Headrattle
2003-12-12, 11:41 PM
Ever wonder what all those Bases mean? Well I figured it out and I had some time to waste.
Hossin - Mayan
Mulac
A Mayan giant, one of the Bacabs. Mulac stands in the north. His color is white.
Chac
The Mayan god of fertility and agriculture, the one who sends thunder and rain. Later he appears as one of the Bacabs, a group of four protective deities, where Chac is the personification of the east. The center of his cult was in Chichen Itzan (Yucatan). He is the Tlaloc of the Aztec and the rain god Cocijo of the Zapotec. Chac is portrayed with two curling fangs, a long turned-up nose and tears streaming from his wide eyes. His hair was made up of a tangle of knots.
Ixtab
Ixtab is the Maya goddess of the noose and the gallows. She is also the protector of those who committed suicide. It was believed that those who committed suicide or died by hanging, together with slain warriors, sacrificial victums, priests, and woman who died in childbirth, went straight to eternal rest in paradise. Ixtab gathered them and brought them there.
Naum
The Mayan god who created mind and thought.
Zotz
The Mayan bat-god of caves, and the patron of the Zotzil Indians in Chiapas (Mexico) near the Pacific Ocean. Zotz appears in many Central-American creation myths.
Acan
The god of wine in Mayan mythology.
Ghanon (Ghanan?)
A Mayan god of agriculture.
Hurakan
Hurakan is the ancient Mayan god of wind and storm. He visits the anger of the gods upon humanity by bringing about the Flood. He is a creator god who according to legend dwelt in the mists hanging over the primeval flood, in the form of the wind, ceaselessly repeating the word "earth" until the solid world rose from the seas. When the gods became angry with the first human beings, Hurukan unleashed the deluge which destroyed them. From his name the word 'hurricane' is derived. Hurakan means "one-legged".
Kisin
The Mayan god of earthquakes, often taken to be another form of the god of the
underworld Cizin.
Bitol
A Mayan sky god, one of the seven gods who created the world and the humans.
Voltan
A Mayan god of the earth.
Solsar - Egyption
Seth
The ancient Egyptian god of chaos, the embodiment of hostility and even of outright evil. He is also a god of war, deserts, storms, and foreign lands. As the god of deserts he protects the caravans which travel through the desert, but he also causes sandstorms which bring him into conflict with the fertility god Osiris. The two are adversaries and in the Osiris myths, Seth killed his brother and scattered the remains all over Egypt. Seth belongs to the Ennead of Heliopolis and is the son of Geb and Nut (or Re and Nut). He is the brother of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys, who is sometimes given as his consort, although Seth is more commonly associated with the foreign, Semitic goddesses Astarte and Anat.
Bastet
The Egyptian cat-headed goddess, Bastet was strictly a solar deity until the arrival of Greek influence on Egyptian society, when she became a lunar goddess due to the Greeks associating her with their Artemis. Dating from the 2nd Dynasty (roughly 2890-2686 BCE), Bastet was originally portrayed as either a wild desert cat or as a lioness, and only became associated with the domesticated feline around 1000 BCE. She was commonly paired with Sakhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Memphis, Wadjet, and Hathor. Bastet was the "Daughter of Ra", a designation that placed her in the same ranks as such goddesses as Maat and Tefnut. Additionally, Bastet was one of the "Eyes of Ra", the title of an "avenger" god who is sent out specifically to lay waste
to the enemies of Egypt and her gods.
Hapi
The Egyptian solar deity and the symbolization of the annual flood of the Nile River, which deposited rich silt on the banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops.
Mont
An alternative name for the god Menthu, in Egyptian mythology. Menthu was a hawk-god of war.
Thoth
Thoth was the Egyptian god of the moon (lunar deity), wisdom, writing, magic, and measurement of time, among other things.
Sobek
In Egyptian mythology, Sobek was the crocodile-god who symbolized the fertility of the Nile River and the authority of the pharaohs.
Horus
Horus is the Falcon headed god of ancient Egyptian mythology. Like many other gods the nature of what he was and the legends and stories that went with him changed over the course of history.
Amun
A major Egyptian deity, in the native language Amun, "the hidden one" (alternative spelling "Amon"). He was one of the Ogdoad. He was married to Ipet.
Aton
The name of the visible solar disc in ancient Egypt. Originally a manifestation of the sun god, Aten (Aton) became the only true sun god during the reign of pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1367 - 1350 BCE). The sun gods Re and Atum lost much of their importance during this period. In some of the older sources, it is stated that Amenhotep, who later assumed the name Akhenaten, attempted to establish a monotheistic cult with Aten as the sole deity and that after his death Egypt returned to polytheism. However, Akhenaten held other deities in reverence too, and his Atenism was not entirely monotheism. He did build the city Akhetaten (modern Tel el-Amarna) and erected a huge Aten temple at Karnak, but the city was abandoned after his death and the temple of Aten was destroyed by his successors.
Cyssor - African
Faro
The sky and water god of the Bambara (Mali; West Africa). He became pregnant by the rocking of the universe, and he gave birth to various twins, the ancestors of the human race. Faro gives water to all living creatures, and taught mankind the use of words, tools, agriculture, and fishing. The omni-present spirits serve as his messengers and representatives. He is continually reorganizing the cosmos, and every four hundred years he returns to the earth to verify that everything is still in harmony.
Ekera
In the religion of the Oromo of Ethiopia, the afterworld. Life after death is lived theree as a shadowlike existence.
Chuku
The supreme deity of the Ibo (the Calabar district, eastern Nigeria), Chuku is the creator, and the Ibo believe that all good comes from him. He is the creator and brings the rains that makes the plants grow. Certain trees are dedicated to him, and in bushes and under trees sacrifices are made to him. His wife is Ala, who is also given as his daughter. The sun is his symbol.
Gunuku (Gunuko?)
One of the principal deities of the Nupe of Northern Nigeria. He has been retained in the New World, where he figures in the African cults of Brazil.
Aja
This forest goddess is honored by the Yoruba people of Nigeria. She teaches her faithful the use of medicinal herbs found in the African forests.
Orisha
The Yoruba word for god.
Shango
The god of thunder and the ancestor of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He is the son of Yemaja the mother goddess and protector of birth. Shango (Xango) has three wives: Oya, who stole Shango's secrets of magic; Oschun, the river goddess who is Shango's favorite because of her culinary abilities; and Oba, who tried to win his love by offering her ear for him to eat. He sent her away in anger and she became the river Oba, which is very turbulent where it meets the river Oschun.
Nzame
The high god of the Fan people of the Congo.
Wele
The supreme god of the Kavirondo (Vugusu) in Kenya. He first created the heavens, the sun and the moon, and the other celestial bodies. Finally he created the earth and mankind. He appears in two guises: as Omuwanga he is the benign 'white' god, and as Gumali he is the 'black' god who brings misfortune.
Bomazi
An ancestral deity of the Bushongo and other peoples of the Congo.
Mukuru
The ancestral god and creator god of the Herero bushmen of Namibia. The benevolent Mukuru, all alone with no parents or companions, shows his kindness trough life-giving rain, healing the sick and upholding the very old. The Herero believe that their tribal chief is the incarnation of Mukuru and that he continues Mukuru's task as a bringer of culture. Death is seen by them as the calling home of one of the god's children.
Pamba
The creator and sustainer of life in Ovambo mythology. The matrilineal Ovambo declare, 'the mother of pots is a hole in the ground; the mother of people is god.'
Tore
In the African Pygmy mythology Tore is a god of the forests and hunting.
Leza
Leza, the supreme god of the Central African people, gave the humans their customs. He created the world and ruled the sky. He created rain and when he blew, it became windy, and it thundered when he beat his rugs. Because he was growing old, he could not hear the people's prayers very well.
Itan
The concept of the Itan is vital in understanding Yoruba mythology. The word refers to the sum total of all the myths, songs, histories and other cultural concepts which make up the Yoruban religion and society.
Honsi
Honsi and Honsu are a pair of mythical twins who figure in the enfants terribles category of Dahomean folktales. In these stories, the magical exploits of these twins is always the point of a given tale.
Kaang
Creator God of the Botswana Bushmen. Kaang is said to have made all things, but met with such opposition in the world that he went away. He is regarded as the god of natural phenomena, present in all things, but especially the mantis and caterpillar. Receiving disobedience from the first men he had created, Kaang sent fire and destruction to Earth, and removed his abode into the top of the sky. Kaang has many myths attached to him, and is almost figured as an epic hero himself. One of the myths concerns his being eaten by an ogre, who then vomited him back up. Another relates to the occasion that he was killed by thorns. The ants picked his bones clean, but Kaang reassembled his skeleton and rose again.
Hossin - Mayan
Mulac
A Mayan giant, one of the Bacabs. Mulac stands in the north. His color is white.
Chac
The Mayan god of fertility and agriculture, the one who sends thunder and rain. Later he appears as one of the Bacabs, a group of four protective deities, where Chac is the personification of the east. The center of his cult was in Chichen Itzan (Yucatan). He is the Tlaloc of the Aztec and the rain god Cocijo of the Zapotec. Chac is portrayed with two curling fangs, a long turned-up nose and tears streaming from his wide eyes. His hair was made up of a tangle of knots.
Ixtab
Ixtab is the Maya goddess of the noose and the gallows. She is also the protector of those who committed suicide. It was believed that those who committed suicide or died by hanging, together with slain warriors, sacrificial victums, priests, and woman who died in childbirth, went straight to eternal rest in paradise. Ixtab gathered them and brought them there.
Naum
The Mayan god who created mind and thought.
Zotz
The Mayan bat-god of caves, and the patron of the Zotzil Indians in Chiapas (Mexico) near the Pacific Ocean. Zotz appears in many Central-American creation myths.
Acan
The god of wine in Mayan mythology.
Ghanon (Ghanan?)
A Mayan god of agriculture.
Hurakan
Hurakan is the ancient Mayan god of wind and storm. He visits the anger of the gods upon humanity by bringing about the Flood. He is a creator god who according to legend dwelt in the mists hanging over the primeval flood, in the form of the wind, ceaselessly repeating the word "earth" until the solid world rose from the seas. When the gods became angry with the first human beings, Hurukan unleashed the deluge which destroyed them. From his name the word 'hurricane' is derived. Hurakan means "one-legged".
Kisin
The Mayan god of earthquakes, often taken to be another form of the god of the
underworld Cizin.
Bitol
A Mayan sky god, one of the seven gods who created the world and the humans.
Voltan
A Mayan god of the earth.
Solsar - Egyption
Seth
The ancient Egyptian god of chaos, the embodiment of hostility and even of outright evil. He is also a god of war, deserts, storms, and foreign lands. As the god of deserts he protects the caravans which travel through the desert, but he also causes sandstorms which bring him into conflict with the fertility god Osiris. The two are adversaries and in the Osiris myths, Seth killed his brother and scattered the remains all over Egypt. Seth belongs to the Ennead of Heliopolis and is the son of Geb and Nut (or Re and Nut). He is the brother of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys, who is sometimes given as his consort, although Seth is more commonly associated with the foreign, Semitic goddesses Astarte and Anat.
Bastet
The Egyptian cat-headed goddess, Bastet was strictly a solar deity until the arrival of Greek influence on Egyptian society, when she became a lunar goddess due to the Greeks associating her with their Artemis. Dating from the 2nd Dynasty (roughly 2890-2686 BCE), Bastet was originally portrayed as either a wild desert cat or as a lioness, and only became associated with the domesticated feline around 1000 BCE. She was commonly paired with Sakhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Memphis, Wadjet, and Hathor. Bastet was the "Daughter of Ra", a designation that placed her in the same ranks as such goddesses as Maat and Tefnut. Additionally, Bastet was one of the "Eyes of Ra", the title of an "avenger" god who is sent out specifically to lay waste
to the enemies of Egypt and her gods.
Hapi
The Egyptian solar deity and the symbolization of the annual flood of the Nile River, which deposited rich silt on the banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops.
Mont
An alternative name for the god Menthu, in Egyptian mythology. Menthu was a hawk-god of war.
Thoth
Thoth was the Egyptian god of the moon (lunar deity), wisdom, writing, magic, and measurement of time, among other things.
Sobek
In Egyptian mythology, Sobek was the crocodile-god who symbolized the fertility of the Nile River and the authority of the pharaohs.
Horus
Horus is the Falcon headed god of ancient Egyptian mythology. Like many other gods the nature of what he was and the legends and stories that went with him changed over the course of history.
Amun
A major Egyptian deity, in the native language Amun, "the hidden one" (alternative spelling "Amon"). He was one of the Ogdoad. He was married to Ipet.
Aton
The name of the visible solar disc in ancient Egypt. Originally a manifestation of the sun god, Aten (Aton) became the only true sun god during the reign of pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1367 - 1350 BCE). The sun gods Re and Atum lost much of their importance during this period. In some of the older sources, it is stated that Amenhotep, who later assumed the name Akhenaten, attempted to establish a monotheistic cult with Aten as the sole deity and that after his death Egypt returned to polytheism. However, Akhenaten held other deities in reverence too, and his Atenism was not entirely monotheism. He did build the city Akhetaten (modern Tel el-Amarna) and erected a huge Aten temple at Karnak, but the city was abandoned after his death and the temple of Aten was destroyed by his successors.
Cyssor - African
Faro
The sky and water god of the Bambara (Mali; West Africa). He became pregnant by the rocking of the universe, and he gave birth to various twins, the ancestors of the human race. Faro gives water to all living creatures, and taught mankind the use of words, tools, agriculture, and fishing. The omni-present spirits serve as his messengers and representatives. He is continually reorganizing the cosmos, and every four hundred years he returns to the earth to verify that everything is still in harmony.
Ekera
In the religion of the Oromo of Ethiopia, the afterworld. Life after death is lived theree as a shadowlike existence.
Chuku
The supreme deity of the Ibo (the Calabar district, eastern Nigeria), Chuku is the creator, and the Ibo believe that all good comes from him. He is the creator and brings the rains that makes the plants grow. Certain trees are dedicated to him, and in bushes and under trees sacrifices are made to him. His wife is Ala, who is also given as his daughter. The sun is his symbol.
Gunuku (Gunuko?)
One of the principal deities of the Nupe of Northern Nigeria. He has been retained in the New World, where he figures in the African cults of Brazil.
Aja
This forest goddess is honored by the Yoruba people of Nigeria. She teaches her faithful the use of medicinal herbs found in the African forests.
Orisha
The Yoruba word for god.
Shango
The god of thunder and the ancestor of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He is the son of Yemaja the mother goddess and protector of birth. Shango (Xango) has three wives: Oya, who stole Shango's secrets of magic; Oschun, the river goddess who is Shango's favorite because of her culinary abilities; and Oba, who tried to win his love by offering her ear for him to eat. He sent her away in anger and she became the river Oba, which is very turbulent where it meets the river Oschun.
Nzame
The high god of the Fan people of the Congo.
Wele
The supreme god of the Kavirondo (Vugusu) in Kenya. He first created the heavens, the sun and the moon, and the other celestial bodies. Finally he created the earth and mankind. He appears in two guises: as Omuwanga he is the benign 'white' god, and as Gumali he is the 'black' god who brings misfortune.
Bomazi
An ancestral deity of the Bushongo and other peoples of the Congo.
Mukuru
The ancestral god and creator god of the Herero bushmen of Namibia. The benevolent Mukuru, all alone with no parents or companions, shows his kindness trough life-giving rain, healing the sick and upholding the very old. The Herero believe that their tribal chief is the incarnation of Mukuru and that he continues Mukuru's task as a bringer of culture. Death is seen by them as the calling home of one of the god's children.
Pamba
The creator and sustainer of life in Ovambo mythology. The matrilineal Ovambo declare, 'the mother of pots is a hole in the ground; the mother of people is god.'
Tore
In the African Pygmy mythology Tore is a god of the forests and hunting.
Leza
Leza, the supreme god of the Central African people, gave the humans their customs. He created the world and ruled the sky. He created rain and when he blew, it became windy, and it thundered when he beat his rugs. Because he was growing old, he could not hear the people's prayers very well.
Itan
The concept of the Itan is vital in understanding Yoruba mythology. The word refers to the sum total of all the myths, songs, histories and other cultural concepts which make up the Yoruban religion and society.
Honsi
Honsi and Honsu are a pair of mythical twins who figure in the enfants terribles category of Dahomean folktales. In these stories, the magical exploits of these twins is always the point of a given tale.
Kaang
Creator God of the Botswana Bushmen. Kaang is said to have made all things, but met with such opposition in the world that he went away. He is regarded as the god of natural phenomena, present in all things, but especially the mantis and caterpillar. Receiving disobedience from the first men he had created, Kaang sent fire and destruction to Earth, and removed his abode into the top of the sky. Kaang has many myths attached to him, and is almost figured as an epic hero himself. One of the myths concerns his being eaten by an ogre, who then vomited him back up. Another relates to the occasion that he was killed by thorns. The ants picked his bones clean, but Kaang reassembled his skeleton and rose again.