Following the Drinking Gourd

This is perhaps the best time of the year to go out and view one of the best known star patterns in the sky, the Big Dipper. It is not really a constellation, but an asterism. An asterism is a group of stars that make a pattern on their own, but are actually part of a constellation. You could say that an asterism is to a constellation as a neighborhood is to the city it is in. The seven stars that make up the Big Dipper are part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear.

The Big Dipper is a circumpolar group of stars. Circumpolar simply means "circling the pole" and that is exactly what the Big Dipper does; it circles around the north pole star, Polaris. In our area, and anywhere at this latitude, the Big Dipper never sets below the horizon. On any clear night, we can go outside and see the Big Dipper. It is visible at any time during the night, anywhere north of here, and anywhere south of here down to about 30 degrees north latitude where the Big Dipper sets below the horizon for part of the time. For areas far south of the equator, this group of stars is never visible at all.

The seven stars that make up the dipper are really easy to spot. This star group is usually the first one identified by beginning stargazers. Other people have seen something other than a dipper in these stars. The Chinese described these stars as the Northern Basket. In India, the stars are known as the seven wise men, or sages. In England, the dipper becomes King Charles’ chariot or, most commonly, the plow. Many people of Africa saw this group of stars as a drinking gourd, and this became a part of African American history.

Campers, hikers and scouts are taught that if they are lost at night, they can look for the stars of the Big Dipper, and they will know which way north is. This same knowledge was used to lead thousand of slaves to freedom.

Slaves who wished to escape from the horrors and injustices of slavery in the South, would flee to the north. But, of course, the very act of just planning such a thing was taking their lives in their hands. They could not speak openly of it, and they could not draw maps to show the way. So how could they possibly find their way in a strange country?

The answer came by way of the stars known as the Drinking Gourd. When a group of slaves were going to escape to the north, they would sing a song called "Follow the Drinking Gourd." Then other slaves would know, and could join them. And they all knew the stars known as the Drinking Gourd, and they knew to "follow them." This would lead them north, and to freedom.

To find the Big Dipper, or Drinking Gourd, look to the north sky after dark. In the spring the Big Dipper appears to be standing on its handle in the north. The two end stars in the bowl can be used to locate the north star, Polaris. A line drawn through these two stars will point straight to Polaris.