The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought Part 5

"My mother is the beauteous Sun, And my father, the bright Moon; My brothers are the many Stars, And my sisters the white Dawns."

Jean Paul beautifully terms the sun "Sonne, du Mutterauge der Welt!" and Holty sings: "Geh aus deinem Gezelt, Mutter des Tags hervor, und vergulde die wache Welt"; in another pa.s.sage the last writer thus apostrophizes the sun: "Heil dir, Mutter des Lichts!" These terms "mother-eye of the world," "mother of day," "mother of light," find a.n.a.logues in other tongues. The Andaman Islanders have their _chan-a bo-do_, "mother-sun" (498. 96), and certain Indians of Brazil call the sun _coaracy_, "mother of the day or earth." In their sacred language the Dakota Indians speak of the sun as "grandmother" and the moon as "grandfather." The Chiquito Indians "used to call the sun their mother, and, at every eclipse of the sun, they would shoot their arrows so as to wound it; they would let loose their dogs, who, they thought, went instantly to devour the moon" (100. 289).

The Yuchi Indians called themselves "children of the sun." Dr. Gatschet tells us: "The Yuchis believe themselves to be the offspring of the sun, which they consider to be a female. According to one myth, a couple of human beings were born from her monthly efflux, and from, these the Yuchis afterward originated." Another myth of the same people says: "An unknown mysterious being once came down upon the earth and met people there who were the ancestors of the Yuchi Indians. To them this being (_Hi'ki_, or _Ka'la hi'ki_) taught many of the arts of life, and in matters of religion admonished them to call the sun their mother as a matter of worship" (389 (1893). 280).

_Mother-Moon_.

Sh.e.l.ley sings of

"That orbed maiden, with white fire laden, Whom mortals call the moon,"

and in other languages besides Latin the word for moon is feminine, and the lunar deity a female, often a.s.sociated with childbirth. The moon-G.o.ddesses of the Orient--Diana (Juno), Astarte, Anahita, etc.--preside over the beginnings of human life. Not a few primitive peoples have thought of the moon as mother. The ancient Peruvians worshipped _Mama-Quilla_, "mother-moon," and the Hurons regarded Ataensic, the mother or grandmother of Jouskeha, the sun, as the "creatress of earth and man," as well as the G.o.ddess of death and of the souls of the departed (509. 363). The Tarahumari Indians of the Sierra of Chihuahua, Mexico, call the sun _au-nau-ru-a-mi_, "high father,"

and the moon, _je-ru-a-mi_, "high mother." The Tupi Indians of Brazil term the moon _jacy_, "our mother," and the same name occurs in the Omagua and other members of this linguistic stock. The Muzo Indians believe that the sun is their father and the moon their mother (529. 95).

Horace calls the moon _siderum regina_, and Apuleius, _regina coeli_, and Milton writes of

"mooned Ashtaroth, Heaven's queen and mother both."

Froebel's verses, "The Little Girl and the Stars," are stated to be based upon the exclamation of the child when seeing two large stars close together in the heavens, "Father-Mother-Star," and a further instance of like nature is cited where the child applied the word "mother" to the moon.

_Mother-Fire._

An ancient Greek philosopher, Herac.l.i.tus of Ephesus, taught that the world was created from fire, the omnipotent and omniscient essence, and with many savage and barbaric peoples fire-worship has nourished or still flourishes. The Indie Aryans of old produced fire by the method of the twirling stick, and in their symbolism "the turning stick, Pramanta, was the father of the G.o.d of fire; the immovable stick was the mother of the adorable and luminous Agni [fire]"--a concept far-reaching in its mystic and mythological relations (100. 564).

According to Mr. Gushing the Zuni Indians term fire the "Grandmother of Men."

In their examination of the burial-places of the ancient Indian population of the Salado River Valley in Arizona, the Hemenway Exploring Expedition found that many children were buried near the kitchen hearths. Mr. Cushing offers the following explanation of this custom, which finds a.n.a.logies in various parts of the world: "The matriarchal grandmother, or matron of the household deities, is the fire. It is considered the guardian, as it is also, being used for cooking, the princ.i.p.al 'source of life' of the family. The little children being considered unable to care for themselves, were placed, literally, under the protection of the family fire that their soul-life might be nourished, sustained, and increased" (501. 149). Boecler tells us that the Esthonian bride "consecrates her new home and hearth by an offering of money cast into the fire, or laid on the oven, for _Tule-ema_, [the] Fire Mother" (545. II. 285). In a Mongolian wedding-song there is an invocation of "Mother Ut, Queen of Fire," who is said to have come forth "when heaven and earth divided," and to have issued "from the footsteps of Mother-Earth." She is further said to have "a manly son, a beauteous daughter-in-law, bright daughters" (484. 38).

_Mother-Water._

The poet Homer and the philosopher Thales of Miletus agreed in regarding water as the primal element, the original of all existences, and their theory has supporters among many primitive peoples. At the baptism festivals of their children, the ancient Mexicans recognized the G.o.ddess of the waters. At sunrise the midwife addressed the child, saying, among other things: "Be cleansed with thy mother, Chalchihuitlicue, the G.o.ddess of water." Then, placing her dripping finger upon the child's lips, she continued: "Take this, for on it thou must live, grow, become strong, and flourish. Through it we receive all our needs. Take it."

And, again, "We are all in the hands of Chalchihuitlicue, our mother"; as she washed the child she uttered the formula: "Bad, whatever thou art, depart, vanish, for the child lives anew and is born again; it is once more cleansed, once more renewed through our mother Chalchihuitlicue." As she lifted the child up into the air, she prayed, "O G.o.ddess, Mother of Water, fill this child with thy power and virtue"

(326. I. 263).

In their invocation for the restoration of the spirit to the body, the Nagualists,--a native American mystic sect,--of Mexico and Central America, make appeal to "Mother mine, whose robe is of precious gems,"

_i.e._ water, regarded as "the universal mother." The "robe of precious stones" refers to "the green or vegetable life" resembling the green of precious stones. Another of her names is the "Green Woman,"--a term drawn from "the greenness which follows moisture" (413. 52-54).

The idea of water as the source of all things appears also in the cosmology of the Indie Aryans. In one of the Vedic hymns it is stated that water existed before even the G.o.ds came into being, and the Rig-veda tells us that "the waters contained a germ from which everything else sprang forth." This is plainly a myth of the motherhood of the waters, for in the Brahmanas we are told that from the water arose an egg, from which came forth after a year Pragapati, the creator (510. 248). Variants of this myth of the cosmic egg are found in other quarters of the globe.

_Mother-Ocean._

The Chinchas of Peru looked upon the sea as the chief deity and the mother of all things, and the Peruvians worshipped _Mama-Cocha_, "mother sea" (509. 368), from which had come forth everything, even animals, giants, and the Indians themselves. a.s.sociated with _Mama-Cocha_ was the G.o.d _Vira-Cocha_, "sea-foam." In Peru water was revered everywhere,--rivers and ca.n.a.ls, fountains and wells,--and many sacrifices were made to them, especially of certain sea-sh.e.l.ls which were thought to be "daughters of the sea, the mother of all waters." The traditions of the Incas point to an origin from Lake t.i.ticaca, and other tribes fabled their descent from fountains and streams (412. 204). Here belong, doubtless, some of the myths of the sea-born deities of cla.s.sical mythology as well as those of the water-origin of the first of the human race, together with kindred conceits of other primitive peoples.

In the Bengalese tale of "The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead,"

recorded by Day, the hero pleads: "O mother Ocean, please make way for me, or else I die" (426. 250), and pa.s.ses on in safety. The poet Swinburne calls the sea "fair, white mother," "green-girdled mother,"

"great, sweet mother, mother and lover of men, the sea."

_Mother-River._

According to Russian legend "the Dnieper, Volga, and Dvina used once to be living people. The Dnieper was a boy, and the Volga and Dvina his sisters." The Russians call their great river "Mother Volga," and it is said that, in the seventeenth century, a chief of the Don Cossacks, inflamed with wine, sacrificed to the mighty stream a Persian princess, accompanying his action with these words: "O Mother Volga, thou great River! much hast thou given me of gold and of silver, and of all good things; thou hast nursed me and nourished me, and covered me with glory and honor. But I have in no way shown thee my grat.i.tude. Here is somewhat for thee; take it!" (520. 217-220).

In the Mahabharata, the great Sanskrit epic, King Santanu is said to have walked by the side of the river one day, where "he met and fell in love with a beautiful girl, who told him that she was the river Ganges, and could only marry him on condition he never questioned her conduct.

To this he, with a truly royal gallantry, agreed; and she bore him several children, all of whom she threw into the river as soon as they were born. At last she bore him a boy, Bhishma; and her husband begged her to spare his life, whereupon she instantly changed into the river Ganges and flowed away" (258. 317). Similar folk-tales are to be met with in other parts of the world, and the list of water-sprites and river-G.o.ddesses is almost endless. Greater than "Mother Volga," is "Mother Ganges," to whom countless sacrifices have been made. In the language of the Caddo Indians, the Mississippi is called _bahat sa.s.sin_, "mother of rivers."

_Mother-Plant._

The ancient Peruvians had their "Mother Maize," _Mama Cora_, which they worshipped with a sort of harvest-home having, as Andrew Lang points out, something in common with the children's last sheaf, in the north-country (English and Scotch) "kernaby," as well as with the "Demeter of the threshing-floor," of whom Theocritus speaks (484. 18).

An interesting legend of the Indians of the Pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico is recorded by Muller (509. 60). Ages ago there dwelt on the green plains a beautiful woman, who refused all wooers, though they brought many precious gifts. It came to pa.s.s that the land was sore distressed by dearth and famine, and when the people appealed to the woman she gave them maize in plenty. One day, she lay asleep naked; a rain-drop falling upon her breast, she conceived and bore a son, from whom are descended the people who built the "Casas Grandes." Dr. Fewkes cites a like myth of the Hopi or Tusayan Indians in which appears _ko-kyan-wuq-ti_, "the spider woman," a character possessing certain attributes of the Earth-Mother. Speaking of certain ceremonies in which _Ca-li-ko_, the corn-G.o.ddess, figures, he calls attention to the fact that "in initiations an ear of corn is given to the novice as a symbolic representation of mother. The corn is the mother of all initiated persons of the tribe" (389 (1894). 48).

Mr. Lummis also speaks of "Mother Corn" among the Pueblos Indians: "A flawless ear of pure white corn (type of fertility and motherhood) is decked out with a downy ma.s.s of snow-white feathers, and hung with ornaments of silver, coral, and the precious turquoise" (302. 72).

Concerning the p.a.w.nee Indians, Mr. Grinnell tells us that after the separation of the peoples, the boy (medicine-man) who was with the few who still remained at the place from which the others had departed, going their different ways, found in the sacred bundle--the Shekinah of the tribe--an ear of corn. To the people he said: "We are to live by this, this is our Mother." And from "Mother Corn" the Indians learned how to make bows and arrows. When these Indians separated into three bands (according to the legend), the boy broke off the nub of the ear and gave it to the Mandans, the big end he gave to the p.a.w.nees, and the middle to the Rees. This is why, at the present time, the p.a.w.nees have the best and largest corn, the Rees somewhat inferior, and the Mandans the shortest of all--since they planted the pieces originally given them (480 (1893). 125).

The old Mexicans had in Cinteotl a corn-G.o.ddess and deity of fertility in whose honour even human sacrifices were made. She was looked upon as "the producer," especially of children, and sometimes represented with a child in her arms (509. 491).

In India there is a regular cult of the holy basil (_Ocymum sanetum_), or _Tulasi_, as it is called, which appears to be a transformation of the G.o.ddess Lakshmi. It may be gathered for pious purposes only, and in so doing the following prayer is offered: "Mother _Tulasi_, be thou propitious. If I gather thee with care, be merciful unto me. O _Tulasi_, mother of the world, I beseech thee."

This plant is worshipped as a deity,--the wife of Vishnu, whom the breaking of even a little twig grieves and torments,--and "the pious Hindus invoke the divine herb for the protection of every part of the body, for life and for death, and in every action of life; but above all, in its capacity of ensuring children to those who desire to have them." To him who thoughtlessly or wilfully pulls up the plant "no happiness, no health, no children." The _Tulasi_ opens the gates of heaven; hence on the breast of the pious dead is placed a leaf of basil, and the Hindu "who has religiously planted and cultivated the _Tulasi_, obtains the privilege of ascending to the palace of Vishnu, surrounded by ten millions of parents" (448. 244).

In Denmark, there is a popular belief that in the elder (_Sambucus_) there lives a spirit or being known as the "elder-mother" (_hylde-moer_), or "elder-woman"

(_hilde-qvinde_), and before elder-branches may be cut this pet.i.tion is uttered: "Elder-mother, elder-mother, allow me to cut thy branches." In Lower Saxony the peasant repeats, on bended knees, with hands folded, three times the words: "Lady Elder, give me some of thy wood; then will I also give thee some of mine, when it grows in the forest" (448. 318-320). In Huntingdonshire, England, the belief in the "elder-mother" is found, and it is thought dangerous to pluck the flowers, while elder-wood, in a room, or used for a cradle, is apt to work evil for children. In some parts of England, it is believed that boys beaten with an elder stick will be r.e.t.a.r.ded in their growth; in Sweden, women who are about to become mothers kiss the elder. In Germany, a somewhat similar personification of the juniper, "Frau Wachholder," exists. And here we come into touch with the dryads and forest-sprites of all ages, familiar to us in the myths of cla.s.sic antiquity and the tales of the nursery (448. 396).

In a Bengalese tale, the hero, on coming to a forest, cries: "O mother _kachiri_, please make way for me, or else I die," and the wood opens to let him pa.s.s through (426. 250).

Perhaps the best and sweetest story of plant mythology under this head is Hans Christian Andersen's beautiful tale of "The Elder-Tree Mother,"--the Dryad whose name is Remembrance (393. 215).

_Mother-Thumb._

Our word _thumb_ signifies literally "thick or big finger," and the same idea occurs in other languages. With not a few primitive peoples this thought takes another turn, and, as in the speech of the Karankawas, an extinct Indian tribe of Texas, "the _biggest_, or _thickest_ finger is called '_father_, _mother_, or _old_'" (456. 68). The Creek Indians of the Southeastern United States term the "thumb" _ingi itchki_, "the hand its mother," and a like meaning attaches to the Chickasaw _ilbak-ishke_, Hichiti _ilb-iki_, while the Muskogees call the "thumb," the "mother of fingers." It is worthy of note, that, in the Bakari language of Brazil, the thumb is called "father," and the little finger, "child," or "little one" (536. 406). In Samoa the "thumb" is named _lima-matua_, "forefather of the hand," and the "first finger" _lima-tama_, "child of the hand." In the Tshi language of Western Africa a finger is known as _ensah-tsia-abbah_, "little child of the hand," and in some other tongues of savage or barbaric peoples "fingers" are simply "children of the hand."

Professor Culin in his notes of "Palmistry in China and j.a.pan," says: "The thumb, called in j.a.panese, _oya-ubi_, 'parent-finger,' is for parents. The little finger, called in j.a.panese, _ko-ubi_, 'child-finger,' is for children; the index-finger is for uncle, aunt, and elder brother and elder sister. The third finger is for younger brother and younger sister" (423a). A short little finger indicates childlessness, and lines on the palm of the hand, below the little finger, children. There are very many nursery-games and rhymes of various sorts based upon the hand and fingers, and in not a few of these the thumb and fingers play the _role_ of mother and children.

Froebel seized upon this thought to teach the child the idea of the family. His verses are well-known:--

"Das ist die Groszmama, Das ist der Groszpapa, Das ist der Vater, Das ist die Mutter, Das ist's kleine Kindchen ja; Seht die ganze Familie da.

Das ist die Mutter lieb und gut, Das ist der Vater mit frohem Muth; Das ist der Bruder lang und grosz; Das ist die Schwester mit Puppchen im Schoosz; Und dies ist das Kindchen, noch klein und zart, Und dies die Familie von guter Art."