Solar Folklore and Storytelling

Storytelling appears to be endemic to human nature. The oldest known folktale dates back 6,000 years, to the Bronze Age. Symbolic representations may go back much, much farther. Storytelling is a powerful tool, a means for sharing experiences, knowledge, and cultural norms. In indigenous communities, stories are the most important way of passing knowledge on from generation to generation.

For centuries, humans have attempted to explain the Sun in terms of their own worldviews. The Sun can be a god, a demon, a mischievous spirit, an omnipotent creator or a ruthless taker of life. Whatever role it plays, most cultures have recognized the significance of the Sun as prime controller of life on Earth. As far as we can surmise, all developing civilizations paid attention to the sky. The cyclic movement of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars may have represented a kind of assurance and concept of order humans could strive after. What happens in the sky mirrors what happens in daily life. Did the regular occurrence of sunrise and moonset provide our ancestors with a concept of order, a stable pillar to which they could anchor their minds and souls?

This document includes a collection of tales, myths, imagery, and solar symbolism, both ancient and modern. These were assembled to support the teaching of solar science in grades 4-12. The items were chosen to illustrate the various roles that cultural stories might tell – demonstrating a world-view, explaining and perpetuating religious beliefs, documenting the behavior of celestial bodies, fostering social cooperation, teaching social norms, serving as an expression of values, sharing experiences, and cataloging knowledge. The tales helped to sketch out the political, social, religious, and economic underpinnings of various sky views. These included using Sun-related stories to link the study of the modern scientific discipline of astronomy to its roots in the past and to highlight the similarities and differences between science as we know it and the astronomical pursuits of diverse cultures of the world. Educators also used the stories as “hooks” to enthuse students on the topic.