How Many Birds Are We Made Of?

Our galaxy is called the Milky Way in English, a name that evokes a symbolic image shared across many languages. This imagery traces back to a Greek myth in which Zeus placed his mortal-born son, Heracles, at the breast of the goddess Hera while she slept, hoping the child would nurse and become immortal. When Hera awoke to find an unknown baby feeding from her, she pushed him away, and drops of milk spilled across the sky, forming the Milky Way.

In Finnish, however, our galaxy is called Linnunrata—the “path of the birds.” Birds also appear in the origin stories of the Finno-Ugric languages. One such myth tells of our world being born from the breaking of an egg laid by a waterfowl on an island in the primordial sea. From what was held within that egg, our world took shape.

And then I wonder: How many birds are we made of?

This project was published as a "Praxinoscope" in Ope Magazine.