Chafb] SENECA THANKSGIVING RITUALS 35 



11. The Sun 



(117) And now this is what Our Creator did: he decided, "There 

 will be a sky above the heads of the people moving about. (118) I 

 must have a helper in the sky as weU." (1 19) And indeed he assigned 

 him. to be attached^* to the sky. (120) There he will move about, 

 and wiU cross the earth. He will always come from a certain direc- 

 tion, and will always go in a certain direction. (121) And he also 

 prescribed a relationship when we want to refer to it: we shall say 

 "our elder brother, the sun." (122) And it is true: he is carrying out 

 his responsibihty, attached there to the sky; there is beautiful daylight, 

 and we are happy. (123) And we beheve that he too has done all 

 that he was obligated to do ; everything that he '^ left to grow of its 

 own accord is flourishing. He gave him the added responsibility of 

 making it warm on the earth, so that everything he left to grow of its 

 own accord would flourish. (124) And we believe that he is perform- 

 ing his obligation up to the present time, the assignment he was 

 given. (125) And give it your thought, that we may do it properly: 

 we give thanks for him, our elder brother, the sun. And our minds will 

 continue to be so. 



12. The Moon 



(126) And now this is what Our Creator did: he decided, "There will 

 be a certain period when the earth will be in shadow, (127) as well as a 

 certain period when it vnU. be day." (128) And mdeed he saw well 

 that the people moving about were taking care of themselves. (129) 

 And he decided, "They will rest. They will lay down their bodies and 



'< In the sense of 'stuck or glued on.' 

 M The Creator, 



