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A Calendar of Festivals

Midsummer

The Dog Days (Jul 3 - Aug 11)

In these Dog Days it is forbidden by Astronomy to all Manner of People to be let Blood or take Physic. Yea, it is good to abstain all this time from Women. For why, all that time reigneth a Star that is called Canicula Canis, a Hound in English, and the kind of the Star is broiling and burning as Fire. All this time the Heat of the Sun is so fervent and violent that Men's bodies at Midnight sweat as at Midday: and if they be hurt, they be more sick than at any other time, yea very near Dead. In these days all venomous serpents creep, fly and gender, so that many are annoyed thereby; in these times a Fire is good night and day, and wholesome, seeth well your meals and take heed of feeding violently.
The Husbandman's Practice 1729

In olden days it was believed that July's warmth, and the associated diseases, were to do with the heliacal rising and setting of the star Canicula – the Little Dog, or Dog Star (Sirius). Thus they called the period from July 3 to August 11, ‘caniculares dies’ – ‘the Dog Days’.

Sirius comes from the Greek word seirios, meaning ‘scorching’. However, another explanation exists for the naming of the Dog Star: the Egyptians named it after Sihor, the Nile, and the Romans altered this to Sirius. According to Greek mythology, Sirius was seen as the dog of Orion the hunter, and he was also called kyon, Greek for dog.

The ancient Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius and devised a method of telling the time at night based on the heliacal rising of stars called decans. The rising of Sirius marked the beginning of the sacred Egyptian year, and was celebrated each year by a festival which did not shift with the variable official year. Sirius was venerated by them and regarded as a token of the rising of the Nile (so when Sirius first appeared they retreated to higher ground before the annual flood) and of a subsequent good harvest. In fact, many Egyptian temples were constructed in such a way that the light of Sirius reached the inner chambers. The Egyptians also named the star after Thaaut, the dog, hence the ‘dog star’.

Feeling crazy today?

Ancient authors said that the day this star first rises in the morning, the sea boils, wine turns sour, dogs begin to grow mad, people get bilious, febrile, hysterical and crazy, and animals grow languid. How do you feel so far? The days are usually hotter in the Northern Hemisphere, so this was probably the reason for their superstition.

On this day, the Romans sacrificed a brown dog, to appease Canicula's rage. The Dog Star is the brightest star in the sky, situated in the constellation Canis Major, and is so bright that the ancient Romans thought that the earth received heat from it. They called the weeks following July 3 dies caniculares, a term that was translated into English in the early 16th century as ‘dog days’.

Sirius was called Loki’s Brand in the Northern Tradition, after Loki, the Trickster deity. In England, magistrates sometimes ordered dogs to be muzzled from the beginning of July.   

Sirius in South Pacific legend

In Tahiti’s legend of the Birth of the Heavenly Bodies, Ta'ura (‘the Red One’)  a name for Sirius, took a wife of whom princes were born, Matari'i (Makali'i) being one. Then were “created kings of the chiefs of earthly hosts on one side, and of chiefs in the skies on the other side”.

In New Zealand Maori myth, Takurua is the name of Sirius. The Tuhoe people say she is a woman who ushers in Winter, and on cold nights her shining warns of heavy frost. Winter is also often known by the name Takurua. It’s referred to as Hine-takurua, Winter Woman.  

Sirius and the Kalahari Bushmen

The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, have a ritual associated with the appearance of certain stars, including Sirius. When Sirius appears; the people call out to one another: “Sirius comes yonder! You must burn a stick for us towards Sirius. Who was it who saw Sirius?” One man says to another, "Our brother saw Sirius.” The other man says to him, “I saw Sirius.” The other man says to him: “I wish you to burn a stick for us towards Sirius; that the sun may shining come out for us; that Sirius may not coldly come out.”

The other man (the one who saw Sirius) says to his son: “Bring me the small piece of wood over there, that I may put the end of it in the fire, that I may burn it towards grandmother; that grandmother may ascend the sky, like the other one, [the star] Canopus.”

The child brings him the piece of wood and the father holds the end of it in the fire. He points the burning brand towards Sirius and says that Sirius shall twinkle like Canopus (which is in fact the second-brightest star in the sky). He sings about Canopus and Sirius; and points to them with fire, that they may twinkle like each other. Following this, he throws fire towards the stars and completely covers himself up from head to toe in his kaross (a blanket made of animal hide) and lies down.

Soon he arises, and sits down; he does not again lie down, because he feels that he has worked, putting Sirius into the sun's warmth; so that Sirius may come out in the sky and shine warmly.  

Sirius and the Dogon people

From Wikipedia

Dogon mythology seems to describe Sirius B, which is not visible without the use of a telescope. Some of the information given by Dogon natives on the Sirius system was recorded before it was discovered by Western science.

They call Sirius B Po Tolo. This star was the seed of the Milky Way galaxy and "navel" of the entire universe, according to the Dogon mythological explanation of the universe. They describe the universe as "infinite, but measurable", and filled with many yalu ulo, or spiral star systems, including the one with our own sun.

According to the Dogon perception of the universe, most of the universe is part of the "external" star system, while nearer to Earth is the "internal" star system. The stars in the "internal" system include many that they claim affect the lives of people of Earth and play a part in human history, including not only the Sirius binary/ternary system, but also Orion, Pleiades and others.

The tribe neighbouring the Dogon, the Bozo, have a similar mythology about Sirius in the sky and refer to it as the "Eye Star."

(More about the Dogon at January 4 in the Book of Days)

Proverbs

As the dog days commence, so they end.
Traditional English proverb

If it rains on first dog day, it will rain for forty days thereafter.
Traditional English proverb

Dog days bright and clear
Indicate a happy year;
But when accompanied by rain,
For better times our hopes are vain.
Traditional English proverb

Index of articles on folklore and other topics

List of Roman festivals and notable days in Wilson’s Almanac Book of Days

Dog days in the news