Lunar deity

"Moon god" redirects here. For the new religious movement founded by Sun Myung Moon, see Unification Church.

A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms.

Selene and Endymion, by Albert Aublet

Moon in religion and mythology

Many cultures have implicitly linked the 29.5-day lunar cycle to women's menstrual cycles, as evident in the shared linguistic roots of "menstruation" and "moon" words in multiple language families.^[1] This identification was not universal, as demonstrated by the fact that not all moon deities are female. Still, many well-known mythologies feature moon goddesses, including the Greek goddess Selene, the Roman goddess Luna, the Chinese goddess Chang'e, and the Mayan goddess Coyolxauhqu, whose decapitation may represent a lunar eclipse.^[2] Several goddesses including Artemis, Hecate, and Isis did not originally have lunar aspects, and only acquired them late in antiquity due to syncretism with the de facto Greco-Roman lunar deity Selene/Luna.^[3][4]

Chandra male lunar deity, British Museum, 13th century, Konark

Rare artwork of the male lunar deity of Japan Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto

Male lunar gods are also common, such as Sin of the Mesopotamians, Khonsu of the Egyptians (or the earlier Egyptian lunar deity Iah), Mani of the Germanic tribes, Tsukuyomi of the Japanese, Igaluk/Alignak of the Inuit, and the Hindu god Chandra. The original Proto-Indo-European lunar deity, *Meh₁not appears to have been male, with many possible derivatives including the Homeric figure of Menelaus.^[5] Cultures with male moon gods often feature sun goddesses. An exception are Hinduism and Philippine animism featuring both male and female aspects of the solar divine. Pre-colonial Philippine societies practiced animism, in which nature was imbued with spirits and deities with both male and female moon gods prevalence of many male moon gods in Philippine mythology, unlike in many other cultures where the moon is typically personified as female. As the Philippines absorbed influences from Hindu-Buddhist, indigenous beliefs sometimes merged or adapted.^[6][7][8]The Philippines has multiple moon deities because of its diverse ethnolinguistic groups and rich pre-colonial unified belief systems.^[9]

The ancient Egyptians had several moon gods including Khonsu and Thoth, although Thoth is a considerably more complex deity.^[10] Set represented the moon in the ancient Egyptian calendar.^[11] In Bakongo religion, the earth and moon goddess Nzambici is the female counterpart of the sun god Nzambi Mpungu.^[12] Metztli, Coyolxauhqui and Tēcciztēcatl are all lunar deities in the Aztec religion.

Disk depicting a dismembered Coyolxāuhqui (Coyolxauhqui Stone, c. 1473 CE)

In the Manichean religion, Jesus Christ was worshipped as a lunar deity, often being called the King of the Moon, or simply Jesus the Moon.

Many cultures are oriented chronologically by the Moon, as opposed to the Sun. The Hindu calendar maintains the integrity of the lunar month and the moon god Chandra has religious significance during many Hindu festivals (e.g. Karwa Chauth, Sankashti Chaturthi, and during eclipses).^[13] Ancient Germanic tribes and the peoples they were in contact with, such as the Baltic Finnic peoples, were also known to have a lunar calendar.^[14] Calendars such as the Runic calendar fixing the beginning of the year at the first full moon after winter solstice.^[15]

The Moon features prominently in art and literature, often with a purported influence on human affairs.

See also

• Astrotheology
• Nature worship
• Solar deity
• List of solar deities
• List of lunar deities