  Bella Coola The House of Sun stands in the center of the lower heaven. It has other names. Sometimes it is called “Where man was created,” sometimes “House from which people come down,” and sometimes “House to which people go.” In front of the house stands a great pole, painted with birds of every kind, with the white crane sitting on top of the post. The master of the house is Sun. He is also called “Our Father,” and sometimes the “Sacred One.” The Bella Coola pray to Sun. When they go hunting they say, “Look on us, where we are going, Father.” Or they say, “Take care of us, Father.” After long rain, they pray, “Wipe your face, Father, that it may be fair weather.” The hunter who has shot deer, or the woman who has found many berries, prays, “Father, you make me happy; you give me what I desire; thus I find what I wished for!” The Bella Coola also make offerings to the Sun. Hunters throw four small slices of seal meat, or of mountain-goat tallow, into the fire, as an offering to Sun, to obtain success in hunting. There are other gods living in the House of the Sun. Two of them wake man after sleep; without their help nobody could awaken from sleep. One of them is the guardian of the Moon. Every month she restores the Moon to her full size; and she cleans the face of the Moon after an eclipse. Because when the Moon performs religious ceremonies, she paints her face black. The Mother of Flowers lives also in the House of Sun. Every spring she sends all the new young flowers down to the earth. There are four brothers who live in the House of Sun. They are always busy in carving and painting. They taught men to make boxes, to build houses, to carve wood, and to paint. They also taught him to hunt, and they made fish for him to catch. The Daughter of Sun invented the art of working cedar bark. She has a song which she sings when the bark is brought to her and she breaks it over the edge of a stick, so that it may be woven into mats and clothing. First she sings, “Bring me the board on which to break the bark,” and then when she begins to work, she sings another song. Part of it is, “Behold me, ye who are not initiated. I am the Cedar-bark Breaker, the Daughter of Sun.” Many other people live in the House of Sun. One of them visits houses and steals provisions. The path of Sun is well guarded. Bear guards the sunrise. He is a very fierce warrior who protects Sun against warlike enemies, and Bear is also the cause of the warlike spirit of man. His hair is tied up in a knot on top of his head. At the sunset stands an enormous post which supports the sky and prevents Sun from falling down into the lower world. The trail of Sun is a wide bridge. It is as broad as the distance between the summer solstice and the winter solstice. Sun always walks with his face to the west. In summer he walks on the right-hand side of the bridge, and in winter at the left-hand side. The extreme right-and left-hand sides of the bridge are called “Place where the Sun sits down.” If Sun tarries too long on the left-hand side of the bridge, people say, “Salmon will be dried late this year.” But if he stays a long while on the right-hand side, they say, “There will be plenty of salmon this year.” |
|
