Editing Solar deity (section)

=== Gender ===
[[File:Origin of the Cave Door Dance (Amaterasu) by Shunsai Toshimasa 1889.jpg|thumb|left|Goddess [[Amaterasu]]]]
Solar deities are often thought of as male (and [[lunar deity|lunar deities]] as being female) but the opposite has also been the case.{{sfn|Monaghan|2010|pp=xix-xxi}} In [[Germanic mythology]], the Sun is female, and the Moon is male. Other European cultures that have sun goddesses include the [[Lithuanian mythology|Lithuanians]] ([[Saulė]]) and [[Latvian mythology|Latvians]] (Saule), the [[Finnish mythology|Finns]] ([[Päivätär]], [[Beiwe]]) and the related [[Hungarian mythology|Hungarians]]. Sun goddesses are found around the world in Australia ([[Bila (deity)|Bila]], [[Wala (deity)|Wala]]); in [[Indian tribal religions]] (Bisal-[[Mariamma]], [[Donyi-Polo#Theology and cosmology|Bomong]], [[Khasi people#Religion|'Ka Sgni]]) and Sri Lanka ([[Pattini]]); among the [[Hittite mythology and religion|Hittites]] ([[Wurusemu]]), Berbers ([[Tafukt]]), Egyptians ([[Hathor]], [[Sekhmet]]), and [[Canaanite religion|Canaanites]] ([[Shapash]]); in the Canary Islands ([[Chaxiraxi]], [[Magec]]); in Native America, among the [[Cherokee spiritual beliefs|Cherokee]] ([[Cherokee mythology|Unelanuhi]]), Natchez (Oüa Chill/Uwahci∙ł), [[Inuit religion|Inuit]] ([[Sun and Moon (Inuit myth)|Siqiniq]]), and [[Miwok mythology|Miwok]] ([[Miwok mythology|He'-koo-lās]]); and in Asia among the [[Japanese mythology|Japanese]] ([[Amaterasu]]).{{sfn|Monaghan|2010|pp=xix-xxi}}

The [[cobra]] (of Pharaoh, son of Ra), the [[lion]]ess (daughter of Ra), and the [[cow]] (daughter of Ra), are the dominant symbols of the most ancient Egyptian deities. They were female and carried their relationship to the sun atop their heads, and their cults remained active throughout the history of the culture. Later another sun god ([[Aten]]) was established in the [[eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|eighteenth dynasty]] on top of the other solar deities, before the "aberration" was stamped out and the old pantheon re-established. When male deities became associated with the sun in that culture, they began as the offspring of a mother (except Ra, King of the Gods who gave birth to himself).{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}