Chumash Sky Stories

The Sparks of The Sun

“The Sun carries a torch of tightly rolled bark to light the world. After his daily journey across the sky, he snaps his torch to throw sparks which are the stars.”

The Boys Who Turned to Geese

“Long ago, when animals were people, there was a little boy whose mother and stepfather wouldn't give him anything to eat, though they had plenty for themselves. So the boy went off to find his own food and met another boy who was also abandoned. Raccoon came along, felt sorry for the two boys, and helped them dig roots to eat. In the next few days, five more hungry abandoned boys came by, and they all went to stay with Raccoon in the temescal (sweathouse). Finally they decided to go north and take Raccoon with them. So they sprinkled themselves with goose down and sang songs. For three days they went around the temescal, singing and rising higher and higher off the ground. But Raccoon couldn't fly even though he was covered with goose down. All the mothers came to see the boys and begged them to come down, but they refused. They all turned into geese and flew away to the north, to become the seven stars we call the Pleiades. And when geese cry, they sound just like a little boy.”

The Three Worlds

“There is this world in which we live, but there is also one above us and one below us. There are two serpents that hold our world up from below. When they are tired they move, and that causes earthquakes. The World above is sustained by the great eagle. He never moves, he is always in the same spot. When he gets tired of sustaining the upper world, he stretches his wings a little, and this causes the phases of the moon. When there is an eclipse of the moon it is because his wings cover it completely. And the water in the springs and streams of this earth is the urine of the many frogs who live in it.”

Reference: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History