Creation of the Sun (Tunica)
The Tunicas say that once a very beautiful girl married Kingfisher (a bird). When she asked him for food, he brought her some minnows. This shamed the girl, who told Kingfisher that he could remain on the water eating minnows if he wished. She herself would go up to the sky. So she sang and danced, and began to radiate light all about her as she rose. She became the Sun and now illuminates the whole world. Notice that the Sun is a female character in the Tunica story. Most other Southeastern Indians identify the Sun as a male figure. Gender roles--the identities and responsibilities assigned to males and females--are reversed in some other areas of Tunica culture. For example, men, not women, are in charge of Tunica agricultural activities. Gender roles identified in Southeastern Indian creation stories often correspond to gender distinctions operating in the daily life of the human community. |
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