This carousel shares Sky Stories from around the world. The design for each animal incorporates cultural art styles and color themes into how each element is painted, with details based on historical knowledge, literature, and art about each figure. It also incorporates some representation of a scientific phenomenon associated with the theme/celestial body.

Each figure was designed in collaboration by a group of artists including a cultural lead, a crew member with personal heritage or rigorous academic knowledge of the culture being represented. We are representing stories from all over the world, though you’ll see there are gaps on the map especially in places where horses were not a part of the landscapes and cultures until more modern history. We hope to fill in more regions when we paint the scenery panels and/or by fundraising to buy additional animals.

Sky Stories

We’re working on getting official portraits done! There are some other views in the Gallery.

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Meaning “Rime Mane” with Skinfaxi (“Shining Mane”), these horses bear the Norse gods of night (Nott) and day (Dagr) across the sky. It is said to be Skinfaxi’s mane which lights the world below each day, and froth from Hrimfaxi’s bit which makes the morning dew. 

The elements of night, ice, and the Moon are combined here in the horse’s saddle. The stark black line against silver depicts the bright edge of a crater wall lit by the Sun in the Moon’s polar reaches. The floors of such craters lie in permanent shadow and receive no warmth from the Sun, allowing ice to gather there in large deposits.

This horse helps draw the solar chariot of Surya, Hindu god of the Sun. It is said that Surya has seven horses, one for each color of the rainbow, for each day of the week, and for each type of Vedic verse (after which they are named). The group of horses is represented by the rainbow stripes of the saddle. The saddle and blankets are inspired by the bright colors and elaborate embroidery of traditional sari garments. 

The paisley pattern on blue in the saddle is meant to depict water droplets in the sky, with colors spreading out from them like light refracting into a rainbow as it travels through rainy or humid atmosphere.

Yutu (the Jade Rabbit) was sent to live on the Moon with the Moon princess Chang’e after sacrificing himself in a selfless act. He lives under a cinnamon tree and uses a mortar and pestle to pound herbs, creating the elixir of life for the gods. In China, he is celebrated during the mid-Autumn festival along with the Moon. Other versions of the Jade Rabbit also exist from Japanese, Vietnamese, and other Asian cultures.

Here we imagine Yutu as studying Moon rocks in his mortar and pestle. The saddle crescent bears an image taken under a microscope of a thin slice of Moon rock called a “thin section,” used by scientists to understand its mineralogy. The Chinese space agency has sent several spacecrafts to the Moon named for Chang’e, including two rovers named Yutu and Yutu-2.

Pegasus connects us to the stars and our past with black and terracotta colors and geometric designs evoking ancient Greek pottery. Pegasus was born from Medusa’s blood, carried the hero Bellerophon, and could create springs with the strike of his hoof. He eventually ended up on Mount Olympus where he carried the thunder and lightning bolts of Zeus until he was placed in the sky as a constellation.

Depicted on the saddle, this constellation reminds us of the way we, as humans, relate to and wish to understand the sky above. Pegasus also has a foal named Celeris in the sky as the Equuleus or “little horse” constellation. These were created by Ptolemy and Hipparchus, ancient astronomers who developed the mathematical frameworks we use to study the cosmos today. 

The god Sol (Greek Helios) drives a chariot across the sky each day drawn by four steeds named Pyrois (“The Fiery One”), Eous (“He of the Dawn”), Aethon (“Blazing”), and Phlegon (“Burning”). At the edge of the sky when he descends to the sea, he stops to bathe and rest the horses each night. Sol is youthful and golden-eyed, with a solar crown of twelve rays upon his head. The saddle designs are taken from Roman mosaics.

Eous’ saddle shows a burst of light, with first blue scattering in every direction and mostly red extending beyond. The sky appears blue because blue wavelengths scatter easily in the atmosphere and bounce into our eyes. The peanut shape indicates the directions of scattering. However, light must travel farther during sunrise and sunset, and it is mostly red light which survives journey and gives them their warm hues.

Mēness (the Moon) is a god of war and was once the husband of Saule (the Sun). He wears silver silk and a cloak of stars, and carries a sword at his side. The stars are his warriors who fight alongside him each night. He travels through the sky counting them to ensure they are in their place, often finding the morning star Auseklis missing. He was called upon to protect travelers at night and warriors in battle. Historically, soldiers would adorn their horses with Moon symbols.

The star pattern on the saddle blanket is one of many patterns woven into traditional textiles called Lielvārde belts. The ring on the saddle depicts an e-shaped symbol of the Moon moving among the twelve zodiac constellations (stars) along the ecliptic plane in the sky.

Hun Chuen is Classical Mayan for One Monkey, who with his brother One Artisan was a god of music, writing, and the arts in the Mayan creation story. Once men, they were turned into howler monkeys during a famous rivalry with their half-brothers, the Hero Twins, and their movement back and forth between the jungle and their grandmother’s house in the story described the motion of Mars that ancient Mayans observed in the sky. There are ~7 million modern Maya in Mesoamerica today across several ethnolinguistic groups.

The One in their names links them to the sacred Tzolk’in calendar which is based on a repeating cycle of 13 numbers combined with 20 day names to produce 260 unique days. This number relates to Mars’ orbit, which is featured on the saddle.

Énbarr belonged to the sea god Manannan mac Lir. He is described as a dark gray horse with a golden bridle who can run as fast over water as over land and was swifter than the wind. For the space of nine waves he would be submerged in the sea, rising on the crest of the tenth unwetted. 

Here, we invoke the Moon via tides, which arise daily due to its gravitational pull on the ocean as the Earth rotates. Spring (new/full Moon) and neap (half Moon) tides also occur twice a month as the Sun’s gravity either enhances or diminishes the Moon’s effect as it moves in its orbit. Other worlds also have tides, such as Jupiter’s moon Europa, whose exterior ice shell is covered with copper-colored fractures caused by extreme gravitational interaction with other nearby moons. 

This horse is inspired by shinme, the sacred horses which are kept and cared for in Shinto temples as steeds for the gods. During rituals they may be dressed with fine ropes, tassels, and other adornments. The Sun goddess Amaterasu is the chief deity in the Shinto pantheon and the ruler of the heavenly realm, and shinme kept for her are traditionally white. Hikaru means “radiant.”

Amaterasu is often depicted with the Sun’s rays extending out straight from a halo around her. Here, the saddle instead depicts the shape of the Parker Spiral (also called the “ballerina skirt” spiral) which is the shape of the solar wind as it emanates from the Sun and spreads through the solar system. 

The Ebony Horse is a flying horse described in an adventure from 1001 Nights, a collection of stories from Arab, Persian, and even Indian traditions. It was said to be able to fly over mountains, going the distance of a whole year in one leap. What is extraordinary is that this horse was mechanical, not magical, highlighting the ingenuity of people in ancient times. Much of modern astronomy is founded in knowledge and instruments developed in the early Middle-East. This horse celebrates that legacy, connecting ancient and modern exploration technology.

The saddle depicts an Islamic geometric pattern of a field of stars, its hexagons a subtle nod to the mirrors of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the largest telescope in space. The saddle blanket depicts a nebula.

According to the San, all animals were created with a purpose but the Giraffe did not feel he had any special skills. However, it was seen after creation that the Sun kept getting lost as it traveled across the sky and only Giraffe was tall enough to guide it. He can be seen here on Earth or in the sky as the constellation which western cultures call the Southern Cross. 

Khoisan is a catchall term for several indigenous peoples of southern Africa who speak click languages. ǃnábe means “giraffe” in Khoe, where the ! is a click. The Khoisan are known for their beautiful rock art, geometric designs, and ostrich shell beads. Here, the beads on the saddle connect the Giraffe’s spots to sunspots, with magnetic field lines arcing between them to form solar flares. The top of the saddle features rock art of the Sun and animals.

Turquoise is a gift from the Holy People sacred reminder of the second world (the blue world) where the Diné (Navajo) lived as spiritual beings, before moving into this one. It is also the namesake of Turquoise Boy, who along with White Shell Girl, became the Sun bearer and the bearer of night. Turquoise Boy created the horse for the Dine people, using corn for its ears, shells for its teeth, precious stones for its hooves, and placing the stars in its eyes. When it gallops, its legs flash like lightning, its hooves make the sound of thunder and its mane swirls like clouds. 

In Diné culture, turquoise is associated with water and sky. As a stone, it connects sky to Earth, forming when rain seeps into the ground and chemically reacts with copper. The symbol on the horse’s hindquarter shows Turquoise Boy in the center of the four sacred mountains with rain falling in between.

Lungta means “wind horse,” the figure depicted on Tibetan prayer flags associated with the vital life force and basic energy of goodness. The concept of “riding the wind” means to invoke that goodness in your life, though this energy cannot be possessed. Prayer flags spread lungta by the act of the wind blowing through them and carrying their mantras away. Rituals can also be performed to help raise one’s lungta.

The Eternal Knot on the chest strap has several meanings, among them the interconnectedness of everything in the universe. Here it is embellished with arrows showing Earth’s Hadley cells, the direction of air circulation between different latitudes that drives changes in weather. Combined, these symbols remind us that everything in our climate, culture, and practices are connected.

A Nigerian folk tale tells of a mother sheep named Thunder and her son Lightning the ram. The ram had a poor temper and whenever he became angry he would start fires, knock down trees, and damage buildings in the village. The sheep would call in her loud voice for him to stop, but he would not listen. Fed up, the villagers eventually banished them to live in the sky. Àmụ̀mà means “flash” in the Igbo language, short for amụmammiri (“lightning”). He is re-imagined on this carousel as a zebra.

The pattern of the saddle’s cloud is designed based on aso-oke textiles of the Yoruba people. Its inverted colors represent the separation of positively and negatively charged particles inside storm clouds as water molecules become stripped of their electrons, which migrate to the cloud’s edge until they discharge to Earth’s surface in the form of lightning.

A weather vane at the top of the carousel depicts Na-gah, a bighorn sheep and son of the god Shinoh. He wished to climb the tallest mountain peak, but near the top it was impassible. Eventually he found a cave which led him to the top, but it collapsed behind him trapping him there. Shinoh was walking across the sky searching for his son and turned him into a star to save him. This star would never move in the sky so that it could be a beacon to guide others. 

Stars move in our sky because the Earth is rotating, but the North Star stays still because it’s in line with our axis of rotation, and therefore can always guide us.

Land Acknowledgement: Black Rock City is built upon the traditional lands of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. We thank them for stewarding this land and commit to doing our best to do the same.

Indigenous Andean cultures (who historically made up the Inca empire), recognize a trio of sacred animals: the condor associated with the sky (Hanan Pacha), the puma the Earth (Kay Pacha), and the snake the underworld (Ukupacha).

Condors are the divine messengers between people and gods, especially the Sun god Inti and the deities of the sacred mountain peaks, called apus. Apus provide protection and sustenance to villages, so the condor flies up to bring them the people’s offerings and prayers. The messenger role gives the condor an association with apuchin, a Quechua word meaning “all that is or will become” (something similar to destiny). The condor even plays an ecological role, flying down to the coast to forage and bringing water as rains back up to the highlands, and is part of the night sky as a constellation.