Astronomy

Observation of objects in the heavens is in some ways an objective phenomenon, but interpreting such observations is not. The “meanings” of the heavenly orbs and their movements have always been expressed in concepts and terms peculiar to different cultures. Mesoamerican peoples had a variety of concepts unfamiliar to us about the earth, sun, moon, planets, and stars, and they applied observational data about those matters extensively and distinctively in their lives.

One of the most frequent observations of the sun involves marking the position on the horizon where it rises and sets on solstice days (on or near June 21 and December 21). Sometimes the position is marked on the midpoint days between those extremes. During the Pre-Classic era in Mesoamerica, the azimuths to the points where the sun rose and set at those movements were frequently considered significant. Positions from which such observations could reliably be made were often marked by forming an alignment between a plain stone stela and some prominent feature on the horizon as a sighting line. At Naranjo in the Valley of Guatemala, one of the earliest observation spots dates back to the Las Charcas period (ca. 650-600 BC). One Pre-Classic stela at Monte Alto (in the Pacific of Guatemala) was set to mark the winter solstice. At Ihuatzío in norther-central Mexico, located exactly on the Tropic of Cancer (the northernmost latitude reached by the sun in its seasonal progression), an observer at noon on June 21 (summer solstice) standing on any of three pyramid mounds would discover that the sun was precisely overhead (an object at that point casts no shadow on that day). The Tzotzil Maya of Chiapas regarded the solstitial horizon points, rather than our cardinal directions, as the four corners of the world. They thought that the “navel of the universe” lay at the crossing of the solstitial sighting axes. Most of the Late Pre-Classic site of Ujuxte in southern coastal Guatemala was also carefully laid out according to an astronomically orientated grid pattern that was based on the orientations just described.

The Greeks and Egyptians oriented their sacred architecture to points on the horizon where the sun rose or set on the solstices. The Israelite First Temple at Jerusalem was aligned so that equinoctial sunrises would shine across the courtyard of the temple like an advancing fire (a phenomenon associated with scriptural references to “the glory of the Lord”) to enter the heart of the structure. A somewhat similar hierophany takes place during the few moments of sunset on the day of the equinox at Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula; at the Castillo pyramid a spectacular “serpent of light,” considered to represent Kakulcan/Quetzalcoatl, appears to slither down the west-facing balustrade of the north stairway, level by level, to disappear into the underworld. To effect such visual events, these structures obviously had to be carefully planned and constructed on the basis of developed astronomy. Even the idea of dramatizing such solar phenomena through architecture represents an interhemispheric correspondence that could have involved ideas and techniques brought across the ocean with Book of Mormon peoples.

The Book of Mormon provides insufficient detail to establish that its people used solar observations for orientation, but it is likely that they did so since the concept was as pervasive in ancient Near Eastern civilization as in Mesoamerica. As we shall see below, the Nephites were very much astronomically aware.

In about 10 BC, a Lamanite prophet named Samuel prophesied to the Nephites that five years hence “there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld. . . . And . . . there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven” (Helaman 14:5-6). That prediction was reported fulfilled when “a new star did appear” (3 Nephi 1:21). Further evidence of Nephite concern with astronomy is shown by Mormon, who, writing his commentary in the fourth century AD, said, “If he [God] say to the earth—Move—it is moved. Yea, if he say unto the earth—Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours—it is done . . . and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still . . . for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun” (Helaman 12:13-15). At the least these statements tell us that the Nephites paid close attention to the heavenly orbs and based a theory or theories of celestial mechanics on their observations. At another level the text indicates that the Nephites did not hold a geocentric model of the heavens.

A lunar-based calendar was apparently basic to Nephite/Mulekite calendrical calculations (Omni 1:21). That being the case, a systematic record of moon phenomena would have been an element in their astronomy/calendar knowledge system. Landa describes the Yucatan “moon”/”month” as counted “from the time at which the new moon appeared until it no longer appears.” Stewart has demonstrated that a lunar calendar was fundamental in the development of the nature Mesoamerican calendar. “The fact that the terms for the 20-day period mean ‘moon’ in several of the native languages of Mesoamerica is the most direct reason for suspecting the former use of lunar months,” he observed. Furthermore, “a calendar of 12-13 ‘moons’ in ancient Mesoamerica is almost presumable on general grounds. The specific evidence discussed in this paper makes that supposition a virtual certainty.” Graulich supported Stewart’s view.

Nephite astronomers also observed the planets, at least the major ones. In a theological argument, Alma2 (Alma 3:0:44) spoke of “the earth, and . . . its motion, yea, and also the planets which move their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.” The Maya observed and recorded the movements of planets, especially Venus, as well as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury.

Astronomical, solar, lunar phenomena were involved in many practical aspects of Mesoamerican civilization. Chapter 18 noted that Book of Mormon battles—notably the final battle at Cumorah (Mormon 6:2-3, 5)—may have been scheduled at times determined by astronomical, astrological, or calendrical phenomena. “The Maya, at least, conducted certain battles, raids, or martial contests timed for significant stations in the Venus cycle such as first appearances as Morning Star and Evening Star. The so-called ‘Star War’ events were indeed Venus-regulated. . . . Venus-regulated combat and sacrifice were not confined to the Maya.” In fact, “ritual warfare and its astronomical connotations were institutionalized over a wide area,” judging by the art at Cacaxtla that shows links to both Teotihuacán and the Maya area.

In another astronomical relationship, the Mexica (Aztecs) identified the deity Quetzalcoatl with the planet Venus in a peculiar manner. Certain Spaniards believed that “the Morning Star ceremony, in which a sacrificial victim was spread-eagled on an X-shaped scaffold and shot in the side with an arrow, was actually a New World version of Jesus’ crucifixion. For had not Jesus said, ‘I am . . . the bright and morning star’?” (Revelation 22:16). Some Latter-day Saints have held, on the basis of parallels between characteristics of Jesus Christ as related in the book of 3 Nephi (his birth was heralded among the Nephites by “a new star”) and traditions about the god Quetzalcoatl, that the two were the same historical person.

It is plausible that some or all of the parallels we have identified under the rubric “astronomy” represent notions brought to the New World from some Old World civilization, likely from the Near East, as the Book of Mormon would imply.