Celestial Women of Africa

Abstract: The indigenous astronomy in Africa and of Africans exhibits many of the same patterns as indigenous astronomy found in other parts of the world such as with agricultural calendars established by observing celestial bodies as well as other natural phenomenon. Africa is the continent with the most countries which can be used as an indicator of its immense cultural diversity, and given such diversity there are unique local aspects to African indigenous astronomy. This chapter answers the question: How do women appear in the indigenous astronomy of Africans? The celestial bodies considered are the Sun, the Moon, the planet Venus, the Pleiades asterism and a small collection of other female celestial bodies. Examples are drawn from North, South, East, West and Central Africa with the caveat that these are merely examples from the region and not exemplars of the region. Women use the phases of the moon to track their menses, usually the moon is female as is Venus, and celestial women are used to signal how women should behave. Focusing on celestial women brings a different lens to cultural astronomy research that elucidates additional ways that that the sky is entwined in culture.