Meanings of Ursa Major

Another celestial object that Father Bear saw fit to point out to his son (for obvious reasons) was Ursa Major, also called "Great Bear" and  a couple of other names which  I hope to explore a little. Many ancient cultures are known to have seen the image of a bear in this collection of stars, the most well known of which would probably be the Greeks, but Native American tribes such as Blackfoot and Algonquin also associated  it with a bear.The entire image of the bear is a bit hard to make out, especially taking into account the light pollution from today's cities, but it's pretty easy to see a certain very well known grouping of seven stars inside of the constellation, which brings us to...

The Big Dipper. The Big Dipper--or "plough" as it is called in the UK and Ireland is often referred to as a constellation, but it is in fact an asterism inside of the constellation, Ursa Major. An asterism is a  simple pattern of stars. It can form part of a constellation, or can be made up of stars from more than one. So, there you go. If you draw a line straight up through the outside two stars of the bowl of the big dipper it'll point you right to Polaris.

So, let's look at another cool meaning for Ursa Major's most famous asterism. See, I didn't just watch TV when I was little, I also loved to be read to. And I had many favorite books, but one of them was a beautifully illustrated book by Jeanette Winter called "Follow the Drinking Gourd" about the harrowing journey of African slaves through the underground railroad and on to freedom. "The Drinking Gourd" (which refers to the big dipper) was one of the aids that these people used to find there way to where they had to go, and the folk song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" is said to have lyrics that are secretly detailed instructions about how to get there. I think that's the coolest thing about Ursa Major and The Big Dipper. I mean how many constellations --or asterisms. Sorry-- can boast helping so many people out like that? 

SOURCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Major

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterism_(astronomy)
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Ursa_Major.html
http://starryskies.com/The_sky/constellations/ursa_major.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_stars_are_in_the_ursa_major
http://www.mallorcaweb.net/masm/UMa1.htm
http://www.astropix.com/HTML/C_SPRING/BIGDIP.HTM