"The children of the Sun and Moon are the gardens"-How people, plants, and a living Sun shape life on Tanna, Vanuatu.

ABSTRACT: Based on original ethnographic and ethnobotanical research, we share how in the cosmology of Tanna, an island in Vanuatu's southernmost province of Tafea, the Sun is viewed as a living, interactive being. Our initial interviews explored knowledge and beliefs concerning individual plant species, then subsequent follow-up interviews further explored topics that emerged therefrom. The results of these interviews are a series of oral narratives of the mytho-historical past involving the Sun, and the description of contemporary practices which are influenced by the Sun. In traditional narratives, the Sun is both a creative and destructive force which is sometimes viewed as an active, personified character, and in other circumstances appears as an instrument created and utilized by greater power

SUBMITTER: Balick MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11578460 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature