Myths, Symbols and Legends of Solar System Bodies by Rachel Alexander

Author:Rachel Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

The Moon seems to be an actual person, a man, in some mythologies. In an Oceanic dreamtime myth, the Moon was a young man who had a sister called Dugong. One day, they decided to dig. While they were both busy with their digging, Dugong got bitten and jumped into the sea to cool the pain. She transformed herself before doing this into a Sirenian of the Asian seas, now called a Dugong. Moon did not like being alone, so he jumped into the sea, too. Dugong died, but Moon did not, with his bones becoming sea shells. Moon was rescued by eating eat lotus and lily bulbs.

In a North American Pawnee myth, Pah is the Moon god, with his wife being the Sun goddess Shakaru. The Moon is male, too, in North American Inuit mythology. He is called Aningan or Igaluk and is believed to have his own igloo up in the sky. As young children, Aningan and his sister, Malina, were happy and loved to play together. They usually played in the dark, even as adults. One night, Aningan became envious of his sister’s lovely radiance and started a fight with her. Malina had been holding a lamp made from lamp moss and seal-oil when Aningan had come up to her and started the fight, and Malina’s fingers became blackened from it. They continued their fight and she touched his face, making it all black.

Having a dirty face infuriated Aningan, so Malina sped off as far away from her brother as was possible. This happened to be up, up high into the sky, where, with his dirty face, he became the Moon. This never-ending chase explains why the Sun and the Moon are not in the sky at the same time. The constant chasing is hungry work, so for 3 days each month the Moon vanishes to allow him to hunt and to eat enough to continue the chase. Aningan is supposed to live with his demonic cousin in the igloo. Both Ainigan and the cousin, Irdlirvirisissong, love to hunt. Although the Moon is by far the more successful hunter, Irdlirvirissong loves to venture into the sky, where he can dance around and make everyone laugh. However he is someone to fear, because if he catches any people around him, he will eat their intestines!

In Norse mythology, Mani was the male personification of the Moon. He had a brother, Sol, who is the physical manifestation of the Sun.

However, in another myth, the Moon was such a devoted son that he insisted on following his mother around absolutely everywhere. This irritated the mother. She was so exasperated with her Moon-son that she flung her dishcloth in his face, an explanation for why the Moon’s face is dirty.

Other Moon deities are female personifications of the Moon. Lona in Hawaiian mythology was a Moon goddess who, perhaps unwisely, fell passionately in love with a man by the name of Aikanaka. They lived happily ever after, at least for many years. They were finally separated by the death of the mortal.

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