Varz

The moon is personified in Lezgic folk belief, including among the Tsakhur, as the younger brother of the Sun and the keeper of the months by which agrarian and ritual life was ordered. In the etiological tale shared across the Caucasus he is disfigured by his sister after an act of arrogance, and the shadowed patches on his face are the trace of the dough or mud she threw. Beyond this narrative the moon governed the timing of sowing, marriage, and festival, and its waxing and waning were watched for omens; the personified cult, like that of the sun, is documented mainly through calendar practice and everyday taboo.

Domains

• moon night
• lunar calendar

Powers

• govern the reckoning of months

Relations

• sibling: RağThe dark markings of the moon are explained as the mark left by his sister the Sun.Мифы народов мира. Энциклопедия. М., 1980, ст. «Кавказско-иберийских народов мифология» (secondary)

Sources

• The moon is a personified luminary in Lezgic folk religion, the brother of the Sun and the reckoner of the calendar, whose surface markings are explained by an etiological myth.: Мифы народов мира. Энциклопедия / Гл. ред. С. А. Токарев. М., 1980 (secondary); Булатова А. Г. Традиционные праздники и обряды народов горного Дагестана в XIX – начале XX в. Л.: Наука, 1988 (secondary)