The Sun
Tewa Pueblos · deity · Tewa Pueblos traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The Sun is invoked in Tewa prayer and song as a father and source of life and light. He figures in the widely recorded Tewa sun myth as the begetter of the culture hero Poseyemu: descending upon or shining upon a maiden of the pueblo, he fathers the boy who grows to become the Sun Youth and first great shaman. The Sun's paternity of the hero links the everyday sky above to the founding and instruction of the people, and his cult belongs to the broader Pueblo veneration of the sun father found from Zuni to Hopi.
Children
Domains
- sun
- life
Powers
- fathers the culture hero Poseyemu
Relations
- child: PoseyemuFather of the Sun Youth, Poseyemu.Parmentier, Richard J. 1979. 'The Mythological Triangle: Poseyemu, Montezuma, and Jesus in the Pueblos,' in Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 9: Southwest, ed. Alfonso Ortiz. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 609-622. (secondary)
Sources
- The Sun is a father-deity of the Tewa and, in the Tewa sun myth, the father of the culture hero Poseyemu.: Bayliss, Clara Kern. 1909. 'A Tewa Sun Myth.' Journal of American Folklore 22(85): 333-335. (primary); Parmentier, Richard J. 1979. 'The Mythological Triangle,' in Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 9: Southwest. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 609-622. (secondary)