"Very good job, Brianna!Now let's talk a bit about sun's mythology.So..."
[b]Each civilization has its own story of why the sun seems to rise in the East and set in the West while changing the length of the days. In Hawaii they tell of how Maui tied down the sun until it agreed to move slower during part of the year so that Maui's mother could dry out the bark she used for making paper.
The Greeks, Romans and others thought the sun, the Roman god Sol, Helios (HEE lee us) in Greek, was a god on a chariot of fire pulled by four horses. After waking up to the roosters crowing he would ride across the sky until reaching his palace in the west then take a golden ferry boat on the ocean back to his eastern palace.
Even though we know that the Earth's polar tilt relative to the plane of its orbit causes the illusion we still say the sun comes up and goes down
Native American Indians, from many tribes, have a legacy deeply rooted in the Sun. There were the Anasazi Sun watchers, the Priest of the Sun in the Zuni , and in Hopi villages, solar observations were made by the head of the society responsible for upcoming ceremonies to determine the date for rituals.
The Blackfoot tribe of North America reveres Creator Sun. He made the Universe and his children of Mother Earth. Creator Sun sent a piece of himself in the form of a disciple, Napi, to teach his children and look over them after their parents, Mudman and Ribwoman, passed on to the Happy Hunting Grounds.
In China, worship of the Sun is part of the State religion and is symbolized by the raven in a circle. In Chinese mythology, the Sun is the palace of Shen I, the Divine Archer. On the fifteenth day after the new moon, Shen I visits his wife, Heng O, who resides on the Moon.
According to myth, this conjunction of the male and female principles, the yin and the yang, is said to cause the brilliant full moon.
In Hawaiian mythology, the Sun was created by one of the three gods, Kane, with the other celestial bodies and was not of major significance. It is represented in myth as habitations or divine bodies for gods who are worshiped by their descendents. A ritual form of worship of the Sun is the Ka la i ka lolo (Sun on the brain). Perhaps the suppression of the Sun in Hawaiian mythology is due to its ties to sorcery and secrecy or possibly because it is phallic in nature.
In African cultures, the Sun was depicted as fierce and harsh, the Moon was revered for its coolness and wisdom. Generally, the Sun did not have a prominent role in African mythology or worship. The Ashanti, however, knew the Sun as Nyankopan or Lisa, the king of the Universe.
The Sun was important to ancient peoples, not only for light and warmth, but the heritage it gave them. Stories of the Sun abound through the ages. They are, however, only one aspect of many tales about celestial objects in myth and legend.
"Does anybody know a mith or a legend about sun?"
by Alexandra Cullen Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:03 pm
