The Moon
Foi · numen · Foi traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
In Foi cosmology the moon is a personified male sky-being. His monthly waning and return furnish the standard image for bodily and reproductive rhythm, and he belongs to the wider Papuan Plateau complex of myths that account for human mortality and for the menstrual cycle. Sources differ on whether the moon and the sun are imagined as brothers or as adversaries who pursue one another across the sky.
Domains
- celestial bodies
- death and mortality
Powers
- waxes and wanes across the month
Epithets
- Moon-man — the personified male moonJ. F. Weiner, The Heart of the Pearl Shell (1988). (secondary)
Relations
- sibling: The SunSources differ on whether the pairing is fraternal or adversarial.F. E. Williams, Natives of Lake Kutubu, Papua (1940-41). (primary)
Sources
- The moon is a personified male sky-being in Foi cosmology, linked to the menstrual rhythm and to the Papuan Plateau complex of myths that account for human mortality.: F. E. Williams, Natives of Lake Kutubu, Papua, Oceania Monographs No. 6 (1940-41). (primary); J. F. Weiner, The Heart of the Pearl Shell (University of California Press, 1988). (secondary)