The Sun Goddess or Sun Woman is a creator, mother goddess, fertility deity or solar divinity in myths and lore of Indigenous Australia. She can be a benign creative entity or a nasty flesh-roasting cannibal. Here are five Sun Goddesses in Indigenous Australian mythology.
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The Sun Goddess also appears in mythology of the Celts, Berbers, Sami, Finnish, Germans and other cultural groups. She's associated with Spring, the Summer and Winter Solstice, health, happiness, fertility, sowing crops, harvest, nurturing and growth.
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Gnowee - Seeking Mother
In Wotjobaluk mythology, in the area now known as the State of Victoria in South Australia, Gnowee is a female personification of the Sun. Once she was a woman who lived on Earth when it was eternally dark. People lit bark torches to see. One day, she left her little son sleeping while she went out to dig for yams.
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As food was scarce, Gnowee wandered far. She came to the end of the Earth, passed underneath and emerged on the other side. She knew not where she was and she couldn't find her son so she climbed into the sky, holding high her bark torch so she could see. To this day she still wanders the sky, lighting the world with her torch as she searches for her son.
Wala or Walo - Sun Keeper
Wala is also named as a solar goddess in some Aboriginal lore, specifically from Anhem Land in north Australia. Little is known about her. She traveled across the sky every day, accompanied by her sister (or daughter) Bara. This made the Sun too hot, and she asked Bara to stop. In one telling Wala journeys to the southern mountains to catch the Sun, and
puts it in a bag until the moon is gone.
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Wuriupranili - Sun Bearer
Another torch bearer comes from North Australian myth. Sun Goddess or Sun Woman Wuriupranili is a solar goddess of the Tiwi people. Her bark torch is the Sun. When she wakes she lights a small fire in the east, which humans see as the glow of dawn. She decorates her face and body with red ochre. When the pigment blows into the air it stains the clouds red at sunrise.
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As Wuriupranili prepares for her sky journey, the birds break into song, waking the people. Finally, she lights her stringybark torch from the campfire, then travels across the sky to her evening camp in the west.
When she disappears below the western horizon, she puts out her torch and redecorates her body with ochre, causing bright vivid sunsets. As night descends, she goes back to her eastern morning camp through a tunnel.
Bila - Cannibal Goddess
In south Australia, Bila or Belah of the Adnyamathanha exacted a terrible toll for her light. A cannibal sun goddess, she roasted people over a fire, causing the light of the sun in the sky. Her red and black dogs would descend upon villages and drag countless victims away to her heinous fire.
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Lizard men called Goanna and Gecko who witnessed these deeds were appalled. They attacked and she fled, throwing the world into darkness. One of the Lizard Men hurled his boomerang to bring her back, making a slow arc across the sky, and ever after she retained this trait. Thus lizards such as goannas and geckos are held in high regard by the Adnyamathanha.
Yhi - Goddess of Creation & Light
In Gamilaraay mythology, Yhi, (Yarai/Yaay) is Goddess of the Sun, Light and Creation. The Gamilaraay are among the largest Australian Aboriginal native ethnic groups. Yhi is a creator spirit. Woken by a whistle, she opened her eyes and light fell upon the Earth.
Plants grew where she walked. She wanted to make something which could dance. Searching, she found evil spirits beneath the earth who tried to sing her to death. Her warmth chased away the darkness, which became insects.
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She brought them to Earth. Discovering an ice cave, she shone her light on the being at rest inside, and out came fish, lizards and all kinds of birds, amphibians and mammals.
Yhi blessed her creations with the change of the seasons. She promised when they died, they would join her in the sky. When she left, darkness returned to cover the Earth. The creatures she made were frightened - but then came the first sunrise, and Goddess Yhi returned with her light.
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She granted abilities to the animals, such as flight for the bat and legs for the lizard. Then she realized the Man was lonely. While the Man slept she put all her godly power into a flower. Every creature of the world came to gaze upon this blossom. When the Man awoke and looked on it, the flower turned into a woman.
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