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The Somali name for planets is "Malluug" or "Siyaariin" or “Meere” and all three names reflect a regulated motion in movement. Most nomads believe the planets to be huge stars with special courses of their own: they are commonly defined by Somali traditional astro/weather-lore experts as "heavenly bodies that move round on their own orbits, and with the sun". The number of such planets, according to various traditional beliefs, is as few as five or as many as nine. A few experts include the moon among the planets, but most take it to be a satellite of the earth. Mercury is considered by some as a planet, and by others as a star. There is therefore no general agreement about what are planets and what are not, and moreover, although all these bodies are named in Somali tradition, it is very difficult to match the Somali names to the planets identified in Western astronomy. The Somali names themselves vary greatly in different regions of the nomadic country. More research is needed into the whole question of the identification of these planets, and my chart giving the names of each planet in different Somali regions by no means is complete.

Names for the Planets in different Somali regions

Although there is a considerable uncertainty about the identification of the planets recognised by Somalis, there is no doubt that they do constitute an important part of the sky studies of Somali astro/weather-lore experts, and are thought to have astrological influences that are by no means negligible.

The commonest Somali names for Venus are "Maqal xidh-xidh" or "Waxaro xidh-xidh", both names have the same connotation and mean 'the rounding up of sheep's and goats, at sunset back into their pens'. All Somalis accept it as a planet. There is a riddle traditionally associated with Venus, and its periodic absences from the night skies. Sometimes it is reckoned to be absent for only six nights - to correspond with alternating roles of Morning Star (in the East) and Evening Star (in the West). When the absence is of six days, it is said on its return to greet people with question "How did you spend the night" - as if it had gone on a journey and was delighted to see its old friends once more. But sometimes the absences is reckoned to be for sixty days, and then the greeting given is said to take the form of another question: "What have you lost while I have been away" and finally absences considered to last for six months, it is believed to ask: "What wealth have you still left?" The absences of six nights are traditionally held to foretell a year of plenty; those of sixty nights will be hard but not unendurable. But from an absence of six months the assumption is that there will be great drought and suffering in the land. The presence of this planet in the sky is thus considered to exert a mysterious protective influence over people. Because of the serious implications read into the period of its absence from the sky, the "maqal xidh-xidh" is closely watched by the local astronomers and weather-experts.

Significant in a different way are the movements of the planet Mars, known in Somali as "Saxal-Guduud". It is believed to ‘meet and live with' each of the twenty-eight stations of the moon (these stations of the moon are called in Somali “Goddad” and mean ’trench, den, hole or place of moon’s station or sojourn’) once in a cycle of thirty-three years. The stations of the moon, a fundamental concept in Somali astrology and weather prediction, and studied by the nomadic experts with great care and thoroughness, consists of twenty eight different groups of stars or stations fixed along the ecliptic path of the moon, and served to mark the life span of the Somali lunar month, number of days in each year, seasons and for weather predications and astrological forecasts . Each station has from one to over ten stars in its makeup. In addition, however, to the 28 stations along the visible path of the moon during each lunar month, there are said by Somalis to be one or two nights in every month during which the moon is not visible. These are the 'empty stations' when the moon is not in conjunction with any star or group of stars visible to the Somali observer. The period is known in Somali as "Dibbad or Dubbad" and means 'an invisible moon. Thus the Somali lunar calendar month will vary from 29 to 30 days.

It thus plays host to each station for an indefinite period, sometimes for one or two months, sometimes for seven or even more months. The host planet is thought to contaminate the station for as long as they stay together, thus to bring evil fortune to any person born under this station, or to a clan associated with it. The severity of its contamination is said to depend on whether the other planets are in conjunction with certain stations of the moon. It is said by the Somalis that when "Saxal gudduud" and "Mariikh" or 'Mars and Saturn' are close together, the astrologer predicts "Gob-Gob Magan gashay" meaning the fall from power of a noble clan or nation, and its consequent search for protection with another clan.

The same is also said about "Saxal Cadde" or 'Jupiter', in that when it is in a certain station; and ‘Mars or Saxal Gaduud’ is in conjunction with one's birth sign or station, one will face a great battle against all misfortune. For the duration of the conjunction, therefore, it is considered wise to efface oneself as much as possible, to avoid quarrels or involvement in other's quarrels, and most decisively to avoid tribal wars. The enfeebling influence of Mars (Saxal) in conjunction with one's personal birth station is considered a great curse. This is beautifully suggested in the following anonymous "gabey" or 'poem' (alliterated in letter S):

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