Reading Notes: Myths of the Cherokee, Part A

I choose The Moon and the Thunders for Week 11.  It starts off by introducing the two characters: The Sun - who lives in the East - and her brother, the Moon, who lives in the West.  He is also her lover, but she did not know his identity until later.  He comes only when the moon is dark - should've been a hint if you ask me - but the Sun doesn't know who her mysterious lover is.  So one night she rubs cinders on his face, blaming the cold, and the next night sure enough her brother has spots on his face.

Since then he tries to keep away from the sun, and when he has to be close, he makes himself so thin so as to not be as seen.  He is ashamed.

There is a lot more in the story, but I wanted to focus on this "love" story.  It really striked me as odd because it didn't seem like most Native American tribes would want to even put the idea of incest into their children's heads.  But I suppose in the end it is mainly telling you it is shameful to do so.

I would have liked to see it without the "incest," however I really liked the aspect of the Sun and Moon being brother and sister.  I think it would be cool to relay them as twins - as a girl in girl-boy pair of twins this sort of story appeals to me more - and give it a different twist than having the Moon be visiting the Sun as lovers.  You see so much of Sun and Moon, lovers forever, that it would be nice to view them from a different perspective.

Art by Alyssafew

Sources: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney

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