Астралните митове в Естония
Astral Myths in Estonia

Summary/Abstract: The only Estonian material that contains fragments of astral myths is the mythological records about celestial object (constellations, among other things). Most of these records contain little more than the names. The best known constellation is probably the Big Dipper (called also Great Wain), which has been recorded from all regions of Estonia. One of the oldest star/constellation names is Wolf alongside the Bull (or Ox), which has some parallels in European lore as well. Pleyades are known uniformly as the Sieve. A possible explanation lies in the hypothesis that the names Sieve and Great Wain have Germanic (Swedish) origin, having been borrowed thousands of years ago. There are both a riddle and a saying connected with the Pleyades. There are few stories about the constellations. They concern the Big Dipper, Lyra and Northern Crown. The story of Lyra (Old Cart) seems to be an analogue of Great Wain's. However, the name is only known in northern regions and the island of Saaremaa. Lyra and Corona Borealis, for example, have different names (Base of Haystack in western and northern Estonia) and explanations in northern and southern regions.

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