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Somali legend of the origins of the Milky-Way “Jid-Cirir or Cir Jiidh”
The Milky Way is called in Somali "Jid-Cirir" which means "the path of the cursed child". This explains one Somali legend about the 'Milky Way’, which tells the story of a cruel son who use to beat his mother every day and drag her along the rocky ground in the hot sun. One day he was more vicious than usual, and pulled, dragging her by the leg over sharp bits of the rocky ground until she was torn and bleeding all over. Half-dead, she raised her eyes to the sky looking for some deliverance from her oppressor. The Almighty rescued the unhappy old crone by paralysing her son. He quickly died, and his body was cast up onto a special purgatory in the sky where he can still be seen as the constellation Orion known in Somali as “Nin la gigay” which means ‘The incarcerate one or man”. A representation of the rough ground over which he had dragged his poor mother was made for all to remember in the heavens - the Milky Way; and from that time on, no son has been cruel to his parents, fearing that he also would meet with the same fate.
The Somali Sky-camel "awrka Cirka"
Let us know have a look at the Somali traditions associated with the legend of the Somali 'Sky Camel "Awrka-Cirka". In the region of 'the coal sack' or 'Crux constellation’ the southern cross, an area known in Somali as "wadaamo-xooro or wadaamo-lugud", is said to appear in the shape or silhouette of a huge male camel on dark nights in the months of March to July.
Image is a rough depiction of the Somali night sky above the (9:60N 44:50E) Horn of Africa and
showing outline of the sky-camel, its head lies left of the Crux constellation
The legend of the Somali Sky Camel "Awrka-Cirka" says that the camel was once, long ago, positioned in the north, above the mountains of "Cir-Shiida" in the district of Erigaabo Northeast Somalia. The name of this particular mountain "Cir-Shiida" means in Somali 'the summit, from where missiles were hurled at the sky'.
"One year, as the legend says, there was a severe drought, and the people of the district suffered greatly, losing all their lively hoods, livestock's and animals decided to attack and kill the great 'sky-camel' as a source for food. First they built a huge platform on top of the highest mountain of the Erigaabo plateau, tall enough for the people standing on it to reach up to the tail of the 'sky-camel' and cut it off. The 'sky-camel' felt the pain and raced off to the south; where it is still to be seen to this day”.
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