Moon-worship, naturally ranking below Sun-worship in importance, ranges through nearly the same district of culture. There are remarkable cases in which the Moon is recognized as a great deity by tribes who take less account, or none at all, of the Sun. The rude savages of Brazil seem especially to worship or respect the moon, by which they regulate their time and festivals, and draw their omens. They would lift up their hands to the moon with wonder-struck exclamations of teh! teh! they would have children smoked by the sorcerers to preserve them from moon-given sickness, or the women would hold up their babes to the luminary. The Botocudos are said to give the highest rank among the heavenly bodies to Taru the Moon, as causing thunder and lightning and the failure of vegetables and fruits, and as even sometimes falling to the earth, whereby many men die.[1] An old account of the Caribs describes them as esteeming the Moon more than the Sun, and at new moon coming out of their houses crying 'Behold the Moon!'[2] The Ahts of Vancouver's Island, it is stated, worship the Sun and Moon, particularly the full moon and the sun ascending to the zenith. Regarding the Moon as husband and the Sun as wife, their prayers are more generally addressed to the Moon as the superior deity; he is the highest object of their worship, and they speak of him as 'looking down upon the earth in answer to prayer, and seeing everybody.'[3] With a somewhat different turn of mythic fancy, the Hurons seems to have considered Ataentsic the Moon as maker of the earth and man, and grandmother of Iouskeha the Sun, with whom she governs the world.[4] In Africa, Moon-worship is prominent in an immense district where Sun-worship is unknown or insignificant. Among south-central tribes, men will watch for the
- ↑ Spix and Martius, 'Reise in Brasilien,' vol. i. pp. 377, 381; Martius, 'Ethnog. Amer.' vol. i. p. 327; Pr. Max. v. Wied, vol. ii. p. 58; J. G. Müller, pp. 218, 254; also Musters, 'Patagonians,' pp. 58, 179.
- ↑ De la Borde, 'Caraibes,' p. 525.
- ↑ Sproat, 'Savage Life,' p. 206; 'Tr. Eth. Soc.' vol. v. p. 253.
- ↑ Brebeuf in 'Rel. des Jés.' 1635, p. 34.
