Hopi Indian Sun Wheel - a Symbol of the Summer Solstice / Midsummernight Ceremony

Measurements: 5 inches x 3 inches x 2 inches


Sun Symbol (also known as the Zia symbol)- The sun symbol often means “Earth Guardian in Day”, and it can also represent Healing Energy. The sun symbol is also recognized as a giver of life, and a provider of warmth.

Most Hopi accounts of creation center around Tawa, the sun spirit. Tawa is the creator, and it was he who formed the "First World" out of Tokpella, or endless space, as well as its original inhabitants. It is still traditional for Hopi mothers to seek a blessing from the sun for their newborn children. Other accounts have it that Tawa, or Taiowa, first created Sotuknang, whom he called his nephew, and sent him to create the nine universes according to his plan. Sotuknang also created Spider Woman, who served as a messenger for the creator and was an intercessor between the deity and the people. In some versions of the Hopi creation myth, it is she who creates all life under the direction of Sotuknang.Yet other stories tell that life was created by Hard Being Woman of the West and Hard Being Woman of the East, while the sun merely observed the process.

From the Latin words for "sun" and "to stop" comes our word "solstice." On solstice, the sun does appear to pause in the sky when it reaches its northernmost point, which occurred at 1:04 a.m. EST on June 21. Throughout time, the year's longest span of daylight has been marked and celebrated by many different cultures. Among the most interesting rituals are those of the native American tribes.

Many, if not all, of the native American tribes performed ceremonies focused on summer solstice. The sundance, believed to have originated with the Lakota tribe, is a ceremony that lasted 28 days, with a final four to eight days of intense festivity.

As far back as ancient times, many tribes from Mexico to Canada and the U.S. in between, celebrated summer solstice and apparently acquired a great amount of knowledge concerning the relationship of the sun and sky to the earth. The ancient Anazasi tribe of New Mexico, carved the representation of summer solstice in the ancient caves showing summer solstice, winter solstice and the equinoxes all within context of the earth orbit around the sun.