AHC/WI: sun deities considered evil

AFAIK, all ancient religions worshiped the Sun and glorified daylight, while often portraying the night as something evil. What would it take to create some religions that glorify cold weather and night, while vilifying the sun?

Also, how would the world develop if ancient religions were different?
 
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Minus the "ancient" part, OTL - the Chimu people lived in desert regions, and inverted moon/sun imagery
 
Its possible, especially with desert cultures, but in most others the sun is the bringer of light, warmth, growth, life, etc, while the moon is darkness, cold, confusion, etc. So I find it hard that any culture other than a desert one could do it.
 
Its possible, especially with desert cultures, but in most others the sun is the bringer of light, warmth, growth, life, etc, while the moon is darkness, cold, confusion, etc. So I find it hard that any culture other than a desert one could do it.

I've thought about it before, and if you could find a non-agricultural culture that was predominantly using a nocturnal food source, I could see it switching - some sort of ocean-going culture struck me as most likely, as the sun would cause glare on the water, while the night sky is a convenient navigational tool, and if they're mostly pursuing food that is nocturnal for whatever reason (perhaps because of the easier travel), then they don't have a ton of reason to be in favor of a sun-dominated religion.
 

Dirk

Banned
Well, no people can spend all their time aboard a ship. It's just impossible. Necessary vitamins and nutrients, as well as potable water and materials for everyday crafts and ship repair all come from the land (unless this is a fantasy world). To gather these things is impossible at night, where you can't see shit and there are the countless dangers of running into things, tripping and falling, stepping on a snake or in a creature's den, or just plain being eaten by a big predator.

So I can't see night ever equaling good. As for desert people (which is ironic, since desert people and seafarers are the exact opposite), the desert is pretty cold and windy, and still very dry, at night. The only thing that night has going for it is that that's when most animals come out of hiding in the shade to drink and hunt.
 
Well, as noted above, there's some reason to believe that pre-Islamic Arab religion (possibly like other old Semitic beliefs) was somewhat less than enthusiastic about the Sun. However, they didn't have an evil Sun-god as far as I remember.
However, it should be noted that detailed information about pre-Islamic religion isn't exactly abundant (also the Moon-god thing is open to question AFAIK).
 
Well, no people can spend all their time aboard a ship. It's just impossible. Necessary vitamins and nutrients, as well as potable water and materials for everyday crafts and ship repair all come from the land (unless this is a fantasy world). To gather these things is impossible at night, where you can't see shit and there are the countless dangers of running into things, tripping and falling, stepping on a snake or in a creature's den, or just plain being eaten by a big predator.

So I can't see night ever equaling good. As for desert people (which is ironic, since desert people and seafarers are the exact opposite), the desert is pretty cold and windy, and still very dry, at night. The only thing that night has going for it is that that's when most animals come out of hiding in the shade to drink and hunt.
Hot weather in summer can be very evil on people's health. I'm wondering how hot the climate would need to be to make some parts of the ancient world begin to forsake sunlight.
 
Hot weather in summer can be very evil on people's health. I'm wondering how hot the climate would need to be to make some parts of the ancient world begin to forsake sunlight.

Hot enough to provide sunburns even with lots of melanin on the skin?

Deserts also happen to become rather cold at night, so they might produce 2 evil deities - 1 evil, 1 evil moon.
 
Hot enough to provide sunburns even with lots of melanin on the skin?

Deserts also happen to become rather cold at night, so they might produce 2 evil deities - 1 evil, 1 evil moon.
Hot enough to cause disorientation, lethargy, and overall impaired brain function.
 
I believe that the Ancient Egyptians actually had a 'evil' diety that represented the scorching and and overbearing aspects of the Sun, although I would have to look up the name of this god, as I dont know it off hand.
 
Well, no people can spend all their time aboard a ship. It's just impossible. Necessary vitamins and nutrients, as well as potable water and materials for everyday crafts and ship repair all come from the land (unless this is a fantasy world). To gather these things is impossible at night, where you can't see shit and there are the countless dangers of running into things, tripping and falling, stepping on a snake or in a creature's den, or just plain being eaten by a big predator.

So I can't see night ever equaling good. As for desert people (which is ironic, since desert people and seafarers are the exact opposite), the desert is pretty cold and windy, and still very dry, at night. The only thing that night has going for it is that that's when most animals come out of hiding in the shade to drink and hunt.

Nobody said they have to - necessary vitamins and nutrients are completely possible to get exclusively or almost exclusively from oceanic sources, and even neglecting that many of those tasks are quite possible to do at night, a few tasks during the day for practicality is no different than how many groups hunt at night IRL. Especially given that many may not even have big predators.

And desert dwellers and seafarers are hardly the exact opposite. Oceanic-dwelling populations also have to deal with lack of freshwater (and food in certain regions, especially if they're travelling long distances), as well as cold temperatures and glaring sun. Nevermind that the example I gave was of a group that did exactly this and lived in a coastal desert.
 
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