Dog days Dog days The dog days or are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The English name is a calque of the Latin "" (."the puppy days"), itself a calque of the Greek "kynádes hēmérai" (, "dog days"). The Greeks knew the star α Canis Majoris by several names, including Sirius (,
The Sirius Mystery that the Dogon considered Sirius to be a double star and/or that astronomy was particularly important in their belief system. Others, such as Marcel Griaule's daughter Geneviève Calame-Griaule and an anthropologist, Luc de Heusch, came to criticize Van Beek's dismissal as "political" and riddled with "unchecked speculation", demonstrating a general ignorance of Dogon esoteric tradition. In 1978, Astronomer Ian Ridpath observed, in an article in the "Skeptical Inquirer", "The whole Dogon legend of Sirius and its companions is riddled with ambiguities, contradictions, and downright errors, at least if we try to interpret it literally." Ridpath stated that while the information