Lunar deity
Encyclopedia
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
, a lunar deity is a god
God (male deity)
A god, as a male deity, contrasts with female deities, or "goddesses". While the term 'goddess' specifically refers to a female deity, the plural 'gods' can be applied to all gods collectively, regardless of gender....
or goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
associated with or symbolizing the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related to or an enemy of the solar deity
Solar deity
A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms...
. Even though they may be related, they are distinct from the solar deity. Lunar deities can be either male or female, and are usually held to be of the opposite sex of the corresponding solar deity. Male lunar deities are somewhat more common worldwide, although female deities are better known in modern times due to the influence of classical Greek and Roman mythology, which held the moon to be female.
Moon in mythology
The monthly cycle of the moon, in contrast to the annual cycle of the sun's path, has been implicitly linked to women's menstrual cycleMenstrual cycle
The menstrual cycle is the scientific term for the physiological changes that can occur in fertile women for the purpose of sexual reproduction. This article focuses on the human menstrual cycle....
s by many cultures, as evident in the links between the words for menstruation and for moon in many resultant
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
languages. Many of the most well-known mythologies feature female lunar deities, such as the Greek goddesses Selene
Selene
In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
and Phoebe
Phoebe (mythology)
In Greek mythology "radiant" Phoebe , was one of the original Titans, who were one set of sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia. She was traditionally associated with the moon , as in Michael Drayton's Endimion and Phœbe, , the first extended treatment of the Endymion myth in English...
and their Olympian successor Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
, their Roman equivalents Luna and Diana, Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
of the Egyptians, or the Thracian
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
Bendis
Bendis
Bendis was a Thracian goddess of the moon and the hunt whom the Greeks identified with Artemis. She was a huntress, like Artemis, but was accompanied by dancing satyrs and maenads on a fifth century red-figure stemless cup ....
. These cultures also almost invariably featured a male Sun god
Solar deity
A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms...
.
Male lunar gods are also frequent, such as Nanna
Sin (mythology)
Sin or Nanna was the god of the moon in Mesopotamian mythology. Nanna is a Sumerian deity, the son of Enlil and Ninlil, and became identified with Semitic Sin. The two chief seats of Nanna's/Sin's worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north.- Name :The original meaning of...
or Sin
Sin (mythology)
Sin or Nanna was the god of the moon in Mesopotamian mythology. Nanna is a Sumerian deity, the son of Enlil and Ninlil, and became identified with Semitic Sin. The two chief seats of Nanna's/Sin's worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north.- Name :The original meaning of...
of the Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
ns, Mani
Mani (god)
In Norse mythology, Máni is the moon personified. Máni, personified, is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
of the Germanic tribes, the Japanese god Tsukuyomi, Rahko
Finnish mythology
Finnish mythology is the mythology that went with Finnish paganism which was practised by the Finnish people prior to Christianisation. It has many features shared with fellow Finnic Estonian mythology and its non-Finnic neighbours, the Balts and the Scandinavians...
of Finns and Tecciztecatl
Tecciztecatl
In Aztec mythology, Tecciztecatl was a lunar deity, representing the old "man-in-the-moon". He could have been the sun god, but he feared the sun's fire, so Nanahuatzin became the sun god and Tecciztecatl was promptly thrown into the moon...
of the Aztecs. These cultures usually featured female Sun goddesses
Solar deity
A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms...
. There are also many lunar deities that were prevalent in Grecian and Egyptian civilizations. For example, Ibis, Chonsu of Thebes were both lunar deities. Thoth was also a lunar deity, but his character is considerably more complex than Ibis and Chonsu.
The bull was lunar in Mesopotamia (its horns representing the crescent). See Bull (mythology)
Bull (mythology)
The worship of the Sacred Bull throughout the ancient world is most familiar to the Western world in the biblical episode of the idol of the Golden Calf. The Golden Calf after being made by the Hebrew people in the wilderness of Sinai, were rejected and destroyed by Moses and his tribe after his...
and compare Hubal
Hubal
Hubal was a god worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia, notably at the Kaaba in Mecca.-Hubal in Mecca:Hubal most prominently appears at Mecca, where an image of his was worshipped at the Kaaba. According to Karen Armstrong, the sanctuary was dedicated to Hubal, who was worshipped as the greatest of the...
. In the Hellenistic-Roman rites of Mithras, the bull is prominent, with astral significance, but with no explicit connection to the moon.
Also of significance is that many religions and societies are orientated chronologically by the Moon as opposed to the sun. One common example is Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
in which the word Chandra
Chandra
In Hinduism, Chandra is a lunar deity and a Graha. Chandra is also identified with the Vedic Lunar deity Soma . The Soma name refers particularly to the juice of sap in the plants and thus makes the Moon the lord of plants and vegetation. He is described as young, beautiful, fair; two-armed and...
means Moon and has religious significance during many Hindu festival(e.g. Karwa Chauth
Karwa Chauth
Karva Chauth is an annual one-day festival celebrated by Hindu and some Sikh women in North India and parts of Pakistan in which married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands...
,Sankasht Chaturthi, and during the eclipses).
The moon is also worshipped in witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
, both in its modern form, and in Medieval times, for example, in the cult of Madonna Oriente
Madonna Oriente
Madonna Oriente or Signora Oriente ', also known as La Signora del Gioco ', are names of an alleged religious figure, as described by two Italian women who were executed by the Inquisition in 1390 as witches.The story which they are reported to have told is an elaborate and fantastical tale of...
.
While many Neopagan authors and feminist scholars claim that there was an original Great Goddess
Great Goddess
Great Goddess refers to the concept of an almighty goddess, or to the concept of a mother goddess, including:*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Latin Magna Dea*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Sanskrit Mahadevi, the Shakti sum of all goddesses...
in prehistoric cultures that was linked to the moon and formed the basis of later religions, the Great Goddess figure is highly speculative and not a proven concept. It is more likely that, if existent, the Great Goddess is based upon earth goddesses, such as Gaea
Gaia (mythology)
Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...
of the Greeks. It may be noted that most of the oldest civilizations mentioned above had male lunar deities, and it was only later cultures — the classical ones most people are familiar with — that featured strong female moon goddesses.
The purported influence of the moon in human affairs remains a feature of astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
.
The moon also features prominently in art and literature
Moon in art and literature
The Moon has been the subject of many works of art and literature and the inspiration for countless others. It is a motif in the visual arts, the performing arts, poetry, prose and music.-Literary:...
.
Ancient Near East
- AglibolAglibolAglibôl was a lunar deity in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. His name means "Calf of Bel" .Aglibôl is depicted with a lunar halo decorating his head and sometimes his shoulders, and one of his attributes is the sickle moon....
(Palmarene mythology) - Jarih (Canaanite mythology)
- KaskuhKaskuhIn Hittite mythology, Kaskuh was the god of the Moon. The Luwian peoples called him Arma. In carvings he is depicted as winged and wearing a hat crowned with a crescent Moon. He is identified with the Hurrian god Kusuh....
(Hittite mythologyHittite mythologyMost of the narratives embodying Hittite mythology are lost, and the elements that would give a balanced view of Hittite religion are lacking among the tablets recovered at the Hittite capital Hattusa and other Hittite sites: "there are no canonical scriptures, no theological disquisitions or...
) - KusuhKusuhThe Hurrian moon-god. His holy number is 30. Kusuh has been identified with the Hittite god Kaskuh....
(Hurrian mythology) - MahMah' or ' is the Avestan language word for both the moon and for the Zoroastrian divinity that presides over and is the hypostasis of the moon....
(Persian mythologyPersian mythologyPersian mythology are traditional tales and stories of ancient origin, some involving extraordinary or supernatural beings. Drawn from the legendary past of the Iranian cultural continent which especially consists of the state of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, they reflect the...
) - MenMen (god)Men was a god worshipped in the western interior parts of Anatolia.The roots of the Men cult may go back to Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC. Ancient writers describe Men as a local god of the Phrygians....
(Phrygian mythology) - NannaSin (mythology)Sin or Nanna was the god of the moon in Mesopotamian mythology. Nanna is a Sumerian deity, the son of Enlil and Ninlil, and became identified with Semitic Sin. The two chief seats of Nanna's/Sin's worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north.- Name :The original meaning of...
(Sumerian mythology) - NapirNapirNapir was the Elamite god of the moon. An Elamite king of the early second millennium BC was named Indattu-Napir in his honor....
(Elamite mythology) - NikkalNikkalStanislas Marie Adélaïde, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre was a French politician.-Early life and career:Born in Pont-a-Mousson, in what is today the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France...
(Canaanite mythology) - SelardiSelardiSelardi is a lunar goddess of Urartu. She is counterpart to the Babylonian moon god, Sin. Nicholas Adontz theorizes that "Sielardi" name is derived from "Siela," meaning "woman" or "Sister," and "Ardi" which means sun. He states that in the ancient east, the moon had been considered the sister of...
(Urartian mythology) - SinSin (mythology)Sin or Nanna was the god of the moon in Mesopotamian mythology. Nanna is a Sumerian deity, the son of Enlil and Ninlil, and became identified with Semitic Sin. The two chief seats of Nanna's/Sin's worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north.- Name :The original meaning of...
(Mesopotamian mythology) - Ta'labTa'labA god worshipped in pre-Islamic southern Arabia, particularly in Sheba. Ta'lab was the moon god. His oracle was consulted for advice....
(Arabian mythology) - WaddWaddWadd "Love, Friendship", known variously as Ilumquh, ʻAmm and Sīn, was the Minaean moon god. Snakes were believed to be sacred to Wadd. He is mentioned in the Qur'ān as a deity of the time of the Prophet Noah....
(Arabian mythology)
European
- AbnobaAbnobaAbnoba is a Gaulish goddess who was worshipped in the Black Forest and surrounding areas. She has been interpreted to be a forest and river goddess, and is known from about nine epigraphic inscriptions...
(Celtic mythology) - AphroditusAphroditusAphroditus or Aphroditos was a male Aphrodite originating from Amathus on the island of Cyprus and celebrated in Athens in a transvestite rite....
(Greek mythologyGreek mythologyGreek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
) - ArtemisArtemisArtemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
(Greek mythology) - AtaeginaAtaeginaAtaegina or Ataecina was a popular goddess worshipped by the ancient Iberians, Lusitanians, and Celtiberians of the Iberian Peninsula.-Name and functions:...
(Lusitanian mythologyLusitanian mythologyLusitanian mythology is the mythology of the Lusitanians, the Indo-European people of western Iberia, in the territory comprising most of modern Portugal, Extremadura and a small part of Salamanca....
) - BendisBendisBendis was a Thracian goddess of the moon and the hunt whom the Greeks identified with Artemis. She was a huntress, like Artemis, but was accompanied by dancing satyrs and maenads on a fifth century red-figure stemless cup ....
(Thracian mythology) - DianaDiana (mythology)In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
(Roman mythologyRoman mythologyRoman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
) - HecateHecateHecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
(Greek mythology) - Ilazki (Basque mythologyBasque mythologyThe mythology of the ancient Basques largely did not survive the, albeit late, arrival of Christianity in the Basque Country between the 4th and 12th century AD...
) - Kovatä (Moksha mythology)
- KuuKuuKuu was a moon goddess in Finnish mythology. According to the Kalevala, the daughter of the air Ilmatar allowed a teal to lay its egg on her knee as she floated in the abyss...
(Finnish mythologyFinnish mythologyFinnish mythology is the mythology that went with Finnish paganism which was practised by the Finnish people prior to Christianisation. It has many features shared with fellow Finnic Estonian mythology and its non-Finnic neighbours, the Balts and the Scandinavians...
) - Lair báln (Celtic mythology)
- LosnaLosna----Losna was the Etruscan moon goddess, and was also associated with the ocean and tides. She is probably the same as the Greek Leukothea....
(Etruscan mythologyEtruscan mythologyThe Etruscans were a diachronically continuous population, with a distinct language and culture during the period of earliest European writing, in the Mediterranean Iron Age in the second half of the first millennium BC...
) - LunaSeleneIn Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
(Roman mythology) - ManiMani (god)In Norse mythology, Máni is the moon personified. Máni, personified, is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
(Norse mythologyNorse mythologyNorse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
) - ManoMano (mythology)Mano, Manno, Aske or Manna, the Sami mythology god of the Moon. In Sami mythology Mano is a female deity. Mano personified the Moon. The Sami world view was animistic by nature, with shamanistic features. Important places had their divinities...
(Sami mythology) - MēnessLatvian mythologyLatvian culture, along with Lithuanian, is among the oldest surviving Indo-European cultures. Much of its symbolism is ancient. Its seasons, festivals, and numerous deities reflect the essential agrarian nature of Latvian tribal life...
(Latvian mythology) - Myesyats (Slavic mythologySlavic mythologySlavic mythology is the mythological aspect of the polytheistic religion that was practised by the Slavs before Christianisation.The religion possesses many common traits with other religions descended from the Proto-Indo-European religion....
) - PhoebePhoebe (mythology)In Greek mythology "radiant" Phoebe , was one of the original Titans, who were one set of sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia. She was traditionally associated with the moon , as in Michael Drayton's Endimion and Phœbe, , the first extended treatment of the Endymion myth in English...
(Greek mythology) - RheaRhea (mythology)Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in Greek mythology. She was known as "the mother of gods". In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, the Great Goddess, and was later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the Olympian...
(Greek mythology) - SeleneSeleneIn Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
(Greek mythology) - SironaSironaIn Celtic mythology, Sirona was a goddess worshipped predominantly in East Central Gaul and along the Danubian limes. A healing deity, she was associated with healing springs; her attributes were snakes and eggs. She was sometimes depicted with Apollo Grannus or Apollo Borvo...
(Celtic mythology) - The ZoryaThe ZoryaIn Slavic mythology the Zorya are the two guardian goddesses, known as the Auroras. They guard and watch over the doomsday hound, Simargl, who is chained to the star Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor, the "little bear"...
(Slavic mythology)
East Asia
- Chang'eChang'e (mythology)Chang'e, Ch'ang-O, Chang-Ngo or Sheung Ngo , originally known as Heng'e or Heng-O , is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. Unlike many lunar deities in other cultures who personify the Moon, Chang'e only lives on the Moon...
or Heng O (Chinese mythologyChinese mythologyChinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
); see also the Moon rabbitMoon rabbitThe Moon rabbit, also called the Jade Rabbit, in folklore is a rabbit that lives on the moon, based on pareidolia that identifies the markings of the moon as a rabbit. The story exists in many cultures, particularly in East Asian folklore, where it is seen pounding in a mortar and pestle... - Chup Kamui (Ainu mythology)
- Hằng Nga (Vietnamese mythology)
- Marishi-TenMarishi-TenIn Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Marici is known as the goddess of the heavens, goddess of light, and a solar deity. Also known elsewhere as , Marisha-Ten , and Mólìzhītiān Púsà . She is believed to be one of the Twenty Heaven Celestials...
(Japanese mythologyJapanese mythologyJapanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...
) - Tsukuyomi (Japanese mythology)
South and Southeast Asia
- AnumatiAnumatiIn Hinduism, Anumati , also known as Chandrama, is a lunar deity and goddess of wealth, intellect, children, spirituality, and prosperity...
(Hindu mythologyHindu mythologyHindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
) - ChandraChandraIn Hinduism, Chandra is a lunar deity and a Graha. Chandra is also identified with the Vedic Lunar deity Soma . The Soma name refers particularly to the juice of sap in the plants and thus makes the Moon the lord of plants and vegetation. He is described as young, beautiful, fair; two-armed and...
or 'Indu' (Hindu mythologyHindu mythologyHindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
) - SomaSomaSoma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
(Hindu mythology) - Dewi Shri (Indonesian mythologyIndonesian mythology- History :The origin of Indonesian mythology can be traced back to the earliest development of Indonesian kingdom predominantly called the Javanese Empire. Fossil evidence suggests the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited by Homo erectus, popularly known as the "Java Man". Estimates of its...
) - Silewe NazarateSilewe NazarateSilawe Nazarate is the name of moon goddess of Nias Island, Indonesia. She is the symbolic of life in the universe. The god Lowalangi is her husband. She is compared with Hera of Greek mythology and her husband the powerful god Zeus....
(Indonesian mythology) - MayariMayariIn Tagalog mythology, Mayari is the beautiful lunar deity who was the daughter of Bathala, the king of the gods, to a mortal woman. She is known as the most beautiful deity in Bathala's court...
(Philippine mythologyPhilippine mythologyPhilippine mythology include a collection of tales and superstitions about magical creatures and entities. Some Filipinos, even though heavily westernized and Christianized, still believe on these tales...
)
Pacific
- AvateaAvateaIn Polynesian mythology , Avatea is a lunar deity, whose name means 'light'....
(Polynesian mythologyPolynesian mythologyPolynesian mythology is the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia, a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian triangle together with the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers...
) - FatiFatiIn Polynesian mythology , Fati is the god of the moon and a son of Taonoui and Roua....
(Polynesian mythology) - Hina-Kega (Polynesian mythology)
- Hina-Uri (Polynesian mythology)
- Ina (Polynesian mythology)
- KidiliKidiliIn Australian aboriginal mythology , Kidili was an ancient moon-man who attempted to rape some of the first women on Earth. The Wati-kutjara wounded him in battle, castrating him with a boomerang, and he died of his wounds in a waterhole. The women he was trying to rape became the Pleiades....
(Mandjindja mythology) - Lona (Polynesian mythology)
- MahinaMahinaIn Hawaiian mythology, Mahina is a lunar deity, mother of Hema. Mahina is also the word for Moon in Hawaiian.Mahina is also the Hindi word for month...
(Polynesian mythology) - MaramaMaramaMarama relates to more than one article:* Marama, South Australia is a place in South Australia* Marama is a widespread Polynesian word for 'moon' or 'light'...
(Polynesian mythology) - PaparePapareIn New Guinea mythology , Papare is the lunar deity....
(Orokolo mythology) - Sina (Polynesian mythology)
- UlUl (mythology)In Melanesian mythology , Ul is a lunar deity....
(Polynesian mythology)
Africa
- AlmaqahAlmaqahAlmaqah or Ilmuqah was the moon god of the ancient Yemeni kingdom of Saba' and the kingdoms of Dʿmt and Aksum in Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia . The ruling dynasty of Saba' regarded themselves as his children...
(Ethiopian/Yemeni mythology) - Arebati (Pygmy mythology)
- ChonsChonsKhonsu is an Ancient Egyptian god whose main role was associated with the moon. His name means "traveller" and this may relate to the nightly travel of the moon across the sky. Along with Thoth he marked the passage of time...
(Egyptian mythologyEgyptian mythologyAncient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a multitude of deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature...
) - GletiGletiGleti is a moon goddess from the African kingdom of Dahomey, situated in what is now Benin.In Dahomey mythology, she is the mother of all the stars. An eclipse is caused by the shadow of the moon’s husband crossing her face....
(Dahomean mythology) - HathorHathorHathor , is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of love, beauty, music, motherhood and joy. She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt...
(Egyptian mythology) - IahIahIah is a very early god of the moon in ancient Egyptian religion, and his name, jˁḥ , simply means "moon." Nevertheless, by the New Kingdom he was less prominent as a moon deity than the other gods with lunar connections, Thoth and Khonsu...
(Egyptian mythology) - IsisIsisIsis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
(Egyptian mythology) - KalfuKalfuKalfu, Kalfou or Carrefour is one of the petwo aspects of the spirit Papa Legba. He is often envisioned as a young man or as a demon; his colour is red and he favours rum infused with gunpowder...
(Vodun) - ThothThothThoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
(Egyptian mythology) - Yemaya (Yoruba mythologyYoruba mythologyThe Yorùbá religion comprises the original religious beliefs and practices of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in Southwestern Nigeria and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo, a region that has come to be known as Yorubaland...
)
Americas
- Ahau-Kin (Maya mythologyMaya mythologyMayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles...
) - AlignakAlignakIn Inuit mythology, Alignak is a lunar deity and god of weather, water, tides, eclipses, and earthquakes....
(Inuit mythologyInuit mythologyInuit mythology has many similarities to the religions of other polar regions. Inuit traditional religious practices could be very briefly summarised as a form of shamanism based on animist principles....
) - Ari (Tupinamba mythology)
- AwilixAwilixAwilix was a goddess of the Postclassic K'iche' Maya, who had a large kingdom in the highlands of Guatemala. She was the patron deity of the Nija'ib' noble lineage at the K'iche' capital Q'umarkaj, with a large temple in the city...
(K'iche' Maya mythologyMaya mythologyMayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles...
) - Chia (Chibcha mythology)
- Chie (Chibcha mythology)
- Coniraya (Incan mythology)
- CoyolxauhquiCoyolxauhquiIn Aztec mythology, Coyolxauhqui was a daughter of Coatlicue and Mixcoatl and is the leader of the Centzon Huitznahuas, the star gods. Coyolxauhqui was a powerful magician and led her siblings in an attack on their mother, Coatlicue, because Coatlicue had become pregnant.- Attack on Coatlicue :The...
(Aztec mythologyAztec mythologyThe aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many deities and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs. "orlando"- History :...
) - IgalukIgalukIn Inuit mythology, Igaluk is one of the most powerful gods of the pantheon. He is a lunar deity. In Greenland, he is known as Aningan.- Story :...
(Inuit mythology) - Ixbalanque (Maya mythology)
- IxchelIxchelIxchel or Ix Chel is the 16th-century name of the aged jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine in the ancient Maya culture. She corresponds, more or less, to Toci Yoalticitl ‘Our Grandmother the Nocturnal Physician’, an Aztec earth goddess inhabiting the sweatbath, and is related to another...
(Maya mythology) - Jaci (Tupinamba mythology)
- Ka-Ata-KillaKa-Ata-KillaIn the pre-Inca mythology of the Lake Titicaca Ka-Ata-Killa was a moon goddess....
(Incan mythology) - Mama Quilla (Incan mythology)
- Maya moon goddessMaya moon goddessThe traditional Mayas generally assume the moon to be female, and the moon's phases are accordingly conceived as the stages of a woman's life. The Maya moon goddess wields great influence in many areas. Being in the image of a woman, she is naturally associated with sexuality and procreation,...
- Menily (Cahuilla mythologyCahuilla mythologyFor the Cahuillas, cosmological values and concepts were established when the world was created by Mukat. The Cahuilla creation story tells of the origin of the world, the death of god , and the consequences of that death for humans...
) - MetztliMetztliIn Aztec mythology, Metztli was a god or goddess of the moon, the night, and farmers. He/she was probably the same deity as Yohaulticetl and Coyolxauhqui and the male moon god Tecciztecatl; like the latter, he/she feared the sun because he/she feared its fire...
(Aztec mythology) - Nantu (Shuar mythology)
- Pah (Pawnee mythologyPawnee mythologyPawnee mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Pawnee concerning their gods and heroes. The Pawnee are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, originally located on the Great Plains along tributaries of the Missouri River. They spoke a Caddoan language.-Beliefs and...
) - Tarqiup Inua (Inuit mythology)
- TecciztecatlTecciztecatlIn Aztec mythology, Tecciztecatl was a lunar deity, representing the old "man-in-the-moon". He could have been the sun god, but he feared the sun's fire, so Nanahuatzin became the sun god and Tecciztecatl was promptly thrown into the moon...
(Aztec mythology) - Yoołgai Asdzą́ą́ (Diné Bahaneʼ/NavajoNavajo peopleThe Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
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See also
- Great GoddessGreat GoddessGreat Goddess refers to the concept of an almighty goddess, or to the concept of a mother goddess, including:*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Latin Magna Dea*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Sanskrit Mahadevi, the Shakti sum of all goddesses...
- Man in the MoonMan in the MoonThe Man in the Moon is an imaginary figure resembling a human face, head or body, that observers from some cultural backgrounds typically perceive in the bright disc of the full moon...
- Moon idol
- Moon rabbitMoon rabbitThe Moon rabbit, also called the Jade Rabbit, in folklore is a rabbit that lives on the moon, based on pareidolia that identifies the markings of the moon as a rabbit. The story exists in many cultures, particularly in East Asian folklore, where it is seen pounding in a mortar and pestle...
- Nature worshipNature worshipNature worship describes a variety of religious, spiritual and devotional practices that focus on natural phenomenon. A nature deity can be in charge of nature, the biosphere, the cosmos or the universe. Nature worship can be found in panentheism, pantheism, deism, polytheism, animism, totemism,...
- Sun deity
- The White GoddessThe White GoddessThe White Goddess: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth is a book-length essay on the nature of poetic myth-making by author and poet Robert Graves. First published in 1948, based on earlier articles published in Wales magazine, corrected, revised and enlarged editions appeared in 1948, 1952 and 1961...
- Triple Goddess