Many ancient peoples, e.g. the Egyptians, Celts or Inka, admired the sun like a God and mostly held its kings or chieftain for direct descendants or even brothers of the respective sun God. One finds such sun admirations in almost each ancient culture.

By some peoples it went even beyond the faith. They began at some time to observe the celestial bodies and created calendars. Others could calculate by these observations the moon and sun rotating time and for some it it was even possible to forecast a solar eclipse.

All peoples tried to explain the events in the sky, no matter whether it concerned here " only " the daily sun movement or also the eclipses. They were extremely creative. Many peoples believed that their sun God because of rage caused a solar eclipse over them.Humans began immediately to calm their God with prayers or victims (often also human victims).

You are invited now to a small voyage round the world of the believes of some of the ancient cultures about the sun and the rites which are connected with it.

We begin with the Celts,which are actually the exception, because their calendar did not have anything to do with the sun. Their druids observed the moon cycles and measured the length of the nights. They created a calendar, in which they gathered all data. Also their holidays depended on these measurements. As holy guards of the calendar year, they determined when to yield the seed or to take the cattle to summer pasture and which time was most favorable for war. In the case of this calculation and observation of the moon and also the sun stone sets played, e.g. Stonehenge, an important role. Certain stones indicated the places on which in 21 June and in 21 December the sun and the moon came up.

The Celts tried to explain, as other peoples, the movement of the sun: a Cormorant, a holy animal, pulled the sun on its course.

Their ” descendants “, the Teutons , explained eclipses in a very interesting way. In their mythology existed two wolves, which descended from the giants. They were called Hati (hate) and Skoell (storm).These two wolves hunted the sun and the moon over the sky. If theysucceeded to bite one of these celestial body, then there was an eclipse.

The Greeks explained the movement of the sun with the help of their Sun God Helios, who sat in a golden chariot and drove over the sky that way.

The journey leads us across the Mediterranean to the Egyptians.They had also a Sun God whom they called Ra. Their God also moved over the sky in a so-called bark, an oblong boat, the ends of which bent themselves pointedly upward. Along the day he slid in a solar bark over the sky. In the night Ra had to drive through the underworld,whereby the Egyptians always feared that on the next morning his bark would not appear on the horizon.Rae was strongly admired in Egypt It came even to a proper sun cult.

This cult influenced also the building method of the pyramids. At the beginning of the Egyptian advanced culture such graveyards were already built. They resembled however more the pyramids of the Maya or the Aztecs in Central America: large, " artificial " levels led to the point. The building of the pyramids, the way we know it, became popular only after the Pharaoh Cheop ( approx. 2560 BC.). He was about even to plan its grave. He thought, Ra could accompany him after his death on the steps of the pyramid up into the sky or to the sun. We know its grave today as one of the seven world miracles: the Cheops Pyramide.

The Pharaohs were identified since with the God of the Sun. But the kingship had already lost its authority a hundred years after Cheop, since with the propagation of the sun cult a stronger differentiation between God and the king took place.Some thousand years later a new Sun cult developed under the Pharaoh Echnaton. He ”invented“ a new God of the Sun, whom he personally was completely devoted. He gave the God the name Atone, the life-giving sun, and he expressed his devotion to him through his name. He sealed even the ” Big Hymn “ to this God.

Some thousand years later a new Sun cult developed under the Pharaoh Echnaton. He ”invented“ a new God of the Sun, whom he personally was completely devoted. He gave the God the name Atone, the life-giving sun, and he expressed his devotion to him through his name. He sealed even the " Big Hymn " to this God.

The Egyptians were also astronomers of importance. They discovered connections between the Nile flood and the season. The Sun, however, was too high in the time of this tide (end July/begin of August) and therefore they could not orient themselves at it and had to look for another possibilities. Thus they began to observe the stars and noticed that Sirius (a bright star, which is not to be observed the whole year in Africa ) was to be seen for the first time in the morning sky approx. two weeks before this tide.

They calculated likewise a 365 days long year, whereby their year began with the first appearance of the Sirius. Through the exact observation of the Sirius they could determine even the leap year.

They calculated likewise a 365 days long year, whereby their year began with the first appearance of the Sirius. Through the exact observation of the Sirius they could determine even the leap year.

The members of the tribe of the Bambarain Mali had the conception of a certain unit between the Earth and the Sun. Their Goddess of the Earth MusoKuroni united with the God of the Sun Pemba and gave birth to all animals, plants and humans.

By the Berbers in Morocco and a people in the southwestern part of Egypt the ram is brought in connection with the sun. Since these peoples lived on the ram and the sheep and also owed to the sun their existence, they, thought it was the embodiment of a God of the Sun and admired it much.

Also the Hottentotts, which called themselves Khoikhoi(humans of the humans), in Namibia had stories about the ram of the Sun SoreGus They were Nomads and lived also mainly on sheep.

The Swahili Swahili (who live in sections of Somalia and Mozambique) celebrate today still their New Year's Day on 21 March, when the sun enters the symbol of the Aries in the animal ring. This day is called " Nairuzi ", which means " new light ". The ram is the embodiment of the God of the Sun here too.

The Babylons ware even still more successful than the Egyptians with the investigation of astronomy. They calculated the so called Saros Cicle. With its help one can forecast Solar eclipses. It lasts 18 years and 11.3 days. The secrets of the sky were ventilated by the priests. They could increase their reputation by a forecast of a lunar eclipse or a total solar eclipse among the people. They believed even to be able to forecast other things with the help of the celestial bodies: the astrology was born, which gave more power to the priests.

By the Babylons the moon also played a role during the calendar calculation. They interlaced the time interval of 29,5 days from new moon to new moon with the sun year. They divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each and inserted as required, for adjustment to the sun year, one leap month. Also the division of the day into 24 hours goes back to the Babylon's. About possible calculations of the Indians one does not know very much. But they also observed some solar eclipses. During this event they placed themselves into any waters until the water reached their necks. They wanted to prove thereby their admiration to their God of the Sun.

The Chinese reacted to a solar eclipse to a large extent in a quite different way, which was probably because of their faith. They imagined an enormous dragon, which wanted to devour the sun. As soon as the dragon tried to devour the sun thus as soon as the moon " moved itself" before the Sun, the Chinese began to make noise in every possible way. They accessed usually to drums or to pots, in order to make the dragon go away.

Such and similar events (e.g. emerging comets) have already been held in writing since 3000 BC. Because of the following legend we know that the Chinese astronomers were likewise already able to forecast eclipses (however these prognoses were very unreliable and probably only since about 3000 BC possible): To their disappointment the two imperial chief astronomers Hi and Ho had forgotten after an excessive wine benefit to announce the solar eclipse of 22. 10. 2137 BC. The emperor at that time had them beheaded soon after that .

Also the Maori, the Maori the people of New Zealand, thought over the course of the sun. They believed that one of their heroes would fight with the sun at the sky and the daily sun movements would become what they should be in such a way.

The Eskimos had to explain besides the daily sun movement, a further phenomenon: the Aurora Borealis - the north light. They thought that the sun made a ship journey under the horizon at night and caused the north lights in such a way.

In North America lived different Indian tribes, which belonged to Mississippi Indians; also the inhabitants of the city Cahokia , the real name of which is not known yet. This city was situated in today's Federal State Illinois and covered at its bloom time an area of scarcely 15 qkm with approx. 12000 inhabitants. On the city area a ring of magic posts was established , in the center of which was also a post. One calls this ring today " Woodhenge ", because it has a certain similarity with the Celts " Stonehenge " in England. From the center of the ring the chieftains and priest could determine the seasons. They observed that the sun came up on certain days of the yearly behind certain posts, on the day and night equality, as well as on the summer and the winter solstice . Only the elite knew the connection and could calculate on its basis the accurate solar calendar of the annual cycle - and annually returning flooding (like also the Egyptians) -. With this knowledge they could prove their power to the not-inaugurated masses over the time and bring celebrations and rituals into the cosmic order.

By the Nachos Indians , who belonged also to the tribes of Mississippi, at the top of the society hierarchy was the " Big Sun", a living God, who was considered for a direct descendant or brother of the genuine sun. The highest war chieftain was of a second highest rang because of his terrestrial brother " the Acting Snake". Aztecs, Maya and Incas