The sun is an important symbol in Cherokee culture and holds deep spiritual meaning. The sun represents warmth, light, guidance, and leadership. Throughout Cherokee history and mythology, the sun has been a prominent figure that has shaped beliefs and practices.
The Role of the Sun in Cherokee Cosmology
In Cherokee cosmology, the sun plays a central role in the structure of the universe. The Cherokee believed the world was a large island floating in a sea. Above the island was the sky, which was a solid rock vault. The sun, moon, and stars moved across this vault each day and night. The island itself featured four corners, each associated with sacred colors and tribes. The sun provided light and warmth as it traveled from east to west each day. Its daily movement shaped the lives and worldviews of the Cherokee people.
The east was associated with the color red and the Eagle and Thunder tribes. It was where the sun rose each morning to start its journey across the sky. The south was connected to the color white and the Deer tribe. This was the direction of the summer sun overhead. In the west, the color black and the Bear tribe represented where the sun set each evening. Finally, the north with its blue color and Wolf tribe marked the direction of the winter sun’s path.
Sun Deities in Cherokee Mythology
The sun was personified as a deity figure in some key Cherokee myths. Cherokee stories tell of a variety of sun gods and goddesses who took on important cultural roles.
One of the main sun deities was Awatae Uti Hiata who was considered the god of the hunt. He used red arrows to strike down prey for hunters and heal the sick. There was also Equa, the great apportioner, who used rays of sunlight like arrows to reach far and wide across the land.
In other tales, the sun was personified as a goddess instead of a god. One figure was Ahv, a goddess who warmed the earth each day with her rays. Another was I ka Natasanv, a spider woman who captured the sun in her web to hold it in place each day.
These personified versions of the sun took on human-like qualities while retaining their cosmic powers as the sun itself. The stories helped explain the sun’s daily presence and meaning to the ancient Cherokees.
Solar Symbols in Cherokee Culture
Beyond mythology, the sun also took a symbolic visual form in Cherokee culture. Common solar symbols include:
- Swastika – The ancient Cherokee sometimes used the swastika design in artwork and tattoos. This symbol represented the revolving sun with its arms cycling around the center.
- Circle – Simple circles were used to symbolize the sun’s circular shape and cyclical, endless nature.
- Cross – Crosses combined the sun’s round shape with radial lines projecting out like rays of light.
- Arrow – Arrows pointed east to west to show the sun’s daily path across the sky.
- Cross within a circle – This motif placed a cross inside a circle to combine solar symbols into one.
These iconic solar images held special meaning when used in Cherokee art, architecture, pottery, clothing, and crafts. Just as the sun was central to their cosmology, its symbols were central to their design ethos.
Sun Symbol Uses and Meanings
Solar symbols held a variety of roles and interpretations for the Cherokee people.
Some of the main meanings and uses included:
- Direction – Symbols like arrows helped convey the cardinal directions and the sun’s east-to-west path.
- Guidance – The sun’s light and warmth provided guidance, so its symbols marked wise paths to follow.
- Leadership – Images of the sun denoted leadership, especially chiefdom and guidance over others.
- Power – The sun was a source of power, energy, and life-giving light to the Cherokee.
- Time – Symbols tracked the sun’s daily and seasonal movements to delineate the passage of time.
- Warmth – Solar images evoked the sun’s warming, nourishing rays over the land.
- Protection – Cherokee warriors would paint sun symbols on their chests for solar protection before battles.
- Fertility – As a source of light and warmth, the sun represented fertility, growth, and rebirth.
These diverse solar meanings and functions wove sun symbols deeply into Cherokee rituals, beliefs, and practices.
The Seven-Pointed Sun Symbol
One specific solar image used was the seven-pointed sun. It took the form of a circle with seven projecting triangles or arrow-like rays emanating outwards. Each ray likely represented one day of the week, with the seventh ray for the “day of rest” at the very top.
This emblem was painted or engraved onto ritual objects, buildings, and gravesites. It marked sacred ceremonial grounds and Cherokee burial sites across the southern Appalachians. The seven-pointed sun was intepreted several ways:
- Each ray could represent a cardinal direction or day of the week.
- The rays depicted the journey from darkness into light.
- Seven was a sacred number relating to cycles of time.
This striking solar image powerfully blended the sun’s symbolism, cycles of time, and spiritual cosmology into one important icon for the Cherokee.
Conclusion
From myths to symbols, the sun was an integral part of Cherokee worldviews and culture. As a life-giving, cyclical source of energy, the sun took on divine qualities and meanings. Symbols gave visual form to solar concepts to express guidance, time, power, and spiritual beliefs. Especially meaningful was the seven-pointed sun emblem that fused so many central concepts together. Just as the sun provided light and warmth overhead, its symbolism radiated meaning and cosmology here on earth for the Cherokee people.