  In his 1981 article, Roberts highlights the term 'stellify' defined as "to
transform (a person or thing) into a star or constellation, to place among the
stars." Using the case of the Tabwa people of central Africa, not the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Roberts presents among other things the sky as a
mnemonic for remembering migrations and remembering culture heroes. We do not
know the details of the processes of stellification, however we do know what
has been stellified in many cultures by examining their names for stars and
asterisms and their skylore. Of the many ideas presented in his latest book,
Aveni teases out the ideas of the sky stories having connections to celestial
motions, as well as being a mnemonic for remembering seasonal activities and a
mnemonic for remembering locally embedded moral, ethical, and sociocultural
codes, thus overlapping with Roberts' supposition of the sky serving as a
mnemonic. I draw on case studies to flesh out three themes 1. celestial
motions, 2. moral, ethical, and sociocultural codes, and 3. seasonal activities
within African sky stories. As previously stated, though the human process of
assigning names and stories to the night sky as well as stellifying aspects of
their lives is not fully understood, these three themes hold promise for being
foundational if not part of every culture's practice of stellification.
