Chapter 22

That to our remote ancestry the heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon, were divine beings, will not admit of any doubt. Not only do such symbolic expressions as 'face, eye, tongue, wheel, shield, table, car' bring us face to face with a vivid personfication; we have also seen how significantly Caesar couples together Sol, Vulcanus and Luna, p. 103. conf. p. 602. As Sôl is reckoned among âsins in the Edda (Sn. 39), and in sister to Mâni (Sn. 12), this last has claims to an equal rank. Yet Sæm. 1b calls Sôl 'sinni Mâna,' companion of the moon, sinni being the Goth. gasinþja, OHG. kasindeo, sindo; and it is remarkable that the Merseburg Lay gives the divine Sunnâ not a companion brother, but a sister Sindgund (supra p. 308), whose name however still expresses attendance, escort; (15) may she have been a morning or evening star? We should have to know first, what distinction a dim remote antiquity made between sáuil and sunnô in repsect of gender and mythical use; if 'sáuil, sagil,' like sol and hlioj, was masc., then Sunnâ and Sindgund might be imagined as female moons like Luna and Selhnh , yet sôl is always fem. in ON., and our sunne so late as in MHG. strangely wavers between the two sexes, Gramm. 3, 350 (see Suppl.).

Be that as it may, we have a right to add in support of the sun's divinity, that 'she' is described like other gods (pp. 17. 26. 324), as blithe, sweet and gracious. O. iv. 33, 6 speaks of her 'gisiuni blîdaz, thes sih ioh worolt frewita,' whereof the world had aye rejoiced; and a 13^th cent. poem (Zeitschr. f. d. alt. 1, 493-4) thus describes the greetings addressed to her:

 Wol dir frouwe Sunne!

'Hail to thee, Lady Sun!

 du bist al der werlt wunne!

Art all the world's delight.'

sô ir die Sunnen vrô sehet,

When ye see the sun glad,

schœnes tages ir ir jehet,

The fair day to her ye ascribe,

 der êren ir der Sunnen jehet,

To her ye give the honour,

 swenn ir si in liehtem schîne sehet.

Whenever ye see, etc.

Other passages in point are reserved for the next chapter.

The personality of the sun and moon shows itself moreover in a fiction that has wellnigh gone the round of the world. These two, in their unceasing unflagging career through the void of heaven, appear to be in flight, avoiding some pursuer. A pair of wolves are on their track, Sköll dogging the steps of the sun, Hati of the moon; they come of a giant race, the mightiest of whom, Mânagarmr (moon-dog), apparently but another name for Hati, is sure some day to overtake and swallow the moon. How extensively this tradition prevailed, has already been shown (pp. 244-5). (16) A parhelion or mock-sun (vädersol) is in Swed. called solvarg, solulf, sun-wolf, Ihre's Dial. lex. 165.

One of the most terrific phenomena to heathens was an eclipse of the sun or moon, which they associated with a destruction of all things and the end of the world; they fancied the monster had already got a part of the shining orb between his jaws, and they tried to scare him away by loud cries. This is what Eligius denounces (Superst. A): 'nullus, si quando luna obscuratur, vociferare praesumat;' it is the cry of 'vinca luna!' (17) that the Indicul. paganiar. means in cap. 21 de defectione lunae, and Burchard (Sup. C, 193b) by his 'clamoribus aut auxilio splendorem lunae deficientis restaurare.' The Norse writings, while minutely describing the threatened deglutition, make no allusion to the shouting: it may have been more customary with Celts and Romans than with Teutons. A 5^th cent. father, St. Maximus of Turin, in a Homilia de defactu lunae, preaches thus: 'Cum ante dies plerosque de vestrae avaritiae cupiditate pulsaverim, ipsa die circa vesperam tanta vociferatio populi exstitit, ut irreligiositas ejus penetraret ad coelum. Quod quum requirerem, quid sibi clamor hic velit, dixerunt mihi, quod laboranti lunae vestra vociferatio subveniret, et defectum ejus suis clamoribus adjuvaret.' (18) The same 'laborans' (in distress) is used by Juvenal 6, 442:

Jam nemo tubas, nemo aera fatiget;

una laboranti poterit succurrere lunae. (19)
I may safely assume that the same superstitious notions and practices attend eclipses among nations ancient and modern. (20) The Indian belief is, that a serpent eats up the sun and moon when they are eclipsed (Bopp's Glos.. 148ª), or a demon (râhus) devours them (Bopp's Nalas, pp. 153. 272. Somadeva 2, 15. 187). To this day the Hindus consider that a giant lays hold of the luminaries, and tries to swallow them (Broughton's Pop. poetry of Hind. p. 131). The Chinese call the solar eclipse zhishi (solis devoratio), the lunar yueshi (lunae devoratio), and ascribe them both to the machinations of a dragon. Nearly all the populations of Northern Asia hold the same opinion: the Tchuvashes us the phrase 'vubur siat,' daemon comedit (Guil. Schott de lingua Tschuw, p. 5); the Finns of Europe have a similar belief, the Esthonians say the sun or moon 'is being eaten,' and formerly they sought to hinder it by conjuring spells (Thom. Hiärn, Mitau 1794, p. 39). The Lithuanians think a demon (Tiknis or Tiklis) attacks the chariot of the sun, then darkness arises, and all creatures are in fear lest the dear sun be worsted; it has been staved off for a long time, but it must come to that at the end of the world (Narbutt 1, 127. 142). In eclipses of the moon, the Greenlanders carry boxes and kettles to the roofs of their houses and beat on them as hard as they can (Cranz's Grönland 3, 294). An English traveller says of the Moors in Africa: When the sun's eclipse was at its height, we saw the people running about as if mad, and firing their rifles at the sun, to frighten the monster who they supposed was wishing to devour the orb of day. The plains and heights of Tripoli resounded with the death-dirge (the cry 'wulliali wu!'), and the same all along the coast. The women banged copper vessels together, making such a din that it was heard leagues away (see Suppl.). (21)

A Mongolian myth makes out that the gods determined to punish Arakho for his misdeeds, but he hid so effectually, that no one could find out his lurkingplace. They therefore asked the sun, who gave an unsatisfactory answer; but when they asked the moon, she disclosed his whereabouts. So Arakho was dragged forth and chastised; in revenge of which, he pursues both sun and moon, and whenever he comes to hand-grips with one of them, an eclipse occurs. To help the lights of heaven in their sad plight, a tremendous uproar is made with musical and other instruments, till Arakho is scared away. (22) Here a noticeable feature is the inquiry made of the sun and moon, who overlook the world and know all secrets (Castrén's Myth. 62). So in our fairytales the seeker asks of the sun, moon and stars (Kinderm. no. 25. 88; conf. 3, 218-9), some of whom are found helpful and sympathizing, others cruel and cannibal (Vuk. no. 10). In Servian songs the moon and the morningstar (danitsa) hold a colloquy on the affairs of men (Vuk 3,3). During an eclipse of the sun (I don't know whether of the moon also) our people cover the wells up, else the water would turn impure, Superst. I, 589.

Is there a trace of moon-worship to be found in the fact that people had an image of the moon carved on rocks and stones that marked a boundery? In RA. 542 an Alamannic doc. of 1155 is given, which traces the custom all the way up to King Dagobert. In Westphalian docs. as late as the 17^th cent. I find halfmondsschnad-stones, (23) unless the world halfmoon here means something else.

In Bavaria there is a Mondsee, OHG. Mâninsêo (lunae lacus), in Austria a Mânhart (lunae silva, h Louna ulh in Ptolemy); (24) we may safely credit both with mythic associations.

As time is more easily reckoned by the changes of the moon, which visibly mark off the week (p. 126-7), than by the sun, our ancestors seem to have had, beside the solar year, a lunar one for common use, whose thirteen months answered to the twelve of the solar year. The recurring period of from 29 to 30 days was therefore called mênoþs, mânôd, from mêna, mâno. Hence also it was natural to count by nights, not days: 'nec dierum numerum sed noctium computant, sic constituunt, sic condicunt, nox ducere diem videtur,' Tac. Germ. c. 11. And much in the same way, the year was named by its winter, which holds the same relation to summer as night to day. A section of time was measured by the number of se'ennights, fortnights, months or winters it contained.

And that is also the reason why the phases of the moon had such a commanding influence on important undertakings. They are what Jornandes cap. 11 calls lunae commoda incommodaque. It is true, the performance of any kind of work was governed by the day and solar time, whether of warriors (RA. 297), or of servants (353), or of tribunals especially (814-6). If, on the other hand, some new and weighty matter was to be taken in hand, they consulted the moon; which does not mean that the consultation was held or the action begun in the night, but on those days whose nights had an auspicious phase of the moon: 'coeunt, nisi quid fortuitum et subitum inciderit, certis diebus, quum aut inchoatur luna aut impletur; nam agendis rebus hoc auspicatissimum initium credunt,' Tac. Germ. 11. So in Tac. Ann. 1, 50 a nox illunis is chosen for a festival.

Now the moon presents two distinct appearances, one each fortnight, which are indicated in the passage just quoted: either she is beginning her course, or she has attained her full orb of light. From the one point she steadily increases, from the other she declines. The shapes she assumes between are not so sharply defined to the sense.




ENDNOTES:

15. Conf. sunnagahts, sungiht (solis iter), p. 617 n., and sunnan sîðfæt (iter), Cædm. 182, 25. [Back]

16. I add from Fischart's Garg. 130b: 'sah den wolf des mons.' Rabelais 1, 11 has: la lune des loups. In old calendars, eclipses are represented by two dragons holding the sun and moon in their mouths, Mone's Untersuch. p. 183. [Back]

17. This would be in OHG. 'Karih mâno!' in Goth. 'jiukái mêna!' but we find nothing of the kind even later. [Back]

18. Ducange 6, 1618 quotes the passage sub v. vinceluna; but the reprint of the Hom. Maximi taurin. 'De defectu lunae' (in Mabillon's Mus. Ital., tom. i. pars 2, pp. 19. 20) has it not. [Back]

19. Conr. Tac. Annal. 1, 28 and Boeth. de consol. 4 metr. 5: 'lassant crebris pulsibus aëra.' [Back]

20. It is only among Greeks and Slavs that I have not come across them. [Back]

21. Morgenblatt 1817 p. 159ª; conf. Niebuhr's Beschr. Arab. 119. 120. [Back]

22. Benj. Bergmann's Nomad. streifereien 3, 41. Acc. to Georgii Alphab. tibetan. p. 189, it is monsters called Tracehn, with their upper parts shaped like men, and the lower like snakes, that lie in wait for the sun and moon. [South of L. Baikal it is the king of hell that tries to swallow the moon.---Trans.] [Back]

23. Defence of Wulften castle, Vienna 1766. suppl. p. 71-2. 162. [Back]

24. Can Manhart have come from Maginhart? Helbl. 13, 190 has Meinhartsberc. [Back]