Father Sun
Perhaps one of
the most important symbols in the Navajo Sun Dancre ceremony is that of the sun. The
sun is conceived as a circle and projected symbolically. The ceremonial
hogan or tipi is seen as a circle when it is blessed with corn pollen.
When people enter, it is in a clock wise direction. They seat themselves
in a circle. The racing is done according to the position of the sun in
the sky, and the girl turns clock wise when she returns home. The cake
is circular, "so it will be like the sun," and is baked in a circular
pit. The baking is timed according to the passage of the sun. "All the
people watch the time; during the summer, the nights are short. You go
according to the sun. You give it enough time to bake right. In the
winter, you wait till later. Someone has to direct that time schedule.
Women are inside and outside keeping track." When done, it is cut in a
clockwise wise direction. The center assumes anthropomorphic qualities
attributed to the sun; it becomes a heart, and as a living thing, it may
not be cut with a knife. The sun is a symbol of life, creation,
blessing, and power.
"The sun a
central deity who correlates the nether and celestial worlds with this
one, who exists to assist man to his final destiny. Changing Woman may
possibly be the female manifestation of the Sun." Disappearance of the
sun, as in an eclipse, initiates efforts to re-establish harmony. Taboos
are in force during this phenomenon. An eclipse is caused by the death
of the orb, which is revived by the immortal bearers of the sun and
moon. During an eclipse of the moon the family is awakened to await its
recovery. Similarly, a journey is interrupted and work ceases during an
eclipse of the sun. Songs referring to the Hozhoji, or rite of blessing,
are chanted by anyone knowing them, otherwise the passing of an eclipse
is awaited in silence. It is not considered auspicious to have a
ceremony in progress during an eclipse of the sun or moon, and a
ceremony is often deferred on this account.
The Sun
represents fatherhood and masculinity. His aspects are distance, power,
leadership, and discipline. Just as the earth, which Changing Woman
symbolizes, is close and nurturing to all beings, the sun is
symbolically a non-intimate energy source. The universe is in order when
the Sun and Changing Woman, the sun and the earth, man and woman,
father and mother, are united. Thus, the Navajos believe that day (union
of the earth and the sun) is equal to good, safety, life, and growth.
Night represents the separation of the sun and the earth and is
therefore equal to danger and potential evil.
Though
previously they had been content with color, First Man and First Woman,
when they arrived in this world, wanted light as well, probably because
the world was large and many places existed far from the mountains that
had previously furnished illumination. After due consideration the
First Pair made the sun of a large turquoise disk surrounded by red
rain, lightning, and various kinds of snakes. It was heated with fire
kindled by Black God's fire drill. From a piece of rock crystal the
First Pair made the moon, bordering it with white shell, forked
lightning, and sacred waters; it is slightly warmed by rock crystal's
light.
Among
the supernatural company there were two men, one old, one younger, who
had risen unexpectedly from a spring. For a long time the two had merely
accompanied the people, not performing any usual deeds, but endearing
themselves to the travelers. They had planted the reed through which the
beings of the fourth world escaped to the fifth. When First Man and
First Woman had finished making the sun and decided to place it in East
Wind's country, they appointed the young man, who until then had no
name, as the sun-bearer. Moving to the east with the orb, he became Sun.
They put the old man in charge of moon and gave him the name
Moon-bearer or Moon.
One version of
the creation myth shows concern to account for Sun's position among the
spheres. After the disk had been lighted by dint of great effort, it
became too hot and burned the people because the sky and earth were too
close together. First Man and First Woman raised the orb a short
distance, but it was still dangerously hot. They then made two poles of
turquoise and two of white shell, which they gave to
Those-who-stand-under-the-sky [Sky Pillars]. The latter pried the sky
far enough from the earth to prevent burning, but the heat was
insufferable. Finally, they decided to stretch the world and, by blowing
hard, expanded it until the temperature was comfortable for the
inhabitants.
Sun's permanent
home, a major symbol of the Male Shooting Chant Sun's House branch, is
at the eastern quarter of the sky. In it is a rattle that warns of his
return. When it sounds the fourth time, Sun arrives home, takes off the
sun, and hangs it on a peg on the wall - on earth the sun sets. Formerly
he moved from east to west and back in a day, pausing at the center of
the sky [noon] to eat his lunch. Since Changing Woman has lived in the
west, he stops there and rests at evening. On dark, stormy days he stays
at home and sends out his lightning, which may do mischief. Sun thus
carries out his daily schedule.
His seasonal
journey begins at the winter solstice; he climbs the southernmost sky
pillar and, as the season advances, reaches the northernmost; he
retraces the route, spending an equal number of days at each pole. On
the rare occasions when he becomes angry he hides his light partly or
completely; the earth experiences a solar eclipse which presages
misfortune.
Sun
(djoxona'ai),the deity, is to be differentiated from sun, a light which
he carries. Usually, especially in the Shooting Chant, Sun is designated
by the orb that gives life to the world. In one sand painting a person
is drawn.
Sun is
portrayed by numerous references to his ritualistic functions, specific
details about his appearance, life, social relationships, and
temperament. His symbol is a blue disk with eyes and mouth; it sometimes
has horns. Surrounding the disk are colored lines that represent powers
rather than persons, as do other appendages such as rain streamers,
lightnings, and feathers. Sun is said to be a large person, having a
huge foot, known because he left tracks when he visited Changing Woman.
Sun and another young man arose in the first world. Both were carried
by First Woman to the uppermost world, where the more powerful became
Sun, the weaker, the Moon. Two men, one old and gray-haired, one young,
appeared when the people had given up hope of escaping from the fourth
world, and created the reed through which they were delivered.
After
the sun and moon had been made in the fifth world, as a great honor
they were given to these men to carry, as they had endeared themselves
to the people. Nevertheless, Sun and Moon exacted human lives as a
reward for moving far enough away from the earth not to burn things on
it. Two contrasting impressions of Sun are developed, one held by the
young women he seduced, one indicated by his behavior at home when
confronted by his sky wife and those who claimed to be his children. To
women he was so handsome that they dared not look at him; they bowed
their heads in shame at their own inferiority. He appeared to Changing
Woman suspended some two feet above the ground on a white horse with a
white bridle. His clothing and moccasins were all white.
He
did not ask women for what he wanted, he told them what to do, and,
where the details are described, as they are for Changing Woman,
guardians were only too glad to arrange for a romantic mating with Sun.
When,
however, the results of these meetings, Sun's children, appeared in his
home, a different side of the love story, one more familiar to Earth
People, comes out. He had a permanent, acknowledged wife who was fat and
jealous, and many children. Knowing that The Twins were hidden in his
house; that things were not going too smoothly, he entered with
blustering bravado and sometimes brought evil with him, causing an
eclipse on earth. When accused by his wife of philandering, he simply
did not answer.
Apparently so many children claimed him as their father that only the severest tests could prove their legitimacy.
The Twins'
visit brings out details of Sun's powers. His house with its furnishings
is described. Two Winds, Thunders, a pair of Snakes, and a pair of
Bears guarded it. The house was of the pueblo type, white at the east,
blue at the south, yellow at the west, and black at the north. In one
version it is represented as a pueblo house made of turquoise standing
on the shore of the great ocean; in another, it was said to be of white
shell. Rooms giving off from the central room were showrooms for Sun's wealth:
at the south a room opened to exhibit his
vast herds of horses
at the west were stores of blankets and at the
north farms and corn.
Sun had a large
number of other weapons, among them lightning arrows and flint clubs
and armor which The Twins obtained and adapted to ceremonial purposes
with the consent and instruction of their father.
One
of Sun's cherished possessions, frequently pictured in the sand
paintings, is his tobacco pouch. It is painted blue, with blue tapering
flaps, a white border of porcupine quills, and fringe of fawn hooves. The
tubular pipe and the pipe cleaner, kept in the pouch, are of turquoise.
A black spot at the narrow end of the pipe represents tobacco; a streak
of white at the wide end represents a smoke; a rock crystal lights the
pipe. that he drive them out with a club, but Sun rebuked her severely
and said that 'holy things were taking place.' When he wanted the Earth
Twins to restore the Sky son from the bite of Water snake, Sun
apologized to them: "My wife sometimes uses poor sense when she gets to
talking."
The
Sky wife and Changing Woman probably represent the same woman in
different guises. The affair with Changing Woman was permanent, since,
after persuading her to move to the perfect house in the west, Sun
visited her nearly every day.
The
famous gamblers were Sun's children. One had won two valuable shells
from the people of Blue House, a pueblo. Sun tried to get Gambler to
give up the shells, but he refused until Sun provided another young man
(the son of xactc'e'oyan) with the power to beat him.
Sun was vulnerable before his children. After The Twins had proved that he was their father, he pleaded with them:
"My
children, be careful not to ask too much of me. If I offer certain
things to you, be satisfied. Do not ask me for more that I can grant."
Nevertheless,
the boys, prompted by their mentor, refused everything he mentioned and
asked for his most precious weapons, which they needed to kill the
monsters. When they had blurted out their demand, Sun, overwhelmed by
their power, bowed his head and wept. Eventually recovering himself, he
explained: ". . . he [Big Monster] was your older brother. Above all
others I loved him. Be sure you let me make the first move; then I shall
not regret it."
The Hero Twins returned to Earth and with their weapon of lightning obtained from their father the Sun slew all the monsters.
Navajo Sun Legend
Photography y Ron Toahani Jackson
