same in Stellarium
|-
|[[File:Kulou on the Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido Star Chart.jpg|alt=historical image of Kulou (Korea)|thumb|Kulou on the Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido Star Chart]]
|
|
|}

== IAU Working Group on Star Names ==
In 202x, the name of the historical constellation "xxx" was suggested to be used for one of the stars in this constellation. ...

Decision: ...

==References ==
[[References (Chinese)]]

[[Category:Asterism ]][[Category:Constellation ]][[Category:Single star-asterism]]
[[Category:Eurasia]][[Category:Asian]][[Category:East Asian]]
[[Category:Chinese ]]
[[Category: ]]
[[Category: ]]