Wikipedia Trail from Jasper National Park to Paleo-Eskimo

With my winter vacation quickly approaching I was curious about Jasper National Park in Canada. My boyfriend and I have plans to visit Jasper National Park and spend a few days there. From the wikipedia trail starting with Jasper, I went to the next page that talks about the Arctic Ocean as this is a desolate place that has unknown history and fascinates me. It is the shallowest of the oceans and is almost completely surrounded by land masses. Some of the oldest history that has been discovered dates back to the Pre-Dorset times which were 3200- 850 B.C. During this time the Paleo-Eskimo culture lived in the arctic. Paleo-Eskimo peoples lived in what is now modern day Russia, across North America and into Greenland. They were gradually displaced by the Dorset culture.

Jasper National Park

Week 13: Ursa Minor

There once lived a great bear king named Urso who lived and loved greatly. Bar loved so deeply that he had two wives, one named Ursala and the other named Orsa. Each of his wives gave birth to a son; Ursala's named her son Ursulito, and Orsa named her son Borso.
Now legend has it that Ursula was a bear of infinite wisdom and wit but was not pleasant to look at, while Orsa had enough beauty to make up for what Ursula lacked. Unfortunately all of the bears in the kingdom would run away in disgust when they laid eyes on Ursula and even her son Ursulito, for he took after his mother and also lacked the looks. Although Ursala did not receive much attention from her towns bears she was content, all she needed was the attention and affection of her husband.
Over the years, Urso began to give more and more attention to Ursula as they continued to grow in their relationship. Urso and Ursala's relationship grew stronger each day and so did Ursa's relationship with his son Ursulito. Orsa grew more and more jealous of the time that HER husband, Urso, was spending with the hideous wife and the hideous child.
One day Orsa had seen enough and plotted a way to rid the kingdom of Ursulito for she knew that he stood a great chance at inheriting the kingdom. Her plot was quick and deadly, as deadly as a Black Mamba.
Jealous Orsa had returned back from a stay with family in a nearby province, and with her she brought gifts. She gave each of the family members' their gift and quietly waited for her gift to take its course.
Once back to his room, gladly and expiedtly Ursulito opened his gift that he had received from Orsa. In the basket he saw a snake who hissed fiercely. Immediately, Ursulito dropped the snake and ran away but the snake continued to follow him. As the child ran the snake seemed to continue to gain on him, until the snake was finally able to catch up.
The snake hissed at Ursulito, "dear boy, you must not be afraid. I am sent here to protect you from your evil stepmother. Orsa thought that when she bought me I was a venomous snake who could kill you but I am the opposite and I will lead you to safety, but you must trust me and follow me."
And so, Ursulito and the snake began their long journey and headed away from the kingdom. For many years Ursulito continued on this journey until he caught word that his brother was killed in battle and that his father had passed. The snake, who had been his companion this entire time urged Ursulito to return to the kingdom and pick up rule, and so he did.
Once Ursulito arrived back to his home kingdom, he was told the stories of how great his father was and that in his honor they named a group of stars after him, they called it Ursa Major.
Ursulito continued to rule the kingdom and all people who lived under his rule were happy. Many years passed and Ursulito became ill, the doctors worked diligently to save him but he finally was not longer able to continue on.
The towns bears wanted to honor Ursulito in a way that they had honored his dear father and so they named the constellation nearby to Ursa Major... they named it Ursa Minor.

 The constellation, Ursa Major

Authors Note:
This story has been adapted from the original story called the Tale of the Pole Star by C.A. Kincaid, found in his book titled "Tales from the Indian Epics". The original story told by Kincaid is about a king, his 2 wives and their sons. One wife is far more gorgeous than the other and her son took after her, the other wife had a better personality and her son took after her. One day one of his wives grew jealous of the other's son and pushed him down. When the child asked his mother what to do she told him to retreat to the forest and pray to Krishna, and so he did. Krishna finally appeared to him after many years and told him to return. After his arrival his brother died and his father eventually did too, he took up rule. Many years passed under his rule which was a fair rule, but he longed to worship and be with Krishna. The king gave up his kingdom and pursued Krishna until he arrived at a path that continued above ground. Along the way he met 7 sages who watched him continue his journey and eventually until he found Krishna. Once he found Krishna he was turned into a star and the 7 sages were also turned into stars. The constellation was called the Seven Sages Constellation in Indian culture and the Great Bear in western culture. Ursa Minor represents the Great Bear or the Seven Sages Constellation.

Reading Notes: The Tale of the Pole Star, Part B

Uttanpad was a king who lived in India, he had 2 wives. One was named Suniti and the other was named Suruchi.. one had a beautiful personality but was neglected, while the other had a beautiful face and was not neglected. He had a son by Suruchi named Uttam (6) and by Suniti had a son named Dhruv (5). They got qualities from their mother. One day Suruchi pushed Dhruv over when he was being told a story by Uttanpad, because she was furious and told him to go pray to the gods. He went into the forest to pray and stayed there for many years until Krishna appeared. Krishna told him that he had to rule his father's kingdom and make people happy before he could go with him to heaven. Narada was summonsed by Krishna who directed him to lead Dhruv back to town. Suruchi and Uttam were both displeased with his arrival and were extremely jealous. Finally, Uttanpad rebuked Uttam who became even more furious. He begged and was given permission by his father to go to the forest with the army to fight a rivalry army but was told that he must take orders from the general. He decided not to and was lured to his death by the tribesmen within the forest. Dhruv was sent out to avenge the tribesmen and was successful. After years passed Dhruv was crowned king and Uttanpad went to the forest to live until it was his time to die. His people were happy but he was sad and thought of when he was young and worshipped Krishna, he longed to be with Krishna. He gave the kingdom to his son and returned to his old home in the forest to find a northern path. He followed the path which got higher and higher from the ground, he finally came upon the Sun and the Moon. He continued on to when he came to where the seven rishis lived. He didn't stop there and kept on the path to the end where he sat down and looked up at Krishna. He gradually became a shining object, the Rishis who watched him also became shining stars. The Great Bear is also called the Seven Sages and Dhruv is the Pole Star.

The Great Bear also known as the Seven Sages Constellation

Source: Tales from the Indian Epics, C.A. Kincaid (1918).  

Readings Notes: The Churning of the Ocean, Part A

When the world was young there was a mountain named Mount Meru that was north of India. The lesser gods gathered on the peak because they thought that it would make them immortal and powerful like Vishnu, Brahmadeva and Shiva. In order to obtain this they knew that they had to get the ambrosia jar at the bottom of the ocean. Vishnu suggested that they call the demons to help, they'll get the jar and jewels. They left Mount Meru and went to Mount Mandara which was another great mountain. This mountain had deep forests with a lot of animals like lions, tigers, leopards, and elephants. They picked it up and tried to uproot it but were unsuccessful. Vishnu called the snake god, Vasuki to help them. He was able to uproot the mountain so they all rolled the mountain to the shore of the ocean. They churned the ocean waters with the mountain to gain the ambrosia, with the condition that they give some to the ocean god. Gods and demons were working together at this point.They asked the tortoise god to lie at the bottom of the ocean to keep the mountain from sinking. The tortoise god put the mountain on his back and went to the deepest part of the ocean. The snake god then went to the mountain and had gods on the mountain swing him and demons on land swing him, thus they churned the ocean. They were unsuccessful so they went to Brahmadeva and asked for his help, he begged Vishnu to give them more strength. They were finally successful and the moon rose up, a giant elephant also rose up, a pretty maid rose, Vishnu's wife (named Lakshmi) rose up. Indra named the elephant Airavat and he became his servant, he named the girl Rambha and she became chief among the dancing girls. Sura, the wine goddess arose, a horse named Uchaisrava arose, jewels named Kaustubha arose. As they continued to churn the snake god became ill so Shiva drank the poisonous liquid that protected the ambrosia, this turned his throat blue and he is known as Nilkantha or Blue-throat. Then an old man named Dhanwantari arose with the ambrosia. The demons grabbed it but Vishnu got it back and he punished the demons by only pouring it on the gods who became immortal while the demons stayed immortal. One demon named Rahu drank some but the sun-god told Vishnu who was able to cut off his head. Rahu's body rotted but his head was immortal and sometimes eats the sun-god out of spite. Fortunately the sun-god reappears.

             The Churning of the Ocean

Source: Tales from the Indian Epics by C.A. Kincaid (1918).