Sun

Kiowa · deity · Kiowa traditional religion; continuing · deity

The Sun, Kiowa Pái, is the supreme power of Kiowa cosmology, the life-force permeating the universe and the protector of the people; the band-name Pái-dome-gú, 'Under-the-Sun People', preserves the word. Kracht emphasizes that the most potent war-power (dáu-dáu) flowed from the Sun. In the central origin narrative recorded by Mooney and Parsons, a Kiowa girl climbs a tall tree or shaft into the sky, becomes a grown woman, and marries the Sun; their son is the boy whose later splitting produces the twin culture-heroes and ultimately the Ten Medicines. The Sun's power is also embodied and mediated on earth by the Taime effigy of the Sun Dance.

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