Byag (the moon-god)

Byag (Even Бяг; also Bag, Byäg) is the moon-god of the Even, the lunar luminary personified — the Even word byag denotes both the moon and the calendar month. In the tiered Even heaven he dwells on the seventh level together with the sun-god Nölten and the thunder-and-lightning god Agdy, the three great celestial powers ranked just below the hunting-god Hinken of the sixth heaven and the creator Hövki of the highest. The moon is among the powers addressed in the Even blessing-incantations recorded by Lebedev and Tsintsius, where the sun, the moon, the earth and the spirit-masters of nature are honoured and petitioned for well-being.

Domains

• the moon
• celestial bodies of the seventh heaven

Powers

• to govern the moon and the reckoning of the months
• to receive the ritual invocations of the people alongside the sun and the earth

Epithets

• Бяг — бог луны'Dukhovnyi mir evenskogo naroda', Polyarnaya zvezda, 2015 (the 'god of the moon') (secondary)

Relations

• sibling: Nölten (the sun-god)The moon-god Byag and the sun-god Nölten are paired as the two great luminaries dwelling together on the seventh heaven and invoked side by side in Even ritual.'Dukhovnyi mir evenskogo naroda', Polyarnaya zvezda, 2015 — the moon Byag and the sun Nölten among the gods of the seventh heaven (secondary)

Sources

• Byag (Bag) is the Even moon-god, dwelling on the seventh heaven with the sun and the thunder-god and invoked in Even blessing-incantations.: 'Dukhovnyi mir evenskogo naroda', Polyarnaya zvezda, 2015 (secondary); V. D. Lebedev & V. I. Tsintsius, 'K voprosu ob evenskikh zaklinaniyakh-blagopozhelaniyakh' (secondary)