Lunar deity

Selene and Endymion

In mythology, a lunar deity is a god or goddess of the Moon, sometimes as a personification. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Some form of Moon worship can be found in most ancient religions.

Moon in religion and mythology

The monthly cycle of the Moon, in contrast to the annual cycle of the Sun's path, has been implicitly linked to women's menstrual cycles by many cultures, as evident in the links between the words for menstruation and for Moon in many resultant languages, though this identification was not universal as demonstrated by the fact that not all moon deities are female. Many well-known mythologies feature female lunar deities, such as the Greek goddess Selene, the Roman goddess Luna, and the Chinese goddess Chang'e.

Male lunar gods are also frequent, such as Sin of the Mesopotamians, Máni of the Germanic tribes, Tsukuyomi of the Japanese, and Igaluk/Alignak of the Inuit. The ancient Egyptians had several male moon gods, for example, Ibis and Khonsu of Thebes. Thoth was also a lunar deity, but his character is considerably more complex than Ibis and Khonsu. Set represented the Moon in the Egyptian Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days of papyrus Cairo 86637. These cultures usually feature female sun goddesses. An exception is Hinduism; featuring both male and female aspects of the solar divine.

The original Proto-Indo-European lunar deity appears to have been male. Several goddesses, like Artemis or Hecate, did not originally have lunar aspects, and only acquired them late in antiquity, due to syncretism with Selene/Luna, the de facto Greco-Roman lunar deity. In traditions with male gods, there is little evidence of such syncretism, though the Greek Hermes has been equated with the male Egyptian lunar god Thoth. In Greece proper, remnants of male moon gods are also seen with Menelaus.

Also of significance is that many religions and societies are oriented chronologically by the Moon, as opposed to the Sun. One common example is Hinduism in which the word Chandra means "moon" and has religious significance during many Hindu festivals (e.g. Karwa Chauth, Sankasht Chaturthi, and during eclipses). The ancient Germanic tribes were also known to have a lunar calendar.

The Moon features prominently in art and literature and also has a purported influence in human affairs, a belief that consistently remains a feature of astrology, though beliefs such as this are classified as pseudoscience.

List of moon deities

African

Name	Image	Mythology / Religion	Details
Ala		Igbo
Gleti		Dahomean
Mawu		Dahomean
Iah		Egyptian
iNyanga		Zulu	Goddess of the Moon
Khonsu		Egyptian
Djehuti		Egyptian
Ela-Opitan		Yoruba

Europe

Name	Image	Mythology / Religion	Details
Arianrhod		Welsh
Artemis		Greek	Artemis is the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals, chastity, and the Moon. She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. She would eventually be extensively syncretized with the Roman goddess Diana.
Artume		Etruscan
Ataegina		Lusitanian
Bendis		Thracian
Diana		Roman
Elatha		Irish	Elatha was a king of the Fomorians in Irish mythology. He succeeded his father Delbáeth and was replaced by his son Bres, mothered by Ériu.
Hecate		Greek
Hors		Slavic
Ilargi		Basque
Kuu		Finnish
Losna		Etruscan
Luna		Roman
Mano		Sámi
Máni		Norse
Meness		Latvian
Phoebe		Greek
Selene		Greek
Triple Goddess		Wicca

Asia

Ainu mythology

• God Kunnechup Kamui

Anatolian

• God Kaskuh (Hittite mythology)
• God Men (Phrygian mythology)

Chinese mythology

• Jie Lin, God that carries the moon across the night sky
• Chang Xi Mother of twelve moons corresponding to the twelve months of the year
• Chang'e Immortal that lives on the moon
• Tai yin xing jun (太陰星君 Tàiyīn xīng jūn ) of Investiture of the Gods in taoism and Chinese folk religion
• Tu'er Ye Rabbit god that lives on the moon
• Wu Gang Immortal that lives on the moon.

Elamite

• God Napir

Hindu Mythology

The Hindu moon god Chandra, riding his celestial chariot

• God Chandra or Soma, The moon god

Hurro-Urartian

• God Kusuh (Hurrian mythology)
• Goddess Selardi (Urartian mythology)

Indonesian mythology

• Goddess Ratih
• Goddess Silewe Nazarate

Japanese mythology

• God Tsukuyomi

Korean mythology

• Goddess Myeongwol

Mari mythology

• God Tõlze

Philippine mythology

• God Bulan/Libulan
• God/Goddess Mayari (gender depends on tribe)

Semitic mythology

• God Aglibol (Palmarene mythology)
• God Baal-hamon (Carthaginian religion)
• God Sin (Mesopotamian mythology)
• God Ta'lab (Arabian mythology)
• God Wadd (Minaean mythology)
• God Yarikh (Levantine mythology)

Turkic mythology

• God Ay Ata

Austronesian

• God Andriambahomanana (Malagasy mythology)
• Goddess Lona (Hawaiian mythology)
• God Avatea (Polynesian mythology)
• God Fati (Polynesian mythology)
• Goddess Hina (Polynesian mythology)
• Goddess Mahina (Polynesian mythology)
• God Marama (Polynesian mythology)

Australia

• God Bahloo (Australian Aboriginal mythology)
• God Kidili (Mandjindja mythology)
• God Ngalindi (Yolngu mythology)

Americas

Aztec mythology

• Goddess Coyolxauhqui
• Goddess Metztli
• God Tecciztecatl (see Metztli)

Cahuilla mythology

• Goddess Menily

Hopi mythology

• God Muuya

Incan mythology

• Goddess Mama Killa
• Goddess Ka-Ata-Killa
• God Coniraya

Inuit mythology

• God Alignak
• God Igaluk
• God Tarqiup Inua

Lakota mythology

• Goddess Hanwi

Maya mythology

• Goddess Awilix; Xbalanque was her mortal (male) incarnation
• Maya moon goddess

Muisca mythology

• Goddess Huitaca
• Goddess Chía

Pawnee mythology

• God Pah

Tupi Guarani mythology

• God Abaangui
• God/Goddess Arasy/Jasy (gender depends on tribe)

Voodoo

• God Kalfu