The Sun
Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) · deity · Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The Sun is the daytime sky-being of Nlaka'pamux cosmology, whose origin is told in the widespread Interior Salish story of the making of the Sun and Moon. Several of the animal-people are tried in the sky in turn and each proves unsuitable, being too fierce in heat, too weak in light, or too apt to spy on human doings and report what should stay hidden; only when a fitting being is fixed in place does day take its present form. Sources differ on the identity of the one finally chosen and on the exact ordering of the candidates.
Domains
- sky and daylight
Powers
- gives light and warmth to the world
Sources
- In Thompson tradition the present Sun is established after a series of animal-people are tested and found unfit, an Interior Salish origin narrative recorded by Teit.: Teit, James A. 'Mythology of the Thompson Indians,' Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 12, 1912, 'Origin of the Sun and Moon.' (primary); Boas, Franz, ed. 'Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes,' Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society 11, 1917, comparative notes on Sun-and-Moon tales. (secondary)