Sun

The sun is generally perceived as a powerful likeness of the creator, although all traditions do not perceive the sun as exclusively benevolent. Its first [Page 636]power is over darkness or night. Others are the powers of light and warmth and the ability to change seasons and spur growth. The sun is frequently likened to God or seen as a manifestation of God because of its endless benevolence of these life-giving attributes. Other attributes of the sun that are associated with God are the omnipresence of the sun's rays, its endurance, and its eternal nature. This close association between God and the sun appears in cultures where the name of God and the sun are the same: Ruwa among the Chagga, We among the Ashanti, Kazooba, among the Ankore, and, among the Nandi, Asis for God and Asista for the sun.

A close association between God and the sun was detailed in ancient Kernet with the sun god, Ra, and his many manifestations: Atum-Ra, Amen-Ra, and Ra-Horakhty. Atum-Ra was Ra at sunset or “the all” at the completion of the sun's journey. Amen-Ra is the hidden sun. Ra-Horakhty is the sun as Horus. The sun is also personified as a child in the morning, a strong adult at midday, an elder in the evening, and a dying old man at night who will be reborn the next morning and repeat the process.

Creation stories also reflect personifications of the sun. Nut, the sky goddess, gives birth to the sun every morning and swallows him at night. Among the San, the sun is a man whose light was only shown when he lifted his right armpit. He became round and the sun as we know it when children, after instruction from women in the village, waited until he fell asleep and threw him into the sky, commanding him to take the form of the sun. Although the sun is usually considered masculine, among the Dogon, the sun, nay, is female. Nay also means four and has the same derivation as mother and cow, ancient mythotypes for fertility and other life-giving qualities. Perhaps the four relates to the key positions of the sun throughout the year: two solstices and two equinoxes, the latter of which are marked among the Dogon with special rituals. The “middle of the south sun” is the vernal and the “middle of the north sun” is the autumnal equinox.

In addition to rituals to mark solar events, Africans also use structures to mark solar events such as the Temple at Karnak, which is aligned with the setting sun at the summer solstice of 3700 BC, and the temple of Ramses at Abu Simbel, which is built so the sun does not shine on Amen, one of the four deities located within the holy of holies.

The sun is not always seen as a life-giving force. The Nuer believe that the devil lives in the sun. This reasoning is based on the extreme heat, thirst, and death caused by the intense equatorial sun that can harm humans. This aspect of the sun is Set, the neter from Kernet associated with the desert and drought, whose name means burning, fire, or rays of sun.

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