Cultural Associations
The Bible refers to it as "the seven stars" (Amos 5:8).
Book XVIII of Homer's Iliad mentions it as "the Bear, which men also call the Wain."
In Tolkien's Middle-earth mythos, it is called the Valacirca (Sickle of the Valar), the sign of Hope signifying doom for Evil, while in T.A. Barron's Great Tree of Avalon series, it is called the Wizard's Staff, symbolizing Merlin's staff.
It is a prominent symbol in the Fist of the North Star manga/anime series; Kenshiro, has scars on his chest in the Big Dipper's configuration. It is identified as an omen: "When the great bear appears, violence will follow."
In the video game Devil Survivor 2, the seven stars of the Big Dipper (known as Septentriones) appear as the primary antagonists of the game, while Polaris serves as the game's final boss.
In the video game Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, the player has to find the big dipper in the sky.
In addition to appearing on the flags of political entities, the Dipper has also been used in corporate logos.
Read more about this topic: Big Dipper
Famous quotes containing the words cultural and/or associations:
“A society that has made “nostalgia” a marketable commodity on the cultural exchange quickly repudiates the suggestion that life in the past was in any important way better than life today.”
—Christopher Lasch (b. 1932)
“There are many ways of discarding [books]. You can give them to friends,—or enemies,—or to associations or to poor Southern libraries. But the surest way is to lend them. Then they never come back to bother you.”
—Carolyn Wells (1862?–1942)