Religions of Primitive PeoplesBrinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Religion
Religions of Primitive Peoples
Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison)
Mythology; Religion; Religions -- History
Sometimes the myths represent Tangaloa as the son of Vatea (Avatea,
Wakea), “noon” or “noon-day.” He was father of gods and man, half man,
half fish, to typify land and water, and it was said of him that his
right eye was the sun, his left the moon. So far removed was he that no
worship was ever paid him, and no representation made of him.[72]
If we turn to the extremely savage inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,
a remnant of the ancient, almost pygmy, black race of Southern Asia, we
find that their supreme being is Puluga, the creator of all things, who
was never born and will never die. He is invisible, but of the nature
of light; he lives in the sky, and placed there the sun and moon. He is
omniscient, but only while it is day, when he can see.[73]
As the red rays of the morning and evening light caused in Polynesia all
things red to be sacred to Tangaloa, so among the Hottentots of South
Africa their supreme being was named Tsuni Goab, the red light of the
Dawn, who in mythology stood in opposition to Gaunah, the Dark Sky.[74]
This worship of light has several constant associations in religious
thought which find expression in the myth and cult.
In nature, light is a potent stimulus of organic growth, and this fact,
obscurely apprehended by the primitive mind, led to the equivalence of
Light and Life. Light as the vital principle recurs in most mythologies.
As we obtain light artificially from fire, whose general warmth also
is akin to that of the living as contrasted to the dead body, the soul
or living element was allied to flame. In ancient German mythology the
soul was called a torch or taper (J. Grimm), and in the beliefs of the
Polynesians and American Indians the ghosts of the dead usually appear as
luminous masses.[75] All will remember the words of Othello—
“Put out the light, and then,—put out the light!”
A second association of light was with the sky, in day the home of the
bright sun, at night where glitter a thousand points of brilliancy.
In most mythologies the sky is supposed to be a solid, shining arch or
dome which covers the earth like a roof. Upon it, out of sight to mortal
eyes, live the gods. It constitutes the “Hill of Heaven,” the celestial
mountain upon which are the homes of the divine beings. So it is oft
likened to some known terrestrial elevation, as in Greek mythology, Mt.
Olympus, and in that of India, Mt. Meru. Such sacred hills are mentioned
by most of the American tribes.[76] In Polynesian myth it was “the blue
mountain, the land of the divine water,” a fluid of such vital virtue
that were even a dead man sprinkled with it he would come to life. On
the island of Mangaia a certain hill was pointed out which in old times
propped up the sky.[77]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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