The Ancient World (HUM 124 - UNC Asheville)/Cosmogony Wiki Reflection

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Humanities before I walked into the classroom earlier this semester, but what we’ve covered so far has been very interesting to learn more about. We’ve covered the early cosmogonic myths of how different cultures believe the world began, which has sparked certain questions even within myself. One story I was particularly drawn to was Daughter of The Sun, a Cheorkee legend that has stood the test of time. This short story is about the Sun who becomes unhappy when she sees the Cheorkee people making ugly squinting faces every time they look into her brightness, thinking they were making fun of her. Because of this she beams her heat down on the people and land drying up all the crops. An old medicine man suggests they sing to the Sun in hopes of making her happy, which makes her even more upset, resulting in the streams drying up and trees burning down. The Cheorkees then decide the only answer is to kill the Sun. The medicine man changed one of the people into a rattlesnake, and sent him to the heavens to kill the sun. Her brightness blinded the rattlesnake causing him to miss his chance of killing her. When the rattlesnake returned back the Cheorkee were very upset with him and decided to send a copperhead instead. The copperhead was sent to the heavens and still the brightness of the Sun was too much and returned unsuccessful. The Cheorkee then decided to send both the copperhead and the rattlesnake together. This time they did strike something, but it wasn’t who they intended. Instead of the Sun, was the Sun’s daughter. When the sun saw this she burned with rage, setting fires to the land below her. The medicine man told the now human copperhead and rattlesnake the only way to make things right would be to go to the land of the dead and bring the daughter of the Sun back to life. He directed them to touch the daughter seven times with seven sourwood sticks, once they did this she would fall asleep and they would carry her back to the land of the Cheorkee. I find this part particularly interesting because of the number seven, connecting it to Genesis where it took seven days to create the world and also a few other stories we looked at where seven was a significant number. Under no conditions though were they allowed to open the basket no matter how much she begged. The rattlesnake and copperhead successfully traveled to the land of the dead and retrieved the daughter of the Sun. On the way back she begged and begged for the box to be opened just for a moment so she could breathe. The copperhead and rattlesnake eventually gave into the cries, but when they opened the box it was completely empty. They began to wail in great sadness, until they noticed the air started to cool. When they looked up into the sky they saw the Sun smiling. They listened and heard a beautiful song from a redbird, as the redbird sang the heat decreased. They then knew that this redbird was the daughter of the Sun, and from that day forward the lady Sun was good to the Cherokee people. I think something that drew me to this story was the fact that typically men are seen in powerful god-like positions and women are typically the side characters. But in this story and other stories from the Cheorkee women are the main characters, powerful, kind but ruthless and unforgiving at times.