Perhaps my favorite solstice celebration – it’s done with so much heart. Attended by the Bolivian President, conducted by the indigenous Aymara, held at the sacred site of Tiwanaku in Bolivia. Someone filmed this in a hotel as it was being aired live on National TV. Will peoples in other parts of the world also remember and return to their sacred roots that tap into the ancient religion of the sun? Excuse the quality – this is all I could find.
Pilgrimages to worship the Sun on the tops of mountains in Japan
Among the places of pilgrimage are the tops of lofty mountains, where the worshipper naturally feels himself nearer to the heavenly gods. The great sacred mountain of Japan is Mount Fuji or Fujiyama, a volcano of very regular shape, like an inverted fan, more than 12,000 feet high. Thousands of pilgrims ascend it annually, but only during two months of the year, from the fifteenth of July to the tenth of September. During the rest of the year, woe to the rash intruder who should dare to transgress the prescribed lines! Another peak to which pilgrims resort is the lofty Mount Ontake, “the August Peak”. The mountain is an ancient volcano; sulphurous fumes still burst from crevices in the rocks. On the top a band of white-robed pilgrims making their offerings at the shrine and then worshipping the Goddess of the Sun. It was dawn and streaks of golden light were stealing up into the azure sky. First of all the pilgrims clapped their hands to call the attention of the divinity to their prayers, and then broke into a series of chants of invocation. Mingled with the chants were repetitions of the prayer which is constantly heard on the lips of pilgrims as they toil up the slopes of a holy mountain: “May our six senses be pure, and may the weather on the honourable peak be fine!” Next followed a series of extraordinary pantomimic gestures called “seal-knots” (in musabi). With intense energy and earnestness the devotees twisted and tied the fingers of both hands into the oddest combinations of knots, like the “cat’s cradles” made by children at play. Each twist, each knot had its own special significance, being addressed to those invisible powers of evil from whose insidious machinations the pilgrim prayed to be delivered, grunting loudly as he made each cabalistic sign.
We are essentially brainwashed by the society to believe in a material universe, and that our existence is also completely material, we ought to live a life only to pursue material wealth and to engage in all kinds of worldly affairs. I’m not sure if we have really evolved as a race, maybe we have even reverted back to a consciousness level that we really shouldn’t be at right now. I doubt if we have been given a complete picture of our existence, there could be so much more that we need to know but haven’t been told about. Glad to see there are still people in this world who stick to their ancient roots the majority of the world have chosen to abandon.
This is so interesting. When I was little, in second or third grade of elementary/primary school I used to watch the sun rise and set on solstices through the windows of the highest floor of my house. I may have had done this even before that but I don’t remember much about my life further back then that. I didn’t really understand why exactly did I do that, and I still don’t. The light somehow elevated the spirit of the young child that I was and I liked to describe it to grown-ups as “chasing the light”, and the longest and shortest days of a year were my “light chasing days”. My parents never understood why I was doing this and they always asked me why I was so interested in watching the sun. I replied, “I don’t really know, I just feel somehow attracted to it, its light is so bright that it illuminated the world, and it always gives me hope. Don’t you think that’s amazing?” They didn’t say anything upon hearing that, they just thought it was a childish behavior of mine that I would eventually discard as I grow up and learn more about the truth of the world in school. And they were right. In science class I learned that the sun was this big fireball in the center of our solar system that emitted light through a process called nuclear fusion and solstices and equinoxes are results from the orbiting of Earth around the sun. And I thought to myself, “What about my ‘light chasing ceremonies’? Perhaps they are just stuff a kid like me would do after all. The grown-ups tell me that the sun is just a fireball, maybe I should stop doing these silly things like staring at the sun on the longest and shortest days of the year, there’s no point. I want to grow up.” And I stopped doing that. I didn’t know back then there were so many ancient cultures that venerated the sun, now thinking back I’m beginning to wonder if it could be part of human nature to follow the light and seek the spiritual meaning behind it. But in today’s society this crucial part of our nature is being suppressed and we are taught from a young age to follow “science” or “the real knowledge”, every time someone does something of this kind it’s been condemned by the society and being labeled as “superstition” and “stupid”. I’m not saying what they tell us is wrong but something is missing in our society and our view of the universe, we don’t have a complete picture of it. Something very important has been taken out of the equation on purpose.
Now I’m thinking should I go back to celebrating my “light chasing day” in some way? Like I did when I was a child? Even though I couldn’t explain it using words and I don’t understand it on an intellectual level but I felt a spiritual connection like I never felt in any other way. It was so interesting. For quite a while I tried to get it out of my head and try not to think about those experiences as much as I could. However, later I started to question things and I began the search for a more complete picture on my own.
I don’t know if I want to be on TV or even allow myself to be filmed. I always did my “light chasing ceremony” in private, with no camera or person watching me, just myself staring as the sun went up or down, and felt a spiritual connection. I think I also did a series of activities I believed would help strengthen this connection, I don’t know if you could call them rituals, I don’t remember how they were done though.
Part of the roof of the house I lived in was made of glass, so I could literally see the sky through it. There was time of the year when I would see the sun pass directly above me through the roof, and that was an amazing experience as the whole room would be filled with the light and warmth of the sun(the entire story was being made into a gym so it was essentially a big room). My family even called our highest floor “the room of sun rays”, because of the part of the roof that was made of glass. It was the perfect place for me to celebrate my “light chasing days”, it sort of became my temple, but I don’t think I want to use that word because I my family was never religious and I didn’t feel like I was doing something “religious” either. I simply felt a connection from deep within that could be described as spiritual, but back then I didn’t think about using that word, now I look back to it it was definitely spiritual. Even now when I tell people this experience I had as a child was spiritual they just shrug it off as a childish play, but the more I think about it the more I feel it had to be more than a childish play. It was something I did out of the spiritual aspect of human nature that anyone could do at any age. Maybe I should do something like that again but I don’t live under a glass roof now and the where I live makes it hard to see sunrise and sunset. I’m not sure how or where I can do this but I definitely take the “light chasing” thing I did back then seriously.
Hi Emily.
I think it’s great you’re looking into Asian history to try to find the possible early occurrences to the veneration of the sun.
Early childhood is quite mysterious and I’ve found it contains more real spirituality than I used to consider. We might hear of enlightenment/awakening as adults and then form future concepts of what that’s like. But I believe, firstly at least, it’s more so a work to return to how we were able to perceive the world then.
Hi Karim, the more I look back on and reflect upon the beliefs I had as a child, the more I realized that back then I was truly connected to spirituality. It is indeed part of human nature to be spiritual and seek the source of light within one’s self. In ancient times before the so-called modern scientific view of the universe came to dominate the world and we were all told to view this world in a completely material way, people followed their spiritual instincts for thousands of years and they saw finding one’s higher self as the ultimate goal of life. This Higher Self, also called the Spiritual Sun, was known by many ancient cultures and they understood that it is capable of illuminating the world around them just as the sun could. I don’t remember this myself but my parents recalled that back then I came to a similar conclusion about the sun and the Higher Self as people of the ancient times did and told them about it. I really started to become less and less spiritual as I got more education and everything was being taught in a way that lets us view ourselves as soulless material entities that somehow just happen to be here for no reason. And sun worship was regarded as a primitive behavior because they say the Ancients had no idea what the sun was, they just felt it was so bright and that’s the reason they were attracted to it and viewed themselves as descendants of it. But in a way this is true, modern science tells us that the source of the energy most lives on this planet reply on to live can ultimately be traced back to the sun. The sun is literally the life-giver for all of us. Similar to a mother who would give her children all that she has gotten. Not only would this establish a connection between the mother and the children in a material sense but more so in a spiritual sense. The Ancients understood this and that’s why they called themselves “the children of the sun”, venerating the sun is nothing stupid or ignorant, they knew what they were doing. It was only until recent times that all these spiritual connections were lost in the society, even if we were born with the seeds of spiritual growth, our spiritual nature is being suppressed ,hidden deep within the depth of our souls and never to be rediscovered. Maybe if people were just willing to think back to their childhood, what they believed back then, there could possibly be a spiritual rebirth on a larger scale. But in today’s society we are brainwashed to believe our existence is completely material, and it’s hard to free our minds from the intoxicating diluted information we’ve been fed throughout our lives…this is the unfortunate reality
Hi Lara,
a great find…not very common to see a celebration like this on national television.
The light captured by the camera during the sun rise was so vibrant…golden and yellow…powerful…amazing…
This is a very nice ceremony indeed! I also love the traditional clothes and the focus of the crowd towards the Sun. The local Aymara hold Pacha Mamma as very sacred too and it is very special that president Evo Morales recognized the old traditions of venerating the Sun as well. It is a testimony that the peoples of Bolivia are still conscious of the importance of the Sun and celebrate its paramount importance.
Hi Bodgan, I’m quite surprised that this was actually being broadcasted live on a national TV, even though it is in a small country. Very few governments in the world recognize the importance of ancient traditions, they may let those people preserve their traditions, but they won’t livestream their ceremonies on TV as they believe it is of no importance. It is really sad our mainstream media is not showing us as much important contents as it should. What the media tells us is a mixture of facts and lies, you can’t take them all in as the truth. They only show what they want us to see, and something like what is shown in the video is clearly not something that the Western media want the general public to take notice.
Hi Emily,
The case in Bolivia was quite special and unique. I have come to know the Bolivian people as quite aware of the ancient stories and the spiritual importance of the Sun for their people of the past. Both Manco Capac, the alleged first founder of the last solar dynasty called the Inca and Evo Morales were from the Aymara culture, and both recognized the importance of the sacred Quechua solar knowledge of the past as a foundation and historical importance of their people. Morales actually put in much effort to transform the Bolivian society to a more fair and stable form of organisation and the Bolivian people have recognized that. It is a pity that he has been forced to leave his country and that special and unique time in which Bolivia revived some of the ancient roots from the highest authorities seems to have been overtaken by other interests.
Hi Bodgan,
I did not know that. This is really sad news. I thought the Bolivian government was still putting in efforts in reviving ancient traditions to this day. If they did then maybe they will have an impact on the rest of the world as well. I bet what you refer to as “other interests” is probably the same thing that other governments in the world are focusing on, which most of them really don’t benefit the world in the long run. Most leaders in the world are power-hungry and they would do whatever they can to stay in power for as long as possible and they may work with the media to promote their altered versions of reality to fool the masses into thinking the world is just like how they tell us to be. They may not openly admit that they are doing it, but that’s what they are doing. And they fight with other countries over money, territory, and resources, which do nothing more than short term political and economic gains. If they spent more time on preserving indigenous culture and ancient traditions they may as well learn something from it and eventually realize what they are doing is wrong. As I am learning more about these different ancient traditions around the world I’ve realized that these traditions have so much to teach us, and they are valuable to people like us in this day and age. Not only do they tell us the truth about our existence, like where we come from and where we’re going but also teach us what is the right way of living. These traditions speak of the laws and order of the universe and how living in accordance to the law and order of the universe is beneficial for us, and just how important it is for us to live in harmony with one another and with nature. And learning to do those things is how our consciousness will evolve. All of this go hand in hand, and you can’t really do one thing without the other. Well, at least people like us are working to spread the message of truth and hopefully some important figures will take notice of that.
Funny to watch the ceremony recorded on a screen through another screen, when I was there at the site just a few days before the solstice! We had asked if there was anything happening but had been told no – maybe we didn’t ask the right person, maybe the ceremony was somehow being guarded from ‘tourists’ (which is understandable!) It’s great to see the site come alive like this and so many people present – I did notice that it seems to be the older generation; I hope the enthusiasm of reviving these ceremonies spreads to the younger soon.
The site was incredible, but I have to say that myself and the friends we were with found the atmosphere there quite heavy and were actually glad to get away after a few days exploring. I can’t put my finger on why and I’m not taking away the personal responsibility and temporary influences that can create this experience. It’s good to see these ceremonies of light happening – if the heaviness was something really externally palpable, then surely these events will help to return the sites to their original sacred use and spiritually uplifting energy.
Looks like a beautiful and powerful ceremony and the sunrise was spectacular.
It’s also wonderful that the event made it on to the TV so that even those not actually present could join in. Hard to imagine that happening with the local media in my country – it’s too busy reporting on all the negative events in the world.
Hi Sue,
Yeah I think today most countries’ medias are not going to take this as anything serious and report it, it would be great if you could go watch this in person. I’m sure it’s going to be a spectacular experience. Too bad the ancient traditions don’t get as much attention as they should be.
Beautiful!
I found other videos in Spanish showing the same celebrations, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bob63LGH-aY.
They refer to the Sun as “Nuestro Padre Sol”, meaning Our Father Sun – beautiful.
Thank you for posting!
Their ceremony is very beautiful — especially the gesture of opening your hands to face the sun as it rises. Would love to see more celebrations like this worldwide as well!
It would be so wonderful to be there. The feeling of veneration for the ancient truths was palpable.
This is so nice to see: hundreds of people becoming engaged in the principles of the religion of the sun, being part of a peaceful celebration. I want to believe that these sorts of public celebrations can happen all over the world…
This might be harder to achieve in some societies that are more materialistic and hostile towards alternative beliefs and ideas… but I know there are many people out there who would be open to these celebrations and who yearn to connect with the wisdom of the past, even if they belong to such societies.
I have had a chance to celebrate Inti Raymi in Cusco a few years ago, it was very spiritually uplifting and rich with symbols… Certainly, a lot of heart in it.
People came from different areas of Peru and other Latino cultures with their dances, costumes, music, the festival was going on for days and nights. It just felt magical to stay there at that time… And the culmination of the holidays with ceremonies and the sacred procession from Coricancha to Saksayuman was really interesting, but a bit overcrowded and some people used it as a chance to make their protest and disturb the event on purpose. But as the area of Cusco is so rich with sacred sites, you can escape the crowds gathered inside the town, and do your own practices or a ceremony in one of numerous sacred sites nearby.
I love the way that the people in the hotel are watching the sunrise moment from the hotel windows. I love the simplicity of the ceremony and it’s majestic setting. I love that the local media (& the government) is on board with the celebration of the sun!!! If only my government would get on board!
I also found it quite magical when the sunrise was happening on television how at virtually the exact time it also started to shine into their hotel, showing this omnipresence or greatness of the sun and its glow warming the earth.
That hotel is about 100m from the site of Tiwanaku, so it’s no coincidence.
That would explain the close timing :-)
This is what I wanted to say as well!