The Dog Days of Summer
So, youre sitting on your porch, enjoying the sultry evening and your friend mentions how hot it gets during the Dog Days of Summer and the latest sales at your favorite shop. The words, Dog Days of Summer roll through your head. Is it all just some phrase merchants invented? Do the dog days affect your dog?
In all actuality, the Romans and Greeks gave us the name, Dog Days of Summer because they believed the star, Sirius, part of the constellation Canis Major [The dog] when its position was aligned with the Sun, added more heat to the Suns already intense heat during that time of the year. Though the Romans and Greeks ideas of the Dog Days may send us thinking about unbearable heat, the Egyptians had other ideas. For the Egyptians, rising of Sirius also marks the time when fields are flooded and the start of the New Year.
In fact, there are many correlations between Sirius and events here on Earth. The ancient Egyptian New Year was around the 4th of July, marked by Sirius being at high noon with the sun. Sirius also marks the Western New Year, which is at high midnight on the 1st of January.
The magnetic stream from the tandem stars, Sirius A and Sirius B, flows directly over the Earth. Many world changing events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, both world wars, and even according to some, the gulf war, happened with the stars were in conjunction with each other. Once they become in conjunction, they swap orbits, so the dark star, Sirius B, and the light star, Sirius A, take turns in the dominant orbit. Sirius B is a small dwarf white star that is unable to be seen without a telescope.
Many other correlations between cyclical relationship of Sirius and the Sun have marked important dates in many cultures. In the United States, Independence Day is in sync with the rising of Sirius. Liberation is one characteristic attributed to the star. Frances Bastille Day, July 10, also occurs during the Dog Days.
Sirius A, and its sister star Sirius B run symbiotic orbits around each other. The naked eye can see Sirius A, but not Sirius B. Ancient Egyptians and the Dogon Tribe, still in Africa today, recognized that Sirius A and Sirius B symbolize the harmony and delicate balance between light and dark. For those who revere Isis, The Queens Chamber in the great pyramid has associations to the great twin stars and also link them with Isis. Egyptians and the Dogon tribe knew about their symbiotic relationship before modern science and telescopes.
For further reading
http://www.geocities.com/aleph135/temple15.html
http://www.gateway-africa.com/tribe/dogon_tribe.html
http://www.siriusrising.com/myth.htm
Cool quiz on dog days: http://familyeducation.com/quiz/0,1399,22-8055,00.html
Resources
http://www.7almanac.com/articles/dogdays.html
http://chennaionline.com/science/dogstar.asp
http://www.au.spiritweb.org/Spirit/sirius-star.html
http://www.siriusrising.com/sirius.htm
Dogs as a totem animal: http://www.crystalinks.com/totemanimals.html
http://www.hunkler.com/pyramids/pyramid_symbolism.html#geoast
