Page 10 - 2009 Lake St. Clair Guide Magazine

Fireworks Along the Water
The Dog Days of Summer...and New Years Eve?
It is the subject of more myth and
folklore than any other star apart
from the sun. The Dog Days of
Summer began in the times of an-
cient Egypt with the rising of the
star “Sirius.” The Egyptians noted
the star would rise in the east along
with the sun during the hottest time
of the year and considered Sirius to
be adding its heat to the earth.
Sirius, from a Greek word mean-
ing, "searing" or "scorching," is
fixed in one place at the bridge
of the Milky Way. It is one of the
watchmen of the Heavens keeping
guard. The ancient Egyptians called
Sirius the 'dog star', after their god rise and fall of the waters of the
Osirus, whose head in pictograms
resembled that of a dog. The Dog
Star is a symbol of power, will, and
steadfastness. The association of
Sirius as a celestial dog has been
consistent throughout the world;
even in remote China, the star was
identified as a heavenly wolf.
Sirius has much more to do with
our every day life than just old
myths. The calendar we use today
began with the charting of this star.
The author, publisher, or seller assumes no liability with respect to the use of information contained herein. Page 10
Marysville Belle Maer &
June 12 MacRay Harbor
New Baltimore July 4 Algonac
June 25 July 4
Mount Clemens Grosse Pointe
June 26 July 4
Port Huron, St. Clair
July 4
Vantage Point
Detroit-Windsor
June 27 www.theparade.org
The first annual rising of Sirius was its reappearance.
seen, just before dawn, every year
during July; marking the start of The Ancient Egyptians knew that
the Egyptians' New Year. Our New a year was slightly over 365¼ days.
Year’s Eve celebration is a continu- The earth takes 365.25636 days to
ation of this most ancient ritual of complete one revolution around the
the return of Sirius. On December sun. The Egyptian calendar proved
31st, Sirius reaches the highest point to be so accurate, they were able to
in it’s nightly travels in the sky at construct monuments with perfect
midnight. precision.
The ancient Egyptian calendar was For example, at the Abu Simbel
invented over 5000 years ago. It was Temple, one of Egypt's top tour-
originally based on the lunar cycle ist destinations, there is a statue
of 12 months, which the Egyptians of Ramses II, located among other
grouped into three seasons of four
months each to coincide with the statues at the back of its sanctuary.
Nile. The annual flooding of the For more than 3200 years, the first
Nile began each year around the
end of June. Although the floods rays of the morning sun shine down
occurred within a range of 80 days, the entire length of the temple-cave
they were not accurate enough to to illuminate the
base a calendar on. So Continued on Page 12.....
the ancient Egyptians,
having noticed that the
Nile’s rising coincided
with the rising of the star
Sirius, the brightest star
in the sky, based the cal-
endar year on the cycle of