Mid-day
Chukchi · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Mid-day is one of the named Chukchi directional Beings (vaʼirgьt). Bogoras records the 'benevolent beings sacrificed to' (taaronyo vairgit) as inhabiting the twenty-two directions of the compass, with Dawn, the Zenith and Mid-day receiving the principal sacrifices; Mid-day, the Sun and the Pole-Star are 'often identified with the middle-crown' (ginon-kana'irgin), the being of the zenith. It is treated, like the other directional Beings, as a benevolent superior Being rather than a sharply biographied individual, and is classed here as a deity with no attested divine parent.
Domains
- noon direction
- benevolent direction
Powers
- receives the people's sacrifices at the noon (Mid-day) quarter
- is identified with the 'middle-crown' at the height of the sky
Relations
- companion: ZenithReciprocal of chukchi_zenith.companion — Mid-day and the Zenith are co-named Beings of the upper directions and joint recipients of the chief sacrifices; Mid-day is one of those 'identified with' the zenith's middle-crown.Bogoras, The Chukchee, Part II 'Religion' (1907), pp. 303–304 (secondary)
- companion: DawnMid-day stands beside the Dawn among the benevolent direction-Beings to whom the principal Chukchi sacrifices are made.Bogoras, The Chukchee, Part II 'Religion' (1907), pp. 303–304: Dawn, Zenith and Mid-day named together as the directions receiving the principal sacrifices (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Waldemar Bogoras, The Chukchee, Part II 'Religion' (Jesup North Pacific Expedition VII / Memoirs AMNH XI), 1907, pp. 303–304 (secondary); M. A. Czaplicka, Aboriginal Siberia (Oxford, 1914), Part III 'Religion,' ch. XIII (secondary); Ülo Siimets, 'The Sun, the Moon and Firmament in Chukchi Mythology,' Folklore 32 (2006): 129–156 (secondary)