Brother Moon

Brother Moon, Hvresse, is the lunar luminary of Muscogee (Creek) tradition and the night counterpart of his sister the Sun. The two are paired as brother and sister, set in the sky together by the Master of Breath, and their relationship is the subject of the brother-and-sister-who-became-the-sun-and-moon narrative recorded among the Creek and neighbouring Southeastern peoples. The single Mvskoke word hvresse names both the moon and the month, reflecting the Moon's role as the measurer of lunar time. Lunar eclipses, like solar ones, were understood as the luminary being darkened or swallowed and were met with noise-making to drive off the threat.

Parentage

• parent: Master of Breath

Domains

• moon and night
• lunar months

Powers

• to light the night sky and mark out the months

Epithets

• HvresseJack B. Martin and Margaret McKane Mauldin, A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee, University of Nebraska Press, 2000. (secondary)

Relations

• sibling: Sister SunThe Moon and the Sun are the celestial brother and sister, paired in Creek and wider Southeastern tradition as the two great luminaries set in the sky together.Bill Grantham, Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians, University Press of Florida, 2002. (secondary)

Sources

• Brother Moon (Hvresse) is the male lunar luminary of Muscogee tradition, sibling of Sister Sun and creation of the Master of Breath, governing the night sky and the reckoning of the months.: Bill Grantham, Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians, University Press of Florida, 2002. (secondary); John R. Swanton, Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 88, Smithsonian Institution, 1929. (secondary)