Tag Archives: mythology

HERE COMES THE SUN: SUN GODS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Balladeer’s Blog’s mythology posts are among the most popular parts of this site. As a change of pace from my examinations of multiple deities from a single mythological pantheon this time I’ll do a light-hearted look at solar deities – both male and female – from around the world. Given the familiarity of the Greco- Roman sun god I’ll omit him and deal with less well-known deities.

Seqinek11. SEQINEK

Pantheon: Inuit

Lore: Also called Malina, Seqinek’s home was in Udlormiut, the land that was on the other side of the sky. In Inuit cosmology the sky was the roof of the enormous ice- house (igloo) that enclosed the world and Udlormiut lay on the other side. By day Seqinek would leave her home and run across the sky, with the sun itself being the flame from the torch she carried as she ran. The goddess was forever fleeing her brother, the moon god Tatqim, whose partially burnt- out torch was the moon.

For more Inuit deities – https://glitternight.com/inuit-myth/

10. SURYA

Pantheon: Hindu

Lore: The sun was Surya’s chariot racing across Continue reading

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IROQUOIS EPIC MYTH: HODADEION

Iroquois longhouse lodge villageIn the tradition of Balladeer’s Blog’s previous looks at neglected epic myths from the Navajo, Vietnamese and Chinese pantheons I will examine the saga of the Iroquois god of magic Hodadeion. This will be done in the same style as my examinations of the Navajo war god’s battle with the Anaye, the war between the Vietnamese jungle and monsoon gods and the Chinese Divine Archer Yi’s adventures.

1. Hodadeion was the son of the creator god Tharonhiawakon and a mortal woman, the same mortal woman who bore him Hodadeion’s siblings. Those siblings were Otgoe, the wampum god who loved chestnuts and Yeyenthwus, the future goddess of chestnut trees.

Tharonhiawakon was gone for years at a time attending to other matters in the world and while Otgoe was a toddler and Hodadeion and Yeyenthwus in their teens an entire village full of cannibalistic humans led by a powerful but evil medicine man was preying on Continue reading

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MYTHOLOGY: INTERCULTURAL INFLUENCE

puck1A reader asked me a question about Egyptian mythology being influenced by other cultures. Since I get occassional e-mails asking me similar questions I figured I would post my answer in the spirit of an FAQ. 

My AnswerThis sort of inter-cultural influence is pretty standard in mythology. No belief system springs from a vacuum. It springs from previous belief systems in the region and also from appropriating elements of belief systems of other cultures they come into contact with. The process is Continue reading

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MYTHOLOGY – THE BUNYORO GODDESS MULWINDA

UgandaMULWINDA – The goddess who protected the royal clan. Each of the 46 clans of Bunyoro had its own protective deity. They each also had their own totem-name which could be an animal, e.g. Kiroko (hippopotamus) or a plant, e.g. Bulo (millet), a utensil, e.g. Kaibo (basket), or a part of the body, e.g. Amara (stomach). No one was Continue reading

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THE TOP NINE DEITIES IN MUSCOGEE CREEK MYTHOLOGY

Original Creek TerritoryBalladeer’s Blog presents its latest examination of a neglected pantheon of deities. In the Americas alone I have previously written about gods and goddesses of the Navajo, Inuit, Hawaiians, Choctaw, Iroquois and Aztecs.

Those familiar with the Creek people are aware of how many different sub-classifications there are, so I will remind readers that this article deals only with the deities of the Muscogee Creek. In the future I will eventually do examinations of the gods of the Tuckabatchee, Yuchi, Tuskegee and others generally regarded as Creek.

moon9. NEREHVURESSE – The Muscogee Creek moon goddess. She was the wife of the sun god and, as with the moon goddess of the Choctaw people, it was said that she spent moonless nights having sexual relations with her husband. The differing phases of the moon were explained as Nerehvuresse covering her face in varying degrees of embarrassment over Continue reading

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SIX MORE IROQUOIS DEITIES

2 Iroquois confederacyThe reaction to my latest look at a neglected pantheon of deities has been through the roof! I’ll soon be examining an epic myth from Iroquois mythology but in the meantime here’s a look at six more deities of the various tribes in the Iroquois Confederation.

6. SHAGODIAQDANE – The Iroquois goddess of the summer. She was depicted as an old woman sitting cross-legged in the forest and she sang a song that only birds could hear and their own chirping and singing was considered to be their response to the goddess’ song. As summer started to turn into autumn the entourage of the evil winter god Tawiskaron began to return. First the Continue reading

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MYTHOLOGY: THE INUIT DEITY KALLAK

Inuit regionKALLAK – Kallak was the first-born son of the Inuit Earth goddess Nunam and the wind and weather god Sila. When he came of age Nunam mated with Kallak and the two had a daughter. When that daughter came of age Kallak mated with her and the pair produced all of the original Inuit people. 

This myth is at odds with another myth which claims that Kallak and his daughter’s union produced the race of giants who warred with Sila and were killed by him in the end. Nunam brought the slain giants (who are her brothers, not her children in some versions) back to life. Sila insisted they be punished however, and shrunk the giants, who became the Ishigaq, the one meter tall Inuit version of elves.

Still another Inuit tradition says that Continue reading

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MYTHOLOGY: TWO MORE CHOCTAW DEITIES

choctaw great sealAs a followup to my earlier list of The Top 12 Deities in Choctaw Mythology here’s a look at two additional figures from that same pantheon.

IMMA – The Choctaw goddess of war. Unlike most war deities Imma did not participate in actual combat herself, but was the idealized woman to whom Choctaw warriors dedicated all their battlefield heroics. She was the most beautiful goddess in the Choctaw pantheon and, like her husband, the hunting god Hatakachafa, Imma was originally a mortal raised to godhood in the afterlife by the supreme deity Nanishta. He did this after Imma died from grief after Hatakachafa was given up for dead during his year-long struggle to return home to her. When Imma’s true love at last returned home astride his giant white wolf and learned she was dead he too died of grief. The two were reunited in the afterlife as husband and wife. 

OKLATABAHSHIH – The patron god of Continue reading

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SHINTO GODDESS: FUNADAMA

https://i0.wp.com/worthopedia.s3.amazonaws.com/images/thumbnails2/1/0407/07/1_3d71197c9bcf483443cc3c8804f217b3.jpgFUNADAMA – Shinto goddess of ships and boats. Like Toyota she was a daughter of the sea god Watatsumi. (Remember, I mostly go by the Kojiki and the Nihongi, the earliest written accounts of Shinto myths. Those two books refer to the humanoid Watatsumi as the god of the sea. Ryujin the dragon god of the sea came from later traditions. )

Sailors, fishermen and all travelers by sea, river or lake would pray to her Funadama for protection and there is still a Continue reading

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SHINTO GODS: IZANAGI AND IZANAMI

IZANAGI AND IZANAMI – These two parents of most of the rest of the deities in Shinto myths always need to be mentioned in one entry. Before life on Earth existed the two of them stood on Ukihashi, the floating bridge between Earth and Takamagahara, the High Plain of Heaven where the gods lived. From there they stirred the primordial juices here on Earth with a jeweled spear and created the Japanese islands and a shrine still stands on Onokoro, the tiny island that legend held was the first landmass created by the duo.

Their first coupling spawned either one slug-like creature or all of the demons and monsters in Shinto mythology (accounts vary). Beginning with their second mating the woman, Izanami, began giving birth to Continue reading

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