Forum Advent Calendar 2021

[Róisín]

This is truly an awesome Sigrun! Far too good to moulder forgotten in the archives.

[moredhel]

This is epic.

[tehta]

Look at that sky.

It's an omen... for how much troll-blood will be shed.

I miss Kickass Sigrun.

[Alkia]

woohohow!! the sky! that reflection! she looks kind of like a water valkyrie

[wavewright62]

Spoiler: open the door • show

For many of you the nights are lengthening as we approach the Solstice, bringing the night sky into greater prominence.  Jitter brings us the wonder and delight of gazing up into that sky with today's contribution.

Spoiler: tell me again • show

Lumi loved the stars. Every time they would go outside on a bright dark night, she would beg: "Isi, teach me the stars!" "Pappa, what are the names in Swedish?" "Äiti, tell me about the stars again!".

For some reason, she learned the Finnish names a lot better than the Swedish ones.












[hr]

The present day names of the constellations are (Direct translation of the Finnish name in parentheses, if such exists):
Great Cat = Leo (Lion), Kitten = Leo Minor (Little Lion)
Swan = Cygnus (Swan), Kokko = Aquila (Eagle), The Souls = Delphinus (Dolphin), Sagitta (Arrow), Vuplecula (Fox) and Lyra
Warrior = Orion, Troll = Taurus (Ox), Hunter = Auriga (Driver), Scout = Pleiades (not a constellation)
Ukonvaaja = Cassiopeia
Vellamo = Boötes (Guardian of the Bear), Crown of the Deep = Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown)

[moredhel]

nice constellations. I especially like the swan and the souls.

[catbirds]

Woahhh... cool. Can we really find these constellations?

[JoB]

Woahhh... cool. Can we really find these constellations?

Well, Jitter did state what current (Western) constellations they correspond to.

My copy of Stellarium doesn't list the stated names in the "Old Norse" or "Sami" "star sagas" (that I can switch to instead of "Western"), though. (I have to admit that they're far less crowded than "Western", and also officially labeled as being incomplete.)

[Jitter]

Woahhh... cool. Can we really find these constellations?

Oh yeah, I drew them on top of an actual star map (for my area i.e. southern Finland) so they should be reasonably correct. Orion is easy to see when he’s up, as is Cassiopeia, the others are probably easier to find if you have a live map at the beginning. The Swan is quite obvious too at least here in the autumn. You’ll soon learn to recognize the brightest ones and then it’s easier to navigate.

My star map is here, if you have location on it should show your area: https://www.ursa.fi/taivaalla/tahtikartta/

Or you can give it the location and time. This has the compass directions as well as the constellation names in Finnish though, you’ll probably find a version for yourself by googling for star map.

Note however that all of these may not be visible at the same time - I chose which ones I wanted to draw and looked for a time for each when they are nicely visible (on the map) and thus easy to draw. The ones that are in the same picture are in proper relation to each other for the moment I used, so they are fairly close by on the sky.

If you don’t have proper darkness, many of the stars are only visible in brightest nights. On the other hand if you get to properly black skies, there are so many stars that it may be hard to tell which is which Lumi and the other Hotakainens would have very black skies and they will see how the Swan flies along the Birds’ Path.

[tehta]

Wow, Jitter, what a cool idea. Stars are relevant whether one is an ssss fan or not, and these interpretations add a little ssss twist.

I do agree that the Swan and the Souls are the best. My only complaint is as follows: the scout is very clearly visible. Or is that just the scout's eye, shining in the dark?

[Jitter]

I'm glad you guys like it

I suppose the scout is just about to cast as spell on the Troll, no?

Catbirds, one more thing is of course where you are on the planet. Some, such as Mr Orion here, are visible everywhere (although obviously not every night), while others are confined either to the North or the South.

[Alkia]

very nice!! it's interesting that there are so many of the same interpretations of constellations across different cultures/languages  (Orion is a warrior in both Finnish and English, so is the swan and big cat)

[Keep Looking]

Jitter, this was really amazing! Like the others said, learning about the different constellations from another culture and language is really cool! Also, that night sky website you linked to is spectacular.

[catbirds]

Oh yeah, I drew them on top of an actual star map (for my area i.e. southern Finland) so they should be reasonably correct. Orion is easy to see when he’s up, as is Cassiopeia, the others are probably easier to find if you have a live map at the beginning. The Swan is quite obvious too at least here in the autumn. You’ll soon learn to recognize the brightest ones and then it’s easier to navigate.

My star map is here, if you have location on it should show your area: https://www.ursa.fi/taivaalla/tahtikartta/

Ohhhh... I see! I'm a pretty terrible stargazer, honestly, so I thought they were totally different ones with just a few familiar ones like Orion. I thought these constellations were just totally different ones from the ones we generally see in western culture It does make me wonder if Finns ever came up with other constellations, though. Since the bird's path is a thing, other stories tied to stars would fit right in.

[wavewright62]

Spoiler: open the door • show

Welcome back!  Today we are lucky to have moredhel make a first appearance in one of our calendars, sharing a lovely tradition for this time of year!  (Your humble mod admits I did not know about this tradition, but am entranced by it!)

Spoiler: Barbarazweige • show

moredhel says about the piece, "The picture shows a German advent tradition. It is called Barbarazweige. I would translate it as Barbara Branches. They are branches cut at St. Barbara's day (4. December) and put in a vase inside the house for having fresh flowers at (or around) Christmas. Where I am from traditionally Prunus, Malus or Pyrus branches are used. In other regions other plants like Betula, Corylus, Sambucus or Crataegus are preferred. Nowadays many other garden trees or shrubs like Forsythia are used too."