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A lunar deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The following is a list of lunar deities:

African

Name Image Mythology / Religion Details
Abuk Dinka Goddess of fertility, morality, creativity, and love
Amesemi Kushite Protective goddess and wife of Apedemak, the lion-god. She was represented with a crown shaped as a falcon, or with a crescent moon on her head on top of which a falcon was standing.
Ayyur Berber
Gleti Dahomean
Mawu Dahomean
Iah Egyptian
iNyanga Zulu Goddess of the Moon
Khonsu
Egyptian The god of the moon. A story tells that Ra (the sun God) had forbidden Nut (the Sky goddess) to give birth on any of the 360 days of the calendar. In order to help her give birth to her children, Thoth (the god of wisdom) played against Khonsu in a game of senet. Khonsu lost to Thoth and then he gave away enough moonlight to create 5 additional days so Nut could give birth to her five children. It was said that before losing, the moonlight was on par with the sunlight. Sometimes, Khonsu is depicted as a hawk-headed god, however he is mostly depicted as a young man with a side-lock of hair, like a young Egyptian. He was also a god of time. The centre of his cult was at Thebes which was where he took place in a triad with Amun and Mut. Khonsu was also heavily associated Thoth who also took part in the measurement of time and the moon.
Thoth Egyptian God of wisdom, the arts, science, and judgment
Ela-Opitan Yoruba

American

Aztec mythology

Cahuilla mythology

Hopi mythology

Incan mythology

Inuit mythology

Lakota mythology

Maya mythology

Muisca mythology

Nivaclé Mythology

Pawnee mythology

Tupi Guarani mythology

Voodoo

Asian

Ainu mythology

Anatolian

Chinese mythology

Elamite

Hinduism

The Hindu moon god Chandra, riding his celestial chariot

Hurro-Urartian

Indonesian mythology

Japanese mythology

Korean mythology

Mari mythology

Philippine mythologies

Main article: List of Philippine mythological figures

Vietnamese mythology

Semitic mythology

Turkic mythology

European

Name Image Mythology / Religion Details
Arianrhod[citation needed] Welsh
Artemis
Greek Artemis is the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals, chastity, and occasionally the Moon due to being mistaken for Selene.[32][33] She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo.[34] She would eventually be extensively syncretized with the Roman goddess Diana. Cynthia was originally an epithet of the Greek goddess Artemis, who according to legend was born on Mount Cynthus. Selene, the Greek personification of the Moon, and the Roman Diana were also sometimes called "Cynthia".[35]
Artume Etruscan
Ataegina
Lusitanian
Sen Mesopotamian Religion
Bendis
Thracian
Devana Slavic Devana was the Slavic goddess of wild nature, forests, hunting and the moon, equated with the Greek goddess Artemis and Roman goddess Diana.
Diana
Roman Diana is a goddess in Roman and Hellenistic religion, primarily considered a patroness of the countryside, hunters, crossroads, and the Moon. She is equated with the Greek goddess Artemis (see above), and absorbed much of Artemis' and Selenes mythology early in Roman history, including a birth on the island of Delos to parents Jupiter and Latona, and a twin brother, Apollo,[36] though she had an independent origin in Italy.
Elatha[citation needed] Irish Elatha was a king of the Fomorians in Irish mythology. He succeeded his father Delbáeth and was replaced by his son Bres, mothered by Ériu.
Hecate
Greek While associated with the Moon, Hecate is not actually considered a goddess of the moon.
Hors Slavic
Hjúki and Bil Norse
Ilargi Basque
Kuu Finnish
Losna Etruscan
Luna
Roman Roman counterpart to the Greek Titaness Selene. Sibling to Sol and Aurora. Considered one of the 20 principal deities of Rome, having had temples on both the Aventine and Palatine hills.
Mano Sámi
Máni
Norse Máni is the personification of the Moon in Norse mythology. 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. Both sources state that he is the brother of the personified sun, Sól, and the son of Mundilfari, while the Prose Edda adds that he is followed by the children Hjúki and Bil through the heavens.
Mehnot Proto-Indo-European mythology
Meness Latvian
Myesyats Slavic
Phoebe Greek
Selene
Greek Selene Titan goddess and personification of the moon. She was depicted as a woman riding sidesaddle on a horse or driving a chariot drawn by a pair of winged steeds.
Triple Goddess
Wicca

Oceanic

Malagasy mythology

Polynesian mythology

Australian Aboriginal mythology

Mandjindja mythology

Yolŋu mythology

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lunar deities.
  1. ^ "Menily, the Cahuilla moon goddess (Menilly, Menil, Man-El)". www.native-languages.org. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  2. ^ 太上洞真五星秘授经
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  13. ^ Jose, V. R. (1974). Creation and Flood Myths in Philippine Folk Literature. UP .
  14. ^ Fansler, D. S. (1921). 1965 Filipino Popular Tales. Hatboro, Pennsylvania: Folklore Assosciates Inc.
  15. ^ Nicdao, A. (1917). Pampangan Folklore. Manila.
  16. ^ Calderon, S. G. (1947). Mga alamat ng Pilipinas. Manila : M. Colcol & Co.
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  18. ^ Ramos, M. (1990). Philippine Myths, Legends, and Folktales. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
  19. ^ Pardo, F. (1686–1688). Carte [...] sobre la idolatria de los naturales de la provincia de Zambales, y de los del pueblo de Santo Tomas y otros cicunvecinos [...]. Sevilla, Spain: Archivo de la Indias.
  20. ^ Pardo, F. (1686–1688). Carte [...] sobre la idolatria de los naturales de la provincia de Zambales, y de los del pueblo de Santo Tomas y otros cicunvecinos [...]. Sevilla, Spain: Archivo de la Indias.
  21. ^ Beyer, H. O. (1912–30). H. Otley Beyer Ethnographic Collection. National Library of the Philippines.
  22. ^ Eugenio, D. L. (2013). Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press
  23. ^ Beyer, H. O. (1923). Ethnography of the Bikol People. vii.
  24. ^ Arcilla, A. M. (1923). The Origin of Earth and of Man. Ethnography of the Bikol People, vii.
  25. ^ Tiongson, N. G., Barrios, J. (1994). CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art: Peoples of the Philippines. Cultural Center of the Philippines.
  26. ^ Miller, J. M. (1904). Philippine folklore stories. Boston, Ginn.
  27. ^ Buyser, F. (1913). Mga Sugilanong Karaan.
  28. ^ Cruz-Lucero, R., Pototanon, R. M. (2018). Capiznon. With contributions by E. Arsenio Manuel. In Our Islands, Our People: The Histories and Cultures of the Filipino Nation, edited by Cruz-Lucero, R.
  29. ^ Unabia, C. C. (1986). THe Bukidnon Batbatonon and Pamuhay: A Socio-Literary Study. Quezon City : UP Press.
  30. ^ Casal, G. (1978). The T'boli Creation Myth and Religion. T'boli Art: in its Socio-Cultural Context, pp. 122–123
  31. ^ Talaguit, C. J. N. (2019). Folk-Islam in Maranao Society. History Department, De La Salle University – Manila.
  32. ^ Shen (2018), p. 60
  33. ^ Sacks (1995), p. 35
  34. ^ Neils (2003), p. 117
  35. ^ Pannen, p. 96.
  36. ^ Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia, The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215.

Bibliography

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