Summer with the Selvedge Archives: Here Comes the Sun
Representations of Solar Worship & Symbolism
Written by Sophie Vent for Selvedge Issue 107, High Summer
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In the ancient world, life was ruled by the sun. It dictated the seasons, the migratory patterns of animals, agricultural cycles and harvests. Rays from the sun brought light and heat to the ground, germinating seeds and nurturing growth. The sun created light from darkness and returned each morning, bringing with it associations of renewal and new beginnings. Dependence on the sun and its patterns allowed complex solar ideologies to develop, building an object of devotion. The sun became a symbol of protection and fertility, a powerful celestial presence to be appeased, feared, worshiped and mythologised.
Neirika yarn painting.
Archaeological evidence of sun cults are found across the world: Egypt, Iran, southern Europe, Indus Valley, China, and South Asia, dispersed by trade routes and nomadic pathways. In Ancient Egypt, the sun god Re ruled over all other gods as the creator of the sky, the earth and the underworld. As an older manifestation, Re becomes Atum, a large golden sun that sits above the horizon before it sets. Surya, the all-seeing sun god of the ancient Vedas, expelled darkness along with dreams and disease. In ancient Mexico, the Aztecs were ruled by blood thirsty sun gods that demanded sacrifice. Or in Japan, the sun goddess Amaterasu, supreme ruler of the world, is to this day represented in the symbols of the Japanese state. Ancient spiritual beliefs can be difficult to interpret through the loss of oral traditions, but we are able to find traces in the crafts and symbols left behind: carved standing stones, beaten-metal disks, fragments of ceremonial costume, or glittering pieces of mica in the embroideries of Saurashtra.
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Further Information:
Issue 107, High Summer, is available in print or as a digital download.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Anne Menke, Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City, Mexico.
All further images as credited in captions.