INDIAN CONCEPTS OF THE SUN — STIRLING 399 



Partly under cover of a name which is less intelligible to the multi- 

 tude, the tendency has increased to throw the solar nature of the god- 

 dess into the shade and to conceive of her simply as a general Provi- 

 dence at the expense of other divinities. In this way she has made a 

 distinct advance to the dignity of a supreme monotheistic deity. 

 (Frazer, 1926.) 



We find, therefore, among the American Indians, that the tribes of 

 simple hunting, fishing, and seed-gathering cultures regard the sun 

 as of distinctly minor importance. In some instances the sun is 

 looked upon as an inanimate object, the pawn of various minor deities. 

 In other cases, usually in tribes of slightly higher culture, the sun is 

 personified as a male or female being whose presence and activity is 

 accounted for in myth, and is usually linked with the moon. Seasonal 

 phenomena are but loosely connected with the sun and calendrical ideas 

 are crude and very limited. 



Among the more advanced nonagricultural people, such as the tribes 

 of the Northwest Coast and the Eskimo, concepts of the sun are simi- 

 lar, but astronomical observations are made, the solstices are observed, 

 and the calendar is more developed and systematic. 



The Pueblo tribes of the Southwest States, a well-advanced agricul- 

 tural group, represent the next stage. Here the sun becomes very im- 

 portant but is still secondary to a few other deities such as the Corn 

 Goddess. Signs may be seen, however, of the beginnings of a higher 

 conception of the sun as a sky god with such customs as the presenta- 

 tion of newborn children to the rising sun. Astronomical observations 

 are rather advanced. Much significance is attached to the solstices and 

 the seasons, and the connection of the sun with life and growth is well 

 recognized. 



The Natchez, probably reflecting Mexican ideologies, regard the 

 Sun God as the Supreme Being, but with many lesser deities also 

 recognized, the visible sun being the residence of the personified Sun 

 Deity. The Sun Priest, human representative of the Sun on earth, 

 is a lineal descendent of the Sun and as such is treated as a deity. 

 The eternal fire symbolizes the Sun and man's dependence on it for life. 



The high civilizations of Middle America are typified by the Aztecs 

 and the Incas. Here again the sun is the Supreme God, but the abstract 

 concept of the god is not so much confused with the visible sun, which 

 is regarded more as a symbol than a godhead. Thus, a typical Inca 

 prayer to Huiracocha, the Sun God, says "Oh Huiracocha, whatever 

 form thou hast, wherever thou might be !" 



The Aztecs had a similar abstract idea of the Sun God. 



The Aztecs and their neighbors developed, along with the increasing 

 importance of the sun, an elaborate calendar system. Among the Maya 

 this achieved a greater perfection than it had in Europe at the time 

 of the discovery of America. This calendar was used by the priests 



