the Moon
Lotuko · numen · Lotuko traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The moon holds a modest but genuine place in Lotuko religious life. Its cycle measures the months and fixes the seasons for dances, age-grade observances and the rites of the rain-cult, so that the community's ceremonial calendar turns with its phases. Unlike the elaborated figure of Ajok, the moon is not the subject of a developed mythology among the Otuho, and scholarly notice of its personification is slight; it is best understood as a celestial power woven into the practical and ritual reckoning of time rather than a god with a narrative of its own.
Domains
- moon and time
Powers
- marks the months and the times of ceremony
Sources
- Among the Eastern Nilotic Lotuko the moon is a recognised celestial power whose phases order ritual and seasonal life, though it draws far less devotion than the high god Ajok.: Seligman, C. G., and Brenda Z. Seligman. Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan. London: George Routledge & Sons, 1932. (primary); Baker, Samuel White. The Albert N'yanza, Great Basin of the Nile. London: Macmillan, 1866 (early observation of Latooka custom). (secondary)