Moon
Kĩsêdjê · deity · Kĩsêdjê traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Moon is the companion of Sun and his opposite in temperament: where Sun succeeds, Moon copies and fails, and it is often through his clumsy imitation that hardship, blemish and disorder enter the world of the Northern Jê. The pair travel and quarrel through a world still taking shape, and their contrasting fortunes account for many of its features. As with Sun, sources differ on the degree to which the Kĩsêdjê develop this cosmogony compared with neighbouring Jê peoples, given the Kĩsêdjê emphasis on ceremony and song; but Moon is securely part of the demiurge tradition of the family to which they belong.
Domains
- celestial order
Powers
- imitates the sun and brings hardship
Relations
- companion: SunMoon is the companion and foil of Sun in the demiurge cycle.Wilbert, J. & Simoneau, K. (eds.) 1984. Folk Literature of the Gê Indians, Vol. 2. UCLA Latin American Center. (secondary)
Sources
- Moon is the companion and imitative foil of Sun in the Northern Jê demiurge cycle, his blunders accounting for hardship and disorder in the world.: Wilbert, J. & Simoneau, K. (eds.) 1984. Folk Literature of the Gê Indians, Vol. 2. UCLA Latin American Center. (secondary)
- The Kĩsêdjê belong to the Northern Jê and share its broad mythic framework including the celestial demiurge pair.: Seeger, A. 1981. Nature and Society in Central Brazil. Harvard University Press. (secondary)