Nganasan · deity · Nganasan traditional religion; continuing · deity
Kou-nyamy, the Sun Mother, is one of the Nganasan 'mothers of the world' (nguo). The sun was personified as a maternal deity who confers warmth, light and life-energy on the world; like her sister-powers she was held visible but too great for direct human approach, and appeals reached her through sacrifice and the mediation of the shaman. Her name preserves the Nganasan word kou 'sun', and she is recorded in the standard ethnographies of the Taymyr Samoyeds.
Domains
sun and daylight
life energy and warmth
Powers
to warm and illuminate the world as the living sun