There are a number of variations of solar figure found in rock art of the American Southwest. One is an anthropomorph connected to a solar disc by a line, or otherwise in proximity to it. The second is an anthropomorphic figure with a sun disc for a head (or variations of it). Finally, we find shield figures where the shield seems to be a sun disc. (I am not including stand-alone solar images in this column. That is a subject for another time)
In the American southwest the ancestral Puebloan tribes seem to have believed in the sun as creator of the universe. “The sun, moon, and shields are conceptually united entities in Puebloan thought. As previously described, sun symbolism is prevalent on Pueblo IV shields in the form of serrations, eagle feathers, red feathers, and horns on the outer rim, and there are implications that the sun disk/shield served as the sun’s ‘mask’. The creation of the sun and moon in some Pueblo myths involves the making of a round shield.” (Schaafsma 2000:114)
“The Sun, father of the War Twins and, in some tales, provider o their lethal weapons, is the supreme patron of war and a valued source of impowerment for those engaging in combat. A pair of sun-shield bearers from Comanche Gap may stand for the War Twins or their impersonators, although they lack the characteristic headgear. The bear-paw symbolism on one of (their) shields is a contributing factor to this interpretation, since the bear is not only a was patron, but is specifically associated with a war god in the Awatovi murals. Within the context of these considerations, the conflation of sun and shield and the sun shield of prehistory is an affirmation and symbol of the ultimate war power.” (Schaafsma 2000:116)
For the Hopi the Winter Solstice was the time for their Soyaluna ceremony. At this time they believed that the Sun had traveled its farthest from the earth and they performed the Soyaluna ceremony to persuade it to return at the time when the days are the shortest. “The Soyal Chief now takes down from the north wall of the kiva, where it has been hanging, the symbol of the sun. It is a buckskin shield about a foot in diameter. The lower half is painted blue, the upper right quadrant is red, and the upper left quadrant is yellow. As it represents the face of the Sun, eyes ae marked in black and the mouth is a triangle painted black. A black strip outlined in white runs down from the middle of the forehead, another crosses nose and cheeks, and there are tiny white dots in the background. The whole face is edged with long human hair stained red to symbolize the rays of the sun, and eagle feathers radiate from the outer circumference of the shield like the aura of power from the Creator. For while the sun is himself a deity, the chief of our solar system, his is but the face through which looks the omnipotent Creator, Taiowa, who stands behind.” (Waters 1963:197)
“The Sun katcina has a disk-shaped
mask, which is divided by a horizontal black band into two regions, the upper
being subdivided into two smaller portions by a median vertical line. The left
lateral upper division is red, the right yellow, the former being surrounded by
a yellow and black border, the latter by a red and black. In the lower half of
the face, which is green, appear lines representing eyes and a double triangle
of hourglass shape representing the mouth.
Around the lower border of the mask
is represented a plaited corn husk in which radiating eagle feathers are
inserted. A string with attached red horsehair is tied around the rim or margin
of the disk. In his left hand tawa carries the flute which is associated with
him in certain Hopi solar myths.
It will be found that this type of sun symbolism is to be easily detected in various katcinas of different names which have been mentioned, and it is more than probable that many of these, possessing the same, or nearly the same, symbolic markings, are sun gods under different names. This multitude of sun gods is readily explained by the composite nature of the present Hopi people, for each clan formerly had its own sun god, which, when the clan joined Walpi, was added to the existing mythological system. The type of symbolism has persisted, thus revealing their identity.” (Fewkes 1985:100-101)
The Zuni believed in a creative power known as Awonawilona who, in a parallel to the big bang of modern astronomy, thought himself into existence as the Sun. “Eventually Awonawilona chose to embody the sun and created the deity the Sun-Father, which led to the formation of several other gods such as Awitelin Tsita (The Four-Fold Containing Earth Mother), and Apoyan Tachu (All Covering Father-sky) from green scum formed over the waters. As the myth unfolds, the deities created by Awonawilona lead to the creation of humans and all living creatures.” (Wikipedia)
According to Tyler the Zuni origin and creation stories begin with Awonowilona who created himself in the form of the Sun. “In the beginning of the new-made, Awonowilona conceived within himself and though outward in space, whereby mists of increase, steams potent of growth, were evolved and uplifted. Thus by means of his innate knowledge, the All-container made himself in person and form of the Sun whom we hold to be our father and who thus came to exist and appear.” (Tyler 1964:86-7)
“In the mind of the Zuni, in the repetition of his ‘always’, which is our eternity, the Sun is the farthest point of reference, the initial glowing spot in the universe. Historically the Sun has remained strong in the Pueblo pantheon.” (Tyler 1964:137)
There is something particularly compelling about rock art figures that incorporate the sun in their structure. Given the understanding that the sun is perhaps the most important phenomenon in the natural world, any image created by the people who live closest to that nature that incorporates the sun disc must have been of great import to them. And, a great deal of that import comes through to us when we view those images.
NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
Fewkes, Jesse Walter, 1985, Hopi Katcinas, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, Dover reprint of a 1903 paper from the Twenty-First Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1899-1900.
Schaasfsma, Polly, 2000, Warrior, Shield, and Star, Imagery and Ideology of Pueblo Warfare, Western Edge Press, Santa Fe.
Tyler, Hamilton A., 1964, Pueblo Gods and Myths, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Waters, Frank, 1963, Book of the Hopi, Ballantine Books, New York.
Wikipedia, Awonawilona, https://en.wikipipedia.org/wiki/Awonawilona,
accessed on 11 November 2021.
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