Like other natural phenomena, in the human history of various civilizations the Sun was an object of worship. His cult existed in ancient Egypt, where the deity was called Ra. Among the Greeks, the sun god was Helios, who rode across the sky every day in his fiery chariot. Among the Slavs, the deity of the luminaries was Yarilo. In East Asian states, this trend is also observed: the Moon and the Sun were considered opposites - Yang and Yin.
In Indo-European languages, the heavenly body is indicated by the term, which contains the root sol. This part of the word migrated to Latin, Spanish, Icelandic, Portuguese, Swedish, Catalan, Norwegian and Galician. Even in English, the term sol (most often in a scientific context) is used to mean a given heavenly body. At the same time, a connection with the word-forming root of the Indo-European language is also traced in Slavic speech.
Such close attention to the celestial luminary, which has become a cult among many peoples and tribes, is explained by its great importance for the economy of those times. Agriculture depended entirely on the favor of the sun and its generous rays. The importance of this star for orientation should not be underestimated, since astronomy has served as a navigation method since ancient times - a lot depended on the results of measurements of the position of celestial bodies. There was nothing worse for a ship captain, desert caravan or experienced traveler than a cloudy sky. It was in those days that the term "guiding star" was born, which to this day is a symbol of the fact that not everything has been lost, so do not give up.
Determination of coordinates by the Sun
In those distant times, when the compass did not exist yet, and the maps compiled left much to be desired in the accuracy of their performance, people used natural luminaries for orientation. These methods for determining the position in space were empirically calculated, but later received confirmation during the era of the Great geographical discoveries. However, until the eleventh century, which became the age of the compass in Europe, the only way to determine the guiding thread for all conductors and captains was the star closest to Earth. Sunrise and sunset was perceived as an event.
The sun could give both hope and a curse. The first travelers who reached southern, tropical, or equatorial latitudes were discouraged by the difficulties of determining their position in space in these territories. There is a very simple explanation for this: the rising and setting of the sun allows us to determine its azimuth quite accurately, but when it reached the zenith, this became an impossible task for navigators of that time. Only with a change in the person’s worldview regarding the structure of the planet and its position in the universe, the storehouse of knowledge began to replenish, and this problem was resolved.
Location methods
Despite the archaic nature of such observations, they have not lost their relevance for modern travelers who are armed with GPS navigation and accurate maps, because the movement of the star closest to the Earth in the sky shows an enviable regularity. This helps a lot in extreme situations, when technical means cannot come to the rescue for a number of reasons. Let's move on to a detailed examination of the generally accepted orientation methods used by tourists and other nature lovers.
The easiest solution to using the nearest star as a navigator when hiking or traveling is to remember its position at a specific time. But for this there is no need to track its movement across the horizon, it is enough to just remember in memory the place where the sun rises or sets at a given time of the year. At the end of the route, you will need to remember where the star was at the specified moment, and move in the necessary direction.
Definition of south, server, west and east
It will be much more difficult to determine the cardinal points, because for this you need to master the techniques from basic geometry and geography. For example: it is well known that in the Northern Hemisphere, sunrise begins in the east, and sunset in the west. However, this data is not entirely correct. Depending on the time of year, these processes can gravitate both to the south-west and to the east, which requires significant amendments for those who plan the route.
Another conditionally effective way, which gives an error of up to 10 degrees, can be the use of a “sundial”. To do this, a rod is hammered into the soil, and then the position of the cast shadow is fixed after 20 minutes. By connecting its extreme points, you can get the eastern direction, and from it - the rest of the world.
