Uis Neno
Atoni · deity · Atoni traditional religion; continuing · deity
Uis Neno is the supreme being of the Atoni, the Lord of Heaven identified with the sun and the daylit sky. He is the fountainhead of life, warmth, rain and fertility, and the guarantor of moral order: oaths and curses are laid before him, and he requites deceit and bloodshed from on high. As creator he is addressed by the paired name Amoet ma Apakaet, 'the Maker and the Shaper', and as the burning sun by the couplet Apinat ma Aklahat. In the pervasive dual classification of Atoni thought he stands as the masculine, celestial, 'upper' and 'inner' principle, complemented by the feminine earth. Human affairs mirror his order: the ruler and the great house are conceived as earthly correlates of the sky-lord's sovereignty.
Domains
- sky
- sun and heat
- creation
- justice and moral order
- rain and fertility
Powers
- grants and sustains all life
- illuminates and scorches the world
- witnesses and requites human wrongdoing
Epithets
- Amoet ma Apakaet
- Apinat ma Aklahat
Relations
- companion: Uis Pah
Sources
- Schulte Nordholt, H.G. (1971), The Political System of the Atoni of Timor (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff)
- Cunningham, C.E. (1964), 'Order in the Atoni House', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 120(1): 34-68
- Middelkoop, P. (1960), Curse-Retribution-Enmity as Data in Natural Religion, especially in Timor (Amsterdam: Jacob van Campen)