Moon-God of the Mari

Meadow Mari ⟨Тылзе⟩ Tõlze (tylze 'moon, month'); fuller Tõlze Jumo. A solitary celestial power tied to Kugu Jumo as a manifestation; his marriage/birth guardianship complements the birth-mother Shochyn-Ava and the moon-god Tõlze appears in the standard lists of Mari deities.

Domains

• moon and night
• marriage and birth

Powers

• bears the moon through the night sky and marks the months
• watches over marriages and the safe bearing of children

Epithets

• Тылзе Юмо

Relations

• manifestation of: Great Sky-God of the Mari

Sources

• Holmberg, Uno (Harva). Finno-Ugric and Siberian Mythology (The Mythology of All Races, Vol. IV). Marshall Jones, 1927, Cheremis sections.
• Toidybekova, L. S. Mari Mythology: Encyclopedic Reference. Yoshkar-Ola, 2007 (Tõlze).