Earth Goddess
Mossi · deity · Mossi traditional religion; autochthonous earth cult · Recorded classification
Earth-cult power entered as a deity. Mooré 'tẽnga' = earth/land; the earth-priest is 'tengsoba' (lord of the earth) or 'tengdana'. Sources: Skinner (1964); Dim Delobsom (1932).
Domains
- earth land
- fertility agriculture
- justice oath
Powers
- to grant or withhold the fertility of the soil
- to punish the spilling of blood and the breaking of oaths upon the land
Epithets
- tenga the earth / the landE. P. Skinner, The Mossi of the Upper Volta (1964) (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: Sky GodReciprocal of mossi_wende.spouse — Sky-god and earth-goddess form the complementary divine pair of Mossi religion; Tenga is commonly spoken of as Wende's consort.E. P. Skinner, The Mossi of the Upper Volta (Stanford 1964) (secondary)
Sources
- Tenga (Tenge), the Mossi earth-goddess/earth-power, controls the fertility of the land and is the guardian of oaths and morality, punishing bloodshed and broken vows; she is paired with the sky-god Wende and served by hereditary earth-priests (tengsoba/tengdana) at earth-shrines.: Elliott P. Skinner, The Mossi of the Upper Volta (1964) (secondary); Wikipedia, 'Tengsoba', on the tengsoba/tengdana earth-priesthood and earth-shrines (secondary)