The Sun, Sunday and observation of that big glowing ball in the sky.
Continuing on our little look or two at the planets (in ancient terms, we call the sun a star, but so it goes, it still gets its own day) that define our weekdays. Saturn, that dark, distant piece of work is in the books, time to turn to something brighter.
There’s so much to be said about the sun, where to begin?
Our Sun is a Population I star, which means that when it formed about 4.57 billion years ago out of a stellar nursery, it contained the elements up to and including Uranium (named after Uranus). Much of this material was ejected from the sun to form the planets and other bodies orbiting the Sun.
It takes the sun 225-250 million years to orbit the centre of the milky way, which is about 26,000 light years away. Light from the Sun takes 8 minutes 19 seconds to reach earth. The solar cycle of sunspots has a periodicity of just over 11 years. These cycles affect our weather, and electromagenetic storms can affect our electronics and satellites. We are currently in cycle 24.
Most importantly, it is the brightest object in our sky, its light and heat support almost all life on earth, and it is the basis for our measures of the day and year, and indirectly the phases of the moon. Another word for it in German is Zeitgeber – time giver. And although Saturn starts off the week, the Sun is the most fundamental astral body in our understanding of time as an abstract idea, as well as a circadian biological rhythm.
Geocentric view
The apparent path of the Sun across our sky in relation to the variations of the length of the day, the seasons, as well as the zodiac. These have since been replaced by the heliocentric astronomy, however, the galactocentric point of view is also coming into the fore (it’s all relative after all). Since for the most of us our view is constrained to the planet itself, the apparent sight of the sun is most common.
Here’s a lovely schematic (not to scale, but you get the idea):
Observations
We’ve been paying attention to the Sun for so long, this endeavour could take a lifetime to flesh out with any depth. As it stands, here are a few deities associated with our big fusing mass:
- Greek Helios – he has a complex genealogy, although in some tales, he is a Titan, and thus Cronus’ (Saturn’s) brother. Later, Apollo became the driver of the solar chariot across Hellenic skies.
- Roman Sol or Sol Invictus his birth was celebrated on December 25th (sound familiar?)
- Persian Mithra
- Babylonian Shamash
- Egyptian Ra
- Hindu Surya
- Aztec Tonatiuh
- Inca Inti
- Slavic Svarog
- the Buddhist bodhisattva Suryaprabha
- Christian Christ
The Aztec calendar stone features the sun at the centre.
the Living Sundial of the Inca
The Sun’s apparent motion across the sky over the course of the year is the basis of more than just mythological stories, it has also inspired a number of solar-based innovations, the most noteworthy of which was the Inca system of ceques, which turned the city itself into a sundial-calendar system. (quotations from Empires of Time by Anthony Aveni)
[The Imperial Incan] timepiece was the city itself. … the Inca had built, into the natural landscape surrounding their capital city, an orientation calendar. It consisted of specific sight lines directed to the sun moving at the horizon, and even a scheme for counting the days. … 41 invisible radial lines, called ceques; that crossed the landscape, each emanating from the Coricancha [temple of the sun]. These lines were marked out by huacas, or sacred places. … certain huacas were larger stone monuments positioned at key sun positions along the horizon, like the minute markers on a clock dial [incl. the Sun Pillars]
The whole ceque system looks strikingly like a quipu, an array of knotted strings bound together on a common cord… its very structure invokes radial and hierarchical ways of representing space and time used on a grand scale.
… the Inca had converted the landscape into a natural, self-operating calendrical device powered by the movement of the sun, a system with no need of formal writing to articulate it – only the celebrated Inca sun pillars.
ceques and huacas are parts of an orientation calendar that graphically follows the solar cycle, they also function as a calendar in the way we are acquainted with the term – as a mnemonic scheme for counting the days.
the Tao of the Sun
the Taoist yin-Yang symbol (taijitu) was derived from observing shadows cast by an 8′ pole during the course of the year. It is perhaps yet the most elegant symbol to represent the interplay of light and darkness. Here’s the method of derivation.
What’s in a name?
dies Sōlis, domenica, domingo, duminică, dimanche, diumenge, domingu, domenie, dominiga, Sundio, dimanĉo, An Domhnach, Dé Domhnaigh, Di-Dòmhnaich, dydd Sul, Dy’ Sul, Disul, Jedoonee, E diel, Linggo, Sunnandæg, Sunnûntag, Sonntag, zondag, Sondag, Snein, sunnudagr, sunnudagur, søndag, sundag, söndag, sunnuntai, pühapäev, भानुवासरम्, रविवार, ඉරිදා, रविवार, রবিবার, اتوار,ថ្ងៃអាទិត្យ, રવિવાર, އާދީއްތަ,ஞாயிற்று கிழமை, ఆదివారం, ഞായര്, ಭಾನುವಾರ, ວັນອາທິດ,วันอาทิตย์, адъяа, Raditya, Redite, ਐਤਵਾਰ, 日曜日, 일요일, གཟའ་ཉི་མ།, יום ראשון, Dominica, Κυριακή, Կիրակի, chủ nhật, chúa nhật , Ahad, يوم الأحد,Il-Ħadd, Minggu, Ngaat, Akad, Minggu, Minggon, یکشنبه, pazar, birinç kün, Damóo, суббота, Субота, събота, sobota, Subota, сабота, Šeštadienis, Sestdiena, szombat, хагас сайн өдөр, Бямба, jumapili, dumireca, igandea, domeka
327 Days to Dec 21st 2012
Related articles
- Creation of the Sun System and the Zodiac (kimgraaemunch.wordpress.com)
