Talking to Autumn Gilliard about her Southern Paiute family’s stories of the stars
The Science Moab Team
Not everyone looks at the night sky in the same way.
Here, Science Moab talks with Autumn Gillard, the cultural resource manager for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, who shares her passion for the night sky influenced by her grandmother’s teachings. We discuss the importance of the night sky in Southern Paiute culture, including its influence on traditional stories, dances, agricultural methods, and ecological knowledge.
Science Moab: How did you develop your love for the night sky?
Gillard: I first fell in love with the night sky as a child receiving cultural teachings from my grandma, particularly about the planet Venus and Venus’s significant connection to the sun dance ceremony.
Science Moab: How does the night sky influence the lives of Paiute in particular?
Gillard: The night sky influences our lifestyle in many different facets. It connects us to our traditional stories, some of our traditional songs and dances, as well as to traditional agricultural methods. It is our connection to traditional ecological knowledge, which is great nowadays because we’re able to teach and intertwine Westernized science or Westernized astronomy into our traditional astronomy skills.
The Southern Paiute were some of the first scientists here on the continents that became the Americas. It was through their innovation and their intelligence that they were able to live in these environments for so long.
Science Moab: As a Southern Paiute, do you think your interpretation of the sky differs from other tribes of the Southwest on the Colorado Plateau?
Gillard: It’s always important to understand that with tribes, though we’re all Native American, we’re very unique and distinct in our cultural views and in our tribal views.
For me, when I look up at the night sky, I’m going to see it and interpret it in a different way than, let’s say, somebody from The Hopi Nation would. There are also different cultural constraints within different tribes guiding who can look at the sky, when is it appropriate to look at the sky, and if it even is appropriate to talk about the celestial objects.
Science Moab: You mentioned that sometimes you don’t talk about certain objects in the sky, and I understand that you don’t discuss stories related to constellations outside of wintertime. Why is that?
Gillard: As Southern Paiutes, lots of our stories connect us to animals and plants and mountains and riverways. During the wintertime, we believe that Mother Earth is resting. She’s in a nice deep sleep. It’s a very serene time. And because of that, we can recite the stories out loud. I think that it’s also a nod to how communal we are and how our bands originally would take advantage of the winter season by being with one another and snuggling down and telling stories.
Science Moab: What are some constellations that the Southern Paiute have passed down for generations that you especially gravitate to?
Gillard: My favorite story that not only relates to winter but to a constellation is about Cygnus. For us Southern Paiutes, instead of Cygnus being a swan, Cygnus is a duck referred to as Chukach.
My grandma taught the story of Chukach to me. She told me that when humans could talk to animals and when Duck was more active, lots of the other animals were jealous of him because he had the most beautiful regalia, the most beautiful colors, and he had the best dance moves. So one day, a bunch of ducks were dancing outside of their house and mischievous Coyote comes along. He’s watching them dance and he’s getting a grumbling stomach. As they’re dancing around, he’s batting them on the head and tying them on his belt one by one.
Then comes one last duck that realizes: “Oh, I’m all by myself!” So he tries to run from the coyote, but the coyote shakes him around and throws him up in the air. [Instead of falling and becoming Coyote’s food], Creator grabs Duck and turns him into the constellation Cygnus.
So now Duck sits at the edge of the Milky Way, guiding Southern Paiutes. But after Coyote does this, it starts to snow and it’s big, huge, fat, fluffy snowflakes that are falling really silently. So in the winter, when we see that type of snow, we’re always reminded of Duck and the sacrifice he gave to become the constellation.
Science Moab: You mentioned passing knowledge of the night sky on, and you were fortunate to have your grandmother who passed this knowledge on to you. Is there a specific way that this knowledge is being passed to future generations? Is it just by storytelling or something else?
Gillard: Definitely by storytelling, but something that I’ve really tried to do with our youth is hire tribal interns for me to mentor, to teach the information. Also doing public outreach with our tribal community, whether that’s a star party or a presentation.
I think that it’s important that the information continues because for a long time, Southern Paiute information wasn’t talked about much, and a lot of people didn’t realize that Southern Paiute people are some of the first astronomers on the Colorado Plateau.
