Sun

The Sun is the supreme male power of Baruya cosmology and, with the Moon, one of the two great celestial luminaries who preside over the world. In the beginning the Sun lay joined to the Earth, indistinguishable from her; when he rose into the sky and the Moon rose after him, the first age of the universe ended and the cosmic order took its present form. The Sun fathered men and continues to intervene in every human conception. When the first man and woman still had sealed, unusable genitals and anus, the Sun took pity on them and threw a flintstone into a fire, and the bursting stone pierced their bodies, making sexuality, birth, and death possible. His heat governs the ripening of crops: should he draw too near the earth, all growing things are scorched, and the balance between him and the cold, wet Moon regulates the seasons.

Children

• Djivaamakwe

Domains

• celestial order
• paternity of humankind
• solar heat and growth

Powers

• pierce the orifices of the first humans
• disengage from the earth and set the cosmic order
• father the first men

Epithets

• Father Sun — the paternal celestial powerGodelier, Maurice. The Making of Great Men. Cambridge University Press, 1986. (primary)

Relations

• spouse: MoonIn the exoteric myths the Moon is the wife of the Sun.Godelier, Maurice. The Making of Great Men. Cambridge University Press, 1986. (primary)
• sibling: MoonIn the esoteric versions guarded by the shaman-masters the Moon is instead the Sun's younger brother.Godelier, Maurice. 'Bodies, kinship and power(s) in the Baruya culture.' HAU 1(1), 2011. (primary)
• companion: EarthThe Sun was at first joined to and indistinguishable from the Earth before rising above her.Godelier, Maurice. The Metamorphoses of Kinship. Verso, 2011. (primary)
• parent: DjivaamakweMen are said to issue from the Sun.Godelier, Maurice. 'Bodies, kinship and power(s) in the Baruya culture.' HAU 1(1), 2011. (primary)

Sources

• The Sun is the male cosmic power and father of humankind who established the order of the world by separating from the Earth.: Godelier, Maurice. The Making of Great Men: Male Domination and Power among the New Guinea Baruya. Cambridge University Press, 1986. (primary); Godelier, Maurice. The Metamorphoses of Kinship. Verso, 2011. (primary)
• The Sun pierced the sealed orifices of the first humans with an exploding flintstone.: Godelier, Maurice. 'Bodies, kinship and power(s) in the Baruya culture.' HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 1(1), 2011. (primary)