Vainakh mythology
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The Vainakh people of the North Caucasus include the modern Chechens and Ingush, who are today predominantly Muslim in religion. Little is known of their pre-Islamic pagan mythology but scholars have managed to reconstruct the basic pantheon. Some of the names of the deities are:
- Deela or Dela. The supreme god. Creator of heaven and earth and man and woman.
- Deela-Malkh. The sun god. Festival on December 25.
- Seela or Sela. The god of the stars, thunder and lightning.
- Maetsill. God of agriculture and the harvest and protector of the weak.
- Ishtar-Deela. Lord of life and death and ruler of the underworld ("Deeli-Malkhi"), responsible for punishing the wicked.
- Molyz-Yerdi. The war god who brought the Vainakh victory.
- Elta God of the hunt and animals and - before Maetsill took over his role - the harvest. He was blinded in one eye for disobedience by his father, Deela.
- Amgali(-Yerdi) A minor deity.
- Taamash(-Yerdi) ("Lord of wonder") Lord of fate. Usually tiny in size but becomes gigantic when angered.
- Tusholi. Goddess of fertility.
- Dartsa-Naana ("Blizzard mother"). Goddess of blizzards and avalanches.
- Mokha-Naana. Goddess of the winds.
- Seelast ("Oriole") Protectress of virgins.
- Meler Yerdi. God of plants and cereal beverages.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Amjad Jaimoukha The Chechens: a Handbook (Routledge/Curzon, 2005) pp.109-111 and appendix pp.252-253