Yokharhin: Difference between revisions

From All Skies Encyclopaedia
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
Line 22: Line 22:
* [[References]] (general)
* [[References]] (general)


[[Category:Asterism]] [[Category:Constellation]] [[Category:Lokono]]
[[Category:Asterism]] [[Category:Constellation]] [[Category:American]] [[Category:South American]] [[Category:Lokono]]

Latest revision as of 03:57, 13 May 2026

Authors: Youla Azkarrula


Yokharhin is an Arawakan constellation name from Lokono. This constellation is referring to the Hunter.

Etymology and History

Spelling Variants

Origin of Constellation

The constellation Yokhârhin ‘Hunter’ corresponds to α Centauri and represents the man hunting Hithikoya, the ‘Spirit of the black curassow’.[1][2][3] His companion holding a torch known as Alêti is represented by β Centauri. The myth reported by the Penard brothers that explains the origin of Hithikoya includes also these two characters.[3] According to the story, Hithikoya used to live on earth, but the Lokono kept tracking him down at night and shoot him. As a result, it ascended to the sky to serve as a signal for black curassows warning them about the approaching hunter (Yokhârhin) and his companion with a torch (Alêti). As Hithikoya appears higher and higher in the morning between January and March, Yokhârhin and subsequently Alêti appear on the horizon following it. This indicates to the Lokono that the black curassow can now be found high in the tress and the hunters can set out at night to hunt it in the tree tops.[4]

Mythology / Religion

References

  1. Brett, William Henry. 1880. Legends and Myths of the Aboriginal Indians of British Guiana. London: Williams Wells Gardner.
  2. Roth, Walter Edmund. 1915. An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians. Annual Report, Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology 30. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Goeje, Claudius Henricus de. 1942. “De Inwijding Tot Medicijnman Bij de Arawakken (Guyana) in Tekst En Mythe.” Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 101: 211–76.
  4. Rybka, Konrad (online). Lokono sky culture in Stellarium, https://github.com/stellarium/stellarium , printed in Hoffmann and Wolfschmidt (eds., 2022), Astronomy in Culture --Cultures of Astronomy. Astronomie in der Kultur--Kulturen der Astronomie.: Featuring the Proceedings of the Splinter Meeting at the Annual Conference of the Astronomische Gesselschafb Sept. 14-16, 2021, tredition, Ahrensburg (Germany): 706-726.