The Pleiades' high visibility in the night sky has guaranteed it a special place in many cultures, both ancient and modern. In Greek mythology, they represented the Seven Sisters, while to the Vikings, they were Freyja's hens, and their name in many old European languages compares them to a hen with chicks.
To the Bronze Age people of Europe, such as the Celts (and probably considerably earlier), the Pleiades were associated with mourning and with funerals, since at that time in history, on the cross-quarter day between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice (see Samhain, also Halloween or All Souls Day), which was a festival devoted to the remembrance of the dead, the cluster rose in the eastern sky as the sun's light faded in the evening. It was from this acronychal rising that the Pleiades became associated with tears and mourning. As a result of precession over the centuries, the Pleiades no longer marked the festival, but the association has nevertheless persisted, and accounts for the significance of the Pleiades astrologically.
The ancient Aztecs of Mexico and Central America based their calendar upon the Pleiades. Their calendric year began when priests first remarked the asterism rising heliacally in the east, immediately before the sun's dawn light obliterated the view of the stars.
The American Hopi Indians built their underground Kivas for multiple utilitarian uses. The most important of which was their ceremonial meeting place. The access was a ladder through a small hole in the roof of the round hole in the ground. During certain ceremonies, the night passage of the Pleiades over the center of the opening of the entrance hole was a direct signal to begin a certain ceremony. Most of the cultures used the angle of the Pleiades in the night sky as a time telling device.
In Japan, the Pleiades are known as 昴 Subaru, and have given their name to the car manufacturer whose logo incorporates six stars to represent the five smaller companies that merged into one.
...methods can then extend the distance scale from open clusters to galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and a cosmic distance ladder can be constructed. Ultimately astronomers' understanding of the age and future evolution of the universe is influenced by their knowledge of the distance to the Pleiades.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades
and it goes on and on with various cultures...
To look a bit at the Greeks:
The Pleiades, companions of Artemis, were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione born on Mount Cyllene. They are the sisters of Calypso, Hyas, the Hyades, and the Hesperides. The Pleiades were nymphs in the train of Artemis, and together with the seven Hyades were called the Atlantides, Dodonides, or Nysiades, nursemaids and teachers to the infant [Dionysus].
Several of the most prominent male Olympian gods (including Zeus, Poseidon, and Ares) engaged in affairs with the seven heavenly sisters. These relationships resulted in the birth of children.
1. Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.
...
7. Merope, youngest of the seven Pleiades, was wooed by Orion. In other mythic contexts she married Sisyphus and, becoming mortal, faded away. She bore to Sisyphus several sons.
All of the Pleiades except Merope consorted with gods.
After Atlas was forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders, Orion began to pursue all of the Pleiades, and Zeus transformed them first into doves, and then into stars to comfort their father. The constellation of Orion is said to still pursue them across the night sky.
In the Pleiades star cluster only six of the stars shine brightly, the seventh, Merope, shines dully because she is shamed for eternity for having an affair with a mortal. Some myths also say that the star that doesn't shine is Electra, mourning the death of Dardanus, though a few myths say it is Sterope.
One of the most memorable myths involving the Pleiades is the story of how these sisters literally became stars, their catasterism. According to some versions of the tale, all seven sisters committed suicide because they were so saddened by either the fate of their father, Atlas, or the loss of their siblings, the Hyades. In turn Zeus, the ruler of the Greek gods, immortalized the sisters by placing them in the sky. There these seven stars formed the constellation known thereafter as the Pleiades.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_%28mythology%29
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2.) From Gemini to Cancer (for Ayla, for Aetan):
Cancer, the Crab, plays a minor role in the Twelve Labors of Hercules. While Hercules was busy fighting the multi-headed monster, Hydra, the goddess Hera, who did not like Hercules, sent the Crab to distract him. Cancer grabbed onto the hero's toe with its claws, but barely breaking the rhythm of his great battle with Hydra, Hercules crushed the crab with his foot. Hera, grateful for the little crustacean's heroic but pitiful effort, gave it a place in the sky.
The modern symbol for Cancer is the crab, but it has been represented with various types of creatures, usually those live in the water, and always those with an exoskeleton.
It is the domicile of the Moon or "House of the Moon", and this concept might originate from an ancient belief that Moon was located here at the creation of the world.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_%28constellation%29
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3.) And from Cancer to Leo (for Rhea) brings us full circle, the end of the zodiac, as started spontaneously with Virgo.
Bacchi Sidus (Star of Bacchus) was another of its titles, the god always being identified with this animal, and its shape the one often adopted by him in his numerous transformations, while a lion's skin was his frequent dress. But Manilius had it Jovis et Junonis Sidus (Star of Jove and Juno), as being under the guardianship of these deities, perhaps appropriately considering its regal character, especially that of its lucida.
In Greek mythology, it was identified as the Nemean Lion (and may have been a source of the tale) which was killed by Hercules during one of his twelve labours, and subsequently put into the sky.
The first of Heracles' twelve labours, set by Eurystheus (his cousin) was to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin.
Heracles wandered the areas until he came upon the town of Cleonae. There, he found a poor farm boy. This farm boy would sacrifice anything to get wealth. If Hercules slayed the Nemean Lion and returned alive within 30 days of leaving, they would sacrifice a lion to Zeus, the god of all gods. If he did not return within 30 days or he died, however, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus.
While he was looking for the lion, he made arrows to use against it, not knowing that it was immortal. When he finally arrived to where the lion was, he started throwing arrows at the lion, but nothing happened. So Heracles trapped the lion inside a room. He closed both doors and forced him into a corner. In the corner, Heracles choked him to death.
When he returned to the King, the king was shocked. So the king gave Hercules the skin to wear around. But he said "the tasks will be getting harder."
This task took the course of three months when he was eighteen years old.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_%28constellation%29
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemean_Lion
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