The Germanic tribes at
all times observed natural phenomena with the greatest attention,
borrowed their ethical symbols from nature and used natural objects to
represent their highest values. The change of gender of the supreme
symbol of divinity, the sun, can only be explained by the fact that in
the period of woman-worship the highest value was no longer felt as male
but as female, that secretly a goddess had usurped the place of a god.
Very likely the minnesingers finally fixed the female gender when it had
become problematical, and worshipped the loved woman under the divine
symbol of "Lady Sun."
The great erotic, Heinrich of Morungen, says in one of his poems that
his lady is radiant "as the sun at break of day." And also:
My lady shines into the heart
As through the glass the sun does shine;
Thus the beloved lady mine
Is sweet as May, full of delight,
Unclouded sunshine, golden light.
Mary, who had been called _Maris Stella_, the morning star, gradually
assumed the symbol of the all-conquering sun.
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