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Mythology

Argentina - Coyolxauhqui

Coyolxauhqui was the Moon goddess according the Aztec mythology. Her name means "Golden Bells." She was the daughter of the Earth goddess, Coatlicue and the sister of the Sun god, Huitzilopochtli.

Coyolxauhqui encouraged her four hundred sisters and brothers to kill their dishonored mother. Coatlicue gave birth to Huitzilopochtli after a ball of feathers fell into the temple where she was sweeping and touched her. Huitzilopochtli sprang out of his mother as an adult fully armed and saver her.

Coatlicue regretted such violence. Thus, Huitzilopochtli cut off Coyolxauhqui's head and threw it into the sky to form the Moon.

Benin � Mawu

Mawu is the supreme god of the Fon people of Abomey (Republic of Benin). Mawu , the Moon, brings cooler temperatures to the African world. She is seen as an old mother who lives in the West.

Mawu has a partner called Liza. Together, they created the world. Their son, Gu, is the smith god, or divine tool. They used him to shape the universe. The serpent Da, also helped them during creation.

Mawu was the goddess of night, joy, and motherhood. Liza was the god of day, heat and strength.

Brazil - Iae

Iae is the Moon god for the Mamaiurans, an Amazon tribe that lives in Brazil. According to a Mamaiuran legend, at the beginning of time there were so many birds in the sky that their wings prevented daylight from being seen. It was always night and the people lived in fear of attack from wild animals.

Tired of the darkness, two heroes, Iae and his brother Kuat, decided to force the king of the birds, Urubutsin, to share some of the daylight with the people of the Amazon. The two brothers hid inside a dead animal and waited for the birds to approach. As soon as Urubutsin landed, Kuat grabbed his leg. Unable to get away, Urubutsin was forced to make an agreement with the two brothers. The birds would share daylight with the Mamaiurans, and day would alternate with night. Since then, Kuat represented the Sun and Iae the Moon.

China - Heng-o and the Twelve Chinese Moons

In ancient times, Chinese people believed that there were twelve Moons as there were twelve months in one year. Likewise, Chinese people believed there were ten Suns as there were ten days in the Chinese week. The mother of the twelve Moons was the same of that of the ten suns.

At the beginning of each month, the mother, Heng-O, washed her children in a lake at the extreme western side of the world. Then each Moon, one after the other would travel in a chariot for a month journey to reach the opposite east side of the world.

There, the Suns would begin their journey. It was believed that the Moons were made of water, and either a hare or a toad were living in their interior.

Greece � Artemis

Artemis was the twin sister of the god Apollo. Her father and mother were Zeus and Latona.

Artemis and her brother Apollo had fierce tempers. According to a Greek legend, they killed most of the children of Niobe, who had insulted her mother Leto comparing favorably his children with the twins Artemis and Apollo.

Greenland - Anningan

Anningan is the name of the Moon god of some of the Inuit people that live in Greenland. The word "Inuit" means "people."

Anningan continually chases his sister, Malina, the Sun goddess, across the sky. During this chase, he forgets to eat, and he gets much thinner. This is symbolic of the phases of the moon, particularly the crescent.

To satisfy his hunger, he disappears for three days each month (new moon) and then returns full (gibbous) to chase his sister all over again. Malina wants to stay far away from her bad brother. That is why they rise and set at different times.

India � Soma

According to Hinduism, every part of the cosmos is seen as an action of a god. Time is the endless repetition of the same long cycle where gods, demons and heroes repeat their mythological actions. In Hindu mythology, Soma represents the god of the Moon. He rides through the sky in a chariot drawn by white horses. Soma was also the name of the elixir of immortality that only the gods can drink.

The Moon was thought to be the storehouse of the elixir. When the gods drink soma, it is said that the Moon wanes because the gods are drinking away some of its properties. Some people think that the Moon is inhabited by a hare. That is why all hares are viewed as incarnations of Soma.

Iraq - Sin

Sin was the Sumerian Moon god. Sumerians were living more than three thousand years ago in Mesopotamia. Today Mesopotamia is located in the territories of the states of Iraq and Kuwait.

Sin was worshipped in the city of Ur. The high priest of his temple, chosen from the royal family, was viewed as Sin's spouse. Sin was the descendant of the sky god An. His parents were the air god Enlil and the grain goddess Ninlil. Sin was depicted as a "fierce young bull, thick of horns, perfect of limbs, with a beautiful bird of blue".

The Moon god had several different names that referred to different phases of the Moon. The name Sin indicated the crescent Moon, Nanna the full Moon, and Asimbabbar the beginning of each lunar cycle.

Enlil was banished by the assembly of the gods to live in the underworld. When Ninlil realized she was pregnant, she decided to follow Enlil to the world of the dead to let him witness the birth of his child. They gave their next three children to the gods so that Sin could ascend to the heavens to light the night sky.

Italy � Diana

Diana was an ancient Italian goddess of woodland. In Capua and in Aricia, a locality near Rome, there are still shrines dedicated to the old Italian goddess. Diana was the twin sister of the god Apollo. Her father and mother were Jupiter and Latona.

Diana believed her body was very sacred, and so no man was to see her naked. One day a wandering hunter came across Diana bathing. She became very angry, and turned him into a stag.

She was always surrounded by young beautiful attendants, who used to hunt with her. Romans identified Diana with the Greek goddess Artemis. As Artemis, she was also a Moon goddess.

Japan - Tsuki-Yomi

Tsuki-Yomi was the Moon god according the oldest Japanese religion, Shinto, which means "the way of the gods." Tsuki-Yomi was born from the right eye of the primeval being Izanagi. Tsuki-Yomi initially lived in the Heavens with his sister, the Sun god, Amaterasu.

But once, Amaterasu sent her brother as her representative to the goddess of food, Uke Mochi. To celebrate, the goddess of food offered him a wonderful meal, created from her mouth and nose. Tsuki-Yomi was so disgusted that he killed her. When Amaterasu learned of her brother's misdeed, she was so angry that she did not want to see him anymore. Since then, brother and sister have lived apart, alternating in the sky. That is why the day always follows the night.

Mexico - Ix Chel

Ix Chel, the "Lady Rainbow," was the old Moon goddess in Mayan mythology. The Maya people lived around 250 AD in what is now Guatemala and the Yucatan in Mexico. Mayans associated human events with phases of the moon.

Ix Chel was depicted as an old woman wearing a skirt with crossed bones, and she had a serpent in her hand. She had an assistant sky serpent, whom they believed carried all of the waters of the heavens in its belly. She is often shown carrying a great jug filled with water, which she overturns to send floods and powerful rainstorms to Earth.

Her husband was the benevolent moon god Itzamna. Ix Chel had a kinder side and was worshipped as the protector of weavers and women in childbirth.

Samoa - Rona

Rona was the daughter of the sea god Tangaroa. She was the Tide Controller. One night she was carrying a bucket with stream water back home to her children, when the path became dark. The Moon slipped behind the clouds making it impossible to see anything. As Rona was walking, she hit her foot against a root that was sticking out of the ground. She was so upset that she couldn't see the root, she made some unkind remarks about the Moon.

The Moon heard her remarks and put a curse on the Maori people. The Moon grabbed Rona and her water bucket. Many people today see a woman with a bucket in the Moon. It is said that when Rona upsets her bucket, it rains. This Maori story symbolizes the influence of the Moon on the rain and on the waters of the Earth, and especially on the tides.

In a separate Maori myth, a man named Rona went to the Moon to find his wife. To this day, the two take turns eating each other. This is how the phases of the Moon were explained.

Artemis was the goddess of the Moon. She was also known as the goddess of the hunt. Romans identified Artemis with the Greek goddess Diana.