Cosmic Elk

Spirit-class cosmic animal (classed as deity, a personified celestial being). Sex given as female because the chased elk (kheglun, the cow-elk) is typically the dam pursued with her calf in the cosmic-hunt versions; the hunter is the bear Mangi. The elk is the central Evenki sky-image: constellation, sun-bearer, and quarry of the primordial hunt.

Domains

• sun and day
• heavens constellation

Powers

• carries the sun away on her antlers each night
• wheels across the night sky as the four stars of the Great Bear

Relations

• enemy: Cosmic Bear Ancestor

Sources

• G. M. Vasilevich, 'Early Concepts about the Universe among the Evenks', in Studies in Siberian Shamanism, 1963
• Evenk astronomy, talkingstories.uoregon.edu