dicite “tu nobis lucem, Lucina, dedisti”:

dicite “tu voto parturientis ades.”

(Ovid, Fasti, III, 255/256)

THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUN AND THE MOON ON THE LIFE

OF NEOLITHIC COMMUNITIES

Iharka SZÜCS-CSILLIK
Institutul Astronomic al Academiei Române
iharka@gmail.com
Ioana BĂDOCAN
Cluj-Napoca
zoiamaxim@yahoo.fr

Influența Soarelui și a Lunii asupra vieții comunităților neolitice

Pământul face parte din sistemului solar, precum și din univers. Aceștia influențează Pământul.
Corpul ceresc cel mai apropiat e Luna, care are o forță perturbatoare majoră asupra Pământului.
Corpul central din Sistemul nostru solar este steaua Soarele, conținând 99% din întreaga masă
a sistemului solar. Soarele are cel mai mare efect asupra Pământului. Fără Soare nu am avea
viață, iar fără Lună nu ar fi evoluat treptat viața pe Pământ în forma actuală. Soarele și Luna au
cea mai mare influență asupra Pământului, astfel și asupra vieții pe Pământ. Contribuind la
dezvoltarea și susținerea vieții pământești, strămoșii noștrii din neolitic venerau Soarele și Luna.
Mai mult, societățile neolitice au dezvoltat calendare solare și lunare pentru a prezice și
reglementa ciclurile economice și rituale. Controlul predictiv al schimbărilor sezoniere permite
o predicție mai precisă a momentelor critice ale perioadelor ciclice și fazelor de vegetație ale
plantelor, inclusiv momentele adecvate pentru plantare și recoltare. Această lucrare prezintă
influența Soarelui și a Lunii asupra vieții unor comunități neolitice de pe teritoriul României.
Keywords: Arheoastronomie, neolitic, Soare, Lună, calendar agrar/Archaeoastronomy,
Neolithic, Sun, Moon, agrarian calendar
Abstract: Earth is part of the solar system, as well as the universe. They influence the Earth.
The nearest celestial body is the Moon, which has a major disturbing force on the Earth. The
central body in our Solar System is the Sun star, containing 99% of the entire mass of the Solar
System. The Sun has the greatest effect on the Earth. Without the Sun, we would not have life,
and without the Moon, life on Earth would not have gradually evolved in its current form. The
Sun and the Moon have the greatest influence on the Earth, thus also on life on Earth.
Contributing to the development and support of earthly life, our Neolithic ancestors worshipped
the Sun and the Moon. Furthermore, Neolithic societies developed solar and lunar calendars to
predict and regulate economic and ritual cycles. Predictive control of seasonal changes enables
a more accurate prediction of critical moments in plant cycle periods and vegetation phases,
including the appropriate times for planting and harvesting. This work presents the influence of
the Sun and the Moon on the life of some Neolithic communities on the territory of Romania.
 Neolithic people worshipped the Sun, the Moon on which their harvest and provision
depended. The idea of fertility developed among them and grew into a cult, and female fertility
was associated to it. Women became responsible for the abundance of harvests because they
knew the “mystery” of creation. The connection between humans and gods was made by
priestesses. In order to appease the gods, these sacred women performed various rites.
The Sun, the Day Resurrector, rises every morning and dies in each evening, reflecting
the eternal return of life after a temporary death. Even from the most ancient times, man created
a system of habits that imitated the movement of the solar disk, so that it follows its usual
course, because the Sun is the source of light, heat and life. In Northern and Central European
Neolithic cultures, the summer solstice may have been related to timings of crop cycles. It was
typically marked by lighting bonfires, intended to boost the Sun’s strength for the remainder of
the crop season and ensure a healthy harvest. Midsummer was seen as a time when the normal
laws of nature or divinity could be suspended, when spirits and fairies could contact humans,
when humans could exceed the usual limitations of their world. In Romanian traditions the
solstice and equinoxes are benchmarks for the organization of community life: agrarian rituals,
the calendar of holidays and work. In Romanian belief the Sun is the “Saint Sun” as in famous
Romanian legends: The legend of the lark, The legend of the Sunflower, The legend of the
Chicory (Legendele, 1994; Brill, 2006).
The Moon, the Night Owner, fascinated over time almost all civilizations on Earth. It is
the one that strongly shines in the night, driving back the darkness. The changing appearance
of the Moon in its multitude of phases has raised the interest and imagination since ancient
times and has influenced the perception of time and space.
The Sun and the Moon was the base of calendar making, of cosmological mythology,
oral and visual artistic creation. Sun and Moon signs and symbols were preserved in the
Romanian people’s traditions and customs (Szücs-Csillik, Maxim, 2015).
Following this, let us mention essential details about Sun and Moon from astronomical
point of view. The Sun is a yellow dwarf star, a hot ball of glowing gases in the middle of our
Solar System. Its gravity holds everything from the planets to debris in its orbit. The Sun has
inspired us since ancient times. It’s central to mythology and religion in cultures around the
world (Gimbutas 1974; Maxim, Szücs-Csillik, 2010; Kerod, 2020).
The Sun is the element around which the first mythological forms of explaining life
were born. The Sun gods become either creators of the universe or gods of the first rank. The
heliocentric cosmological model was formed around the Sun, time was organized and
measured. The solstices and equinoxes become benchmarks in the organization of life, in
agrarian rites, or in fixing the holidays over the year.
The Sun is, first and foremost, the source of light. The Sun gives life, and at the same
time makes things manifest. The Sun appears on Neolithic objects, altars as a symbol of light
and fire (Fig. 1). The circle represents the Sun, and the spiral is the divine, or solar, energy
descending to the Earth. It is a “prayer”, a request to the divinity (represented by the symbol of
the Sun) to send light and blessing into the home. On the vessel from Drăguşeni (Fig. 1) is the
Sun itself, rendered with rays arranged around it. The rays are rendered, in plastic
representations, to suggest the luminous emanation that starts from a center and appear not only
around the Sun, but also around some beings considered holy. This emanation, which is
sometimes rendered through a halo, has the power to warm, fertilize, transform material
energies, or transmit spiritual ones (Bădocan, 2011).

Fig. 1. Basket bowl, Drăguşeni–Ostrov, Cucuteni culture (Lazarovici, 2009).

Additional, Szücs-Csillik also mentions the protruding central hemisphere of the vessel.
Since the middle part of the spiral is also the middle part of the vessel1, the hemisphere
surrounded by two arches looks like a protected primordial egg (above-below, heaven-earth),
surrounded by a spiraling snake, which also protects the egg and the vessel. The meander-spiral
movement of the snake is considered a sign of eternal evolution. The snake’s life circle is
strange, half a year under the Earth, and half a year at level with the ground. The snake
symbolizes a cord between two unknown world underground and heaven (axis-mundi). In
agriculture the snake appearance has a positive (to cure, messenger) and negative (poison, dead)
meaning too (Maxim, Szücs-Csillik, 2003; Csillik, Maxim, 2005). Therefore, the Drăguşeni
vessel may have contained sacred seeds or holy water, which was protected and used in
agricultural fertility rituals.

Fig. 2. Anthropomorph statuette, Scânteia, Cucuteni culture (Lazarovici, 2009).

1
The Sun as the center of the Solar System, the creator.
 Another particularly interesting Neolithic representation of the Sun is the
anthropomorphic statuette from Scânteia (Fig. 2). It is unique in the Cucuteni culture. The idol
is represented with the raising hands in worship and has on its belly and right arm a series of
signs and symbols in which we recognize the sacred house, the Sun with rays and the Moon.
The Moon (sign “D”) is also displayed on the left arm, which symbolizes the feminine. Raising
hands in worship is the gesture of prayer through which divine grace is invoked. The sacred
house is the abode of the one divinity and is represented above the Sun and Moon to represent
the fact that it is the terminus of the Universe. It is a cult object meant to attract the divine
blessing, the light (represented by the Sun) on the house or the place of worship (Bădocan,
2011). Moreover, Szücs-Csillik believe that triangle shape from the Scânteia anthropomorphic
priest corresponds to the three mean periods of the Sun-day, namely sunrise, noon and sunset.
The Great Goddesses and the Taurus God, indicate cults related to fertility and
fecundity, combined with a solar calendar. The Taurus seed is fertilized by the sunlight released
by the Sun-Moon pair from Parța shrine (Lazarovici 2006). The astronomical orientation of the
Parța Neolithic shrine shows clearly the yearly Sun cycle and the lunar phases (Csillik et al.
2001; Lazarovici et al., 2002, Szücs-Csillik and Maxim, 2017). The Moon as a feminine
principle is associated with fertility, the growth of vegetation and the renewal of nature. On the
western wall of the Parţa Sanctuary, Banat culture, the Moon appears in the shape of a sickle
(lunar phase), glued to the round hole representing the Sun (Fig. 3). The Moon forms together
with the round opening, the Sun - Moon couple. An adobe cup was placed under it, and below
and to the south a grinder, mounted in clay. These four elements were part of the same complex,
demonstrating the existence of cultic grinding and the bringing of grain offerings (Lazarovici
2006).
The Sun also symbolizes the “center” because it is in the middle of the sky. A large part
of the traditional Romanian dances has a solar character. In our popular culture, many children's
games are based on this principle, but the most obvious is the hora dance (Evseev, 1994;
Maxim, Szücs-Csillik, 2009). The Sun in Romanian traditions was also the symbol of returning
to life after a temporary death (every night).

Fig. 3. Parța, Neolithic Sanctuary, Banat culture.

 As we well-know today, the Sun - the only star in our Solar System represents more
than 99% of the total mass of the Solar System; the Earth orbits the Sun; the Moon orbits the
Earth; the Moon doesn’t shine on its own, it reflects sunlight. The revolution of the Moon
around the Earth causes the Moon to appear to have phases. Just how much of that light we can
see from Earth varies every day, and we refer to this as a lunar phase.
The lunar month is the 29.5 days it takes to go from one New Moon to the next. During
the lunar month, the Moon goes through all its phases. Waxing means the Moon is „growing”.
If the Moon is getting bright from the right it is waxing. Waning means the Moon is „shrinking”.
If the Moon is dark on the right it is waning. Exists a Romanian tale, which tells that the Moon
is lying. Because when is waxing (Crește) have a D form and when it waning (Descrește) have
a C form.
There are two high tides and two low tides each day. Tides are caused by the pull of
both the Moon’s gravity and the Sun’s gravity on the Earth. The Moon has 70% effect on the
tides and the Sun has a 30% effect on the tides. Changes in the positions of the Earth, Sun and
Moon affect the height of the tides throughout the month. During Full Moon and New Moon,
the Earth, the Sun and the Moon are nearly aligned in a straight line. This occurs twice in a
month. The gravitational pull of the Sun is supplemented with the gravitational pull of the Moon
on Earth, causing the oceans to bulge a little more than usual. Consequently, in this moments,
hight tides are a little higher, and the low tides are a little lower than average. Spring tide is a
tide just after a New or Full Moon, when there is the greatest difference between high and low
water. Seven days after the spring tide, the Sun and the Moon are at right angles to each other
and produce neap tides. Neap tides occur twice each month, the first and third quarter Moon.
In this case, the bulge of the ocean caused by the Sun partially cancels out the bulge of the
ocean caused by the Moon. This produce moderate tides meaning that high tides are a little
lower and low tides are a little higher than average.
For hunter-gatherers the observation of the Moon’s cycle would have been fundamental
for hunter-gatherers to organize hunting groups at Full Moons nights; to the knowledge of tides,
in order to cross rivers or collect sea food; and for observation of women fertility cycles and
pregnancy duration (Aveni 1993; Oliveira, 2009; Merlini, 2009).
All planets, including Earth, more or less orbit around the Sun on the same imaginary
plane, known as the ecliptic. Consequently, they sometimes meet in the sky. Venus, the third
brightest object in the night sky, after the Sun and the Moon, can often be found next to the
Crescent Moon. When it is seen in the evenings, as the evening star, it is close to the Waxing
Moon. When seen in the mornings, as the morning star, it is close to the Waning Moon. (See
Moon-Sun or Moon-Venus sign at Parța sanctuary, east entrance column, Lazarovici et al. 2002;
Csillik et al. 1999; Szücs-Csillik, Maxim, 2013). During Full or New Moons, the Earth, Sun
and Moon are nearly in a straight line. This occurs twice each month, and in these positions, we
could see solar or lunar eclipses.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, obscuring
Earth's view of the Sun, totally or partially. This alignment coincides with New Moon. In a total
eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon, and in a partial or annular eclipses
only part of the Sun is obscured. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves behind the Earth.
This can occur only when the Sun and the Moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth
between the other two. This can happen of a Full Moon (Csillik et al. 1999).
 In the Neolithic age, the cult of the lunar deity was widespread in the vast geographical
area of Europe, including Romania. The Moon was worshiped in the Neolithic (Mailland,
Magnotta, 2016). Our ancestors made an analogy between the lunar cycle and the life cycle.
The cycle of crescent Moon, waxing Moon, Full Moon, waning Moon and New Moon was a
symbol of life from birth, infancy, adulthood and old age to death. The crescent Moon that
appeared after the New Moon was also a symbol of life after death. By Romanian mythology,
the crescent Moon in the growth phase, like the bull's horns, is the fecundating principle of
Heaven, the masculine (Crai Nou). But the Full Moon was considered feminine, Virgin Mary
(Fecioara Maria). Moon in the Romanian traditions is the patroness of love, weddings,
fecundity, birth and growth (Chelcea 1987; Ghinoiu 1994; Niculiță, 1998). The popular belief
was that a child who born when the Moon is waxing in the sky will have an increase in
everything in his life (Pamfile, 1915; Vulcănescu 1987; Olinescu 2001; Otescu, 2002; Ghinoiu
2006).
In agricultural societies, the worship of the Moon as a protector of fertility began very
early. Symbol of wealth, for Romanians, at the New Moon money is shown or food is offered.
Field work is regulated according to the cycles of the Moon. The hay is cut after the New Moon
has passed. Sowing is done according to the phases of waxing or waning of the Moon; thus, the
crops that grow above the ground, as they are cereals are planted at the New Moon, and those
that grow in the ground, such as potatoes, are sow on the Full Moon. In order to be fruitful, the
trees are planted and grafted on the New Moon (Ghinoiu 1997).
At the beginning, the divine Great Mother was Gaia (the Earth), and later on she was
identified with the Moon. The Moon is well known throughout the cultures as the main
manifestation of the Goddess (Gimbutas, 1974). In the prehistory of Europe, the Moon was
always considered a feminine symbol, the fertility goddess who presided over birth and lit the
night. Based on the findings were realized that the Moon is related to fertility and life. The cult
of the divine Great Mother spread throughout Europe and remained a supernatural reference
being for fertility.

Fig. 4. Lunar phases.

The Moon cycle (Fig. 4): from Waxing Crescent Moon through First Quarter and
Waxing Gibbous to Full Moon, and to Waning Gibbous through Third Quarter and Waning
Crescent to New Moon, is a common motif in European prehistoric cultures in Romania
sometimes have snakelike shapes. According to Gimbutas (2001), these shapes have from 14
to 17 turnings - the number of days of crescent Moon. After two weeks (14 days) it is considered
Full Moon (for 3 days) and on the 17th day from New Moon it starts to vanish. The longest
tortuous snakes present up to 30 turnings, the closest possible to the 29.5 days of the lunar
month. The Moon and its phase engravings on stone, bone or horn, sometimes on pottery were
found in the whole of Europa (Lazarovici, 2009). At the last, the Moon united the cycles of
human existence with cosmic ones.

Fig. 5. a. Cucuteni biconical vessel with lunar phases, Şipeniţ, 3700-3500 BC; b.
Representation of bull horns and a cross in Cucuteni culture pottery.
The identity of the Moon goddess with the Great Mother with her female and generative
features is captivating. It is evident how much early people believed in the connection between
the Moon and the Mother Goddess due to her influence on the lunar cycle, birth and fertility, a
connection coming from long ago from prehistory and ascribed to the Moon goddess, who made
a sort of day in the night-time. She is invoked to assist at the birth of children, because the
period of gestation is either occasionally seven, or more usually nine, lunar revolutions, and
these are called menses (months), because they cover measured spaces.
Two individual vessels from Cucuteni culture, namely the biconical vessel from Şipeniţ
and the bull horns with cross pottery contains the lunar phases symbols (Fig. 5a), and solar
symbol also (Fig. 5b). The Sun cross, also called solar cross, sun wheel or wheel cross, is one
of the oldest symbols, dating back to prehistoric cultures. It has been found around the world
and holds different interpretations to various cultures. The belief was that the symbol
represented the chariot wheel of the Sun god. Ancient kings in Egypt and elsewhere used this
symbol as they saw it as representing the highest power, the Sun. It represents the wheel, the
cycle in moving, which gave power, strength and mobility to people and society.
The statuette from Turdaş (Fig. 6) representing the Moon Goddess is shown with a halo
around the head, containing 13 signs, and on the chest, it has the “psi” sign.
 Fig. 6. Turdaş, Moon Goddess, Turdaş culture (Maxim et al. 2009)

Number 13 (on the halo of the Moon Goddess from Turdaş) is related to the lunar
calendar. The lunar calendar is based on the lunar phases and is unrelated to the apparent
movement of the Sun. In the lunar calendar, the first day of the calendar month corresponds to
the New Moon (the beginning of the first Moon phase in the sky). A lunar cycle has 28 days,
and included in the solar year of 365 days, results in 13 months. The earliest calendars were
lunar, because lunar periods are shorter and easier to follow than the movement of the Sun.
The Moon phase determine many of the ritual practices of the Romanians. The
appearance of the New Moon established the moment of new beginnings, important starts, new
projects and initiatives. The appearance of the New Moon (“Crai Nou”), after the spring
equinox, marks the auspicious moment for putting seeds in the ground, thus for fecundity. The
Full Moon is the most loaded with symbolism, considering that the spirits of nature are more
active: the elves danced their dances, or the spirits of the waters came out of the depths. Certain
medicinal plants were harvested by moonlight, and a child born on a Full Moon was considered
lucky (Evseev 1994).

Fig. 7. Four seasons, Drăguşeni, Cucuteni culture (Dumitrescu 1979)

Another cult object (Fig. 7) from Cucuteni culture is a cover of a vessel with a circle
divided into 4 parts by 4 bichrome lines each, suggesting the seasons, the Moon phases, the
cardinal points, etc. The cross in its various shapes and forms was a symbol of various beliefs.
In ancient times, a cross was set up in the fields to protect the crops. Speculation has associated
the cross symbol with astronomical or cosmological symbology involving four elements or
cardinal elements, or the unity of a vertical axis mundi or celestial pole with the horizontal
world (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 1995; Koch, 1955; Comșa, Szücs-Csillik, 2017).
Furthermore, figurines have been considered as the basis for research into the prehistoric
social order and religious ideas. They are the reflection of adoration of Mother Goddess and
fertility cults. In Poduri - Dealul Ghindaru there were 13 larger painted female statues sitting
on chairs, 2 without a chair and 6 smaller non-painted female statuettes. Described sets of
anthropomorphic statuettes are undoubtedly related to ritual activities apparently to the cult of
fertility and fruitfulness of the Neolithic farmers.

Fig. 8. Poduri – Dealul Ghindaru, Romania. Sets of anthropomorphic statuettes (pre-Cucuteni

phase, 4900-4750 BC).

The author Szücs-Csillik thinks that the sets of anthropomorphic statuettes from Poduri-
Dealul Ghindaru represented a calendar, a repetitive cycle. The number 13 is the New Moon
number in a year, and also the month number in a year. We note that on the ecliptic has 13
zodiacal constellations (one year). The number 6 was the number of the days in a week. The
number 2 shows the turning-adding points.

With sedentarisation man enhances the cyclic variations of the celestial bodies in their
relation to the territory, in particular with the horizon (Szücs-Csillik, Maxim, 2021). For
Neolithic farmers the “yearly” cycle acquires a decisive significance associated to the
reappearance of vegetation, a vital element for survival.
Man may have associated agriculture to the lunar rhythms, to the land‘s fertility and to
rain, the guarantee of fertility. However, the Sun acquired by then a dominant role in the
agricultural cycle signalling both the proper times for sowing and cropping and the availability
of food for the domesticated animals. The cycle’s concept leads then to the awareness of
regularities in the sky and of their correlation with land regularities dominating “monthly” and
“yearly” activities, thus structuring a calendar where the Spring, and specially the Spring Full
Moon, or the first crescent, did signal the beginning of the New Year, when proper festivities
were necessary to assure regeneration, fertility and the perpetuation of the cycle (Szücs-Csillik,
Maxim, 2015a).
Making a calendar is equivalent to organizing time and finding a balance (Olteanu,
2000). The solar calendar is based on the apparent movement of the Sun, following the
correlation of its movement with the seasons. Such a calendar was used by the ancient
Egyptians. It consisted of 12 months of 30 days each, to which 5 days were added at the end of
the year, resulting in 365 days.
A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the lunar phase (synodic
months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly
on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gregorian calendar, is a solar calendar
system that originally evolved out of a lunar calendar system. A purely lunar calendar is also
distinguished from a lunisolar calendar, whose lunar months are brought into alignment with
the solar year through some process of intercalation. Lunar calendars preceded solar ones. "The
life of the Moon is closer to man than the majestic glory of the Sun" (Eliade, 1943).
Since each lunation is approximately 29 days and a half day, it is common for the months
of a lunar calendar to alternate between 29 and 30 days. Since the period of 12 such lunations,
a lunar year is 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 34 seconds (354.36707 days). Purely lunar
calendars are 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year. In the Islamic calendar, the lunar months
cycle through all the seasons of a solar year are over the course of a 33-34 lunar-year cycle.
Although the Gregorian calendar is in common and legal use in most countries,
traditional lunar and lunisolar calendars continue to be used throughout the world to determine
religious festivals and national holidays.
One of the Romanian legends tells us that the Sun and the Moon were actually brothers.
When the time comes for the Sun to set, it is said that he would have descended from the
heavenly vault to the Earth to look for his chosen one. But as long as the Sun was on Earth,
darkness reigned everywhere. The Sun roamed the Earth but did not find the right girl, but he
fell in love with his sister, Luna – The Moon. Their mother, seeing this and to avoid incest, took
their hands and cursed them: “May you see each other day and night, but may you always be
separated.” This is how it happens that, although the Sun and the Moon are permanently in the
sky and can look at each other, they can never meet.

In other cultures, Luna is a girl who fell in love with the Sun, a handsome lad who didn't
like her. And as the Moon insisted on believing in the story of this love story, the Sun threw
dung on her face. This is how the Moon came to have spots.

The Romanian people seem to have been tireless in creating legends to explain the
existence of the Sun and the Moon. It is thus said that the Sun is summer - woman and winter -
man or that the Sun and the Moon are two young people who are getting married, and the stars
are their children. The Romanians thus created myths related to the Sun and the Moon, which
they translated into verses and ballads. Other culture also created tales and myths, some of them
can we found described by Krupp (1991) and Kerod (2020).

Consequently, the Sun and the Moon was the base of calendar making, and Neolithic
people worshipped the Sun and the Moon as deity on which their harvest and provision
depended. The observation and understanding of their motion on the celestial vault were crucial
for establishing important moments in the agrarian calendar. This manuscript includes some
heritage from the Neolithic, in conjunction with Romanian popular beliefs, Romanian
traditional agrarian customs, as well as the scientific aspects of the Sun and the Moon.
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Figures

Fig. 1. Basket bowl, Drăguşeni–Ostrov, Cucuteni culture (Lazarovici, 2009).

Fig. 2. Anthropomorph statuette, Scânteia, Cucuteni culture (Lazarovici, 2009).
Fig. 3. Parța, Neolithic Sanctuary, Banat culture.
Fig. 4. Lunar phases.
Fig. 5. a. Cucuteni biconical vessel with lunar phases, Şipeniţ, 3700-3500 BC; b.
Representation of bull horns and a cross in Cucuteni culture pottery.
Fig. 6. Turdaş, Moon Goddess, Turdaş culture (Maxim et al. 2009)
Fig. 7. Four seasons, Drăguşeni, Cucuteni culture (Dumitrescu 1979)
Fig. 8. Poduri – Dealul Ghindaru, Romania. Sets of anthropomorphic statuettes (pre-Cucuteni
phase, 4900-4750 BC).