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> Weird and Wonderful > Sirius and
the Dog Days
Dog
Days of Summer
Let’s
Get Sirius
 Whew!
Tired of the sweltering heat sometimes called
the “dog days of summer?”
Blame
it on the dog star, Sirius. Although the “dog days” have been
thought to traditionally run from July 3 to August 11 – certain
common traditions say they're longer and extend on into the
month of September.
Original
Source of the Term "Dog Days"
Sirius,
the brightest star in the sky, is the original source of the
term “dog days of summer.” Although there appears to be a wee
bit of disagreement and/or confusion on the matter… the “Dog
Star" Sirius apparently originated from the ancient Egyptians
that named the bright star Sihor after their powerful dog-headed divinity Anubis. Later traditions, it would seem, associated the Dog
Star with the Egyptian god, Osiris.
In
ancient Egypt, the dog star Sihor rose
along side the Sun when summer was at its very hottest. Oddly
enough, the ancient Egyptians celebrated the return of the “dog
days,” because the rising of the Sun - combined with the Dog
Star - announced a very good and significant thing.
The River Nile - New Life To A Parched Land
It was during the Sihor "Dog Days" each
and every year that the River Nile would flood Egypt, reviving
and bringing new life to all of the surrounding parched land.
The “Dog Days” were said to last from 20 days prior to the conjunction
to 20 days after.
Thus, the start of the Egyptian sacred year was marked
each year by the reappearance of the Dog Star rising with the
Sun.
The
Dog Star Sihor, was to be later named Sirius by the Greeks,
after the Greek word for “serious” or “ardent.”
The
Hebrew's Old Testament text of Job refers to Sirius as the star
Mazzaroth:
"Canst
thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands
of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth
in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus
with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances
of heaven?" Job 38:31-33a, KJV
Summer
Heat - Sirius a 2nd Sun
Both
the ancient Egyptian and Roman traditions, looked at the Dog
Star as being a 2nd Sun, and agreed that the Dog
Star was responsible for the intense summer heat by adding
its own heat to the heat of the Sun.
Oddly
enough, according to the National Geographic News
(James
Owen, July 16, 2004), it was in ancient Rome that the
“dog days” – dies caniculares
in Latin – came to have more negative associations, such
as “intolerable heat, lethargy, disease, and mad dogs.”
According
to Owens: “Pliny (A.D. 23-79), in his Natural History,
refers to the increased risk of attack by rabid dogs in July
and August.”
Beneficent
Sirius Throughout The Centuries
Nevertheless,
throughout the centuries, the dog star, Sirius, has most often
been thought of as having a beneficial influence. In traditional
astrology, Sirius is thought to combine the energies of Jupiter
and Mars. It is thought to be a matter of good fortune to
be born with Sirius either conjunct one’s birth chart Ascendant
or Midheaven.
Birth
of the USA Connection?
There
are even some interesting speculations that the, dog star,
Sirius – as part of the astrological sky – played a significant
role in the timing of the birth of the United States of America,
as well as in the laying of the Washington Monument cornerstone
in Washington D.C.
These
events were purposefully, with intent, scheduled for precise
moments when the, dog star, Sirius was located in various
auspicious positions in the sky. (The Secret Architecture
of our Nation's Capitol; David Ovason)
Today,
the dog star, Sirius, actually appears in the dawn skies with
the Sun several weeks later than it did in ancient times.
This is because of precession of the equinoxes – i.e. the
stars and constellations gradually having shifted their position
in relation to the Sun.
Still
today, the “dog days” are generally thought to traditionally
run from July 3 to August 11 – however with certain common
traditions saying they are longer and extend on into the
month of September.
According to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996,
1998:
“The astronomer Roger Long states that in an ancient
calendar in Bede (died 735)
the beginning of dog days is placed on the 14th of July;
that in a calendar prefixed to the Common Prayer, printed
in the time of Queen Elizabeth, they were said to begin
on the 6th of July and end on the 5th of September;
that, from the Restoration (1660) to the beginning of
New Style (1752), British almanacs placed the beginning
on the 19th of July and the end on the 28th of August;
and that after 1752 the beginning was put on the 30th
of July, the end on the 7th of September. Some English
calendars now put the beginning on July 3rd, and the
ending on August 11th. A popular American almanac of
the present time (1890) places the beginning on the
25th of July and the end on the 5th of September.”
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