Nature-Worship and Sun-Worship in Idolatry
Nature-worship.—Nature-worship, of which sun-worship is the chief, permeated all forms of idolatry in all countries. For instance, a mummy found in a cave of the old-time Cliff-dwellers is now preserved in the Peabody Museum, at Cambridge, Mass. The account, which we clip from an exchange, says:— “It is a baby so perfectly desiccated as to be almost lifelike. Even the eyes are intact. The child is fastened to a board cradle, and on its breast is laid an ear of corn. This last point is particularly interesting. Among the Moqui Indians of to-day, who are descendants of the Cliff-dwellers, every infant is dedicated to the rising sun when it is twenty days old, an ear of corn being used in the ceremony as a symbol of life.”