The Tender Girl and the Seven Bandits
The Pleiades
October 31st is known as Halloween and every year at about midnight on this night, the star cluster or constellation known as the Pleiades, (or Seven Sisters), appears almost overhead in the night sky. For this reason November is known as the Month of the Pleiades.
The Pleiades cluster is in the constellation of Taurus and form one of the most obvious and recognizable features of the night sky. Their prominence in the winter skies of the Northern hemisphere have helped to give them a place in many different cultures, from Greek mythology, (from which they take their name), also Celtic and Norse mythology, across North Africa, the middle East, Asia, and the Americas, (and also in Maori and Aboriginal folklore from the Southern hemisphere). They are even mentioned in the Bible in four places.
Well, as with most cultures, the nomadic Kyrgyz developed legends connected with the constellations in the night sky and there is one linking the Pleiades, the Pole Star and the Great Bear, (or Ursa Major, which the Kyrgyz called the Seven Bandits).
The legend is controversial these days as it centres of the tradition of Ala Kachuu, or (Bride stealing).
There once were seven bandits who stole a beautiful girl, known as the Tender Girl, the daughter of Pleiades and rode off into the night sky – literally. Pleiades set off in hot pursuit.
The bandits reached the Pole Star – known as the Golden Stake.
The bandits appealed to the Pole Star: “We have stolen Tender Girl, the daughter of Pleiades, and now they are pursuing us. Help us.”
The Golden Stake replied: “Kumiss belongs to the man who drinks it, and the girl to the man who steals her. There is nothing to be afraid of, you can live here in the night sky.”
A short time later Pleiades also came to the Pole Star and said: “Seven bandits have stolen our only daughter, Tender Girl. We cannot reach them. Help us and order them to return our girl to us!”, they cried.
“Perhaps your daughter left with them of her own accord,” said the Golden Stake. “Will they listen to me? No, you had better reach them and take your daughter back yourselves.”
So Pleiades resumed the pursuit.
To this day the Seven bandits circle the Golden Stake, (hiding from the eyes of foreigners the Tender Girl in their midst), with Pleiades in pursuit, never able to catch up with them.
The woe of the Pleiades who lost their only daughter to the seven bandits is so great theat they radiate only coldness, not warmth … and that is why, the nomads say, that when the Pleiades are seen in the sky the night is very cold.
The practice of Ala Kachuu has come under considerable and mounting criticism over recent years as a result of a number of high profile cases which have sadly included a number of suicides as girls have rejected the traditional role of acquiescence to their fate. This has raised more exposure in the international media, but even here, inside Kyrgyzstan, there has been a growing concern over the practice.
There have, for example, been attempts to raise the matter in the parliament, and amend legislation, but the deputies have generally rejected or failed to provide a quorum for debate.
Interestingly, the attitude of Pleiades in the legend is not what has come to be the usual traditional approach as expressed by the Golden Stake. The traditional approach seems to be for the kidnapped girl to be encouraged to accept her fate … and anything different would bring disgrace to both her and her family. In this legend, however, Pleiades not only chases after the kidnappers but appeals to the authorities for the return of their only daughter.
Bishkek