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Today we will continue the lunar theme and talk about legends about the Moon. Every time I write an article that, in terms of content, is not directly related to the main topic of the blog (and a healthy lifestyle), bad thoughts come to me that I am doing the wrong thing. Then I asked myself:
“Are there things in the world around me that one way or another, directly or indirectly, do not affect my physical or mental health?” I didn't find such things. If you find it, please let me know.
Today it is difficult for you and me to imagine what the wonderful satellite of the Earth was for our ancestors. With what surprise and delight did primitive man watch the mysterious transformation of the Moon from a thin crescent into a huge lunar disk! Like a living being, she grew and waned, disappeared from the sky for a while and appeared again. In this immutable measured rhythm, the great harmony and order of the Universe was manifested. And it (rhythm) instilled in a person a sense of security in a world full of unknown secrets, threats and dangers.
Even though it was difficult to understand the laws of nature, to foresee the cataclysms it prepared, there was a real opportunity to grasp the passage of time, its rhythm and movement, and therefore begin to understand the Universe.
The fickle patroness of the night taught people to feel the measure of time, which was beyond their control and to which everything is subject. It was much easier to follow the changes, its movement among the stars than the movement of the sun. Therefore, probably, the cult of the Moon and legends about it developed among many ancient civilizations earlier than the cult of worshipers of the Sun.
Legends about the Moon in Ancient India
In ancient Indian myths, our neighbor discovers her relationship with the sacred plant soma. The divine drink from soma, according to the legend of the peoples of Ancient India, bestows immortality and strength for exploits. Over time, the sacred plant turns into the moon god, the patron saint of the plant kingdom (it is believed that moonlight promotes the growth of herbs, and the planet itself is associated with dew and moisture).
But her influence is not limited to this. The creator of the world, Brahma, gives the planets, stars, sacrifices and the lunar priests who create them to the power of the moon god Soma.
Eclipses of the Moon and Sun have their own legendary explanation, according to which these planets have a long-time sworn enemy Rahu. The epic tells: when the gods tasted the drink that bestows immortality, this enemy, who does not have divine rank, tricked himself into gaining access to it and drank a few sips. The Sun and Moon noticed this and informed the gods. The gods killed Rahu, but only the body perished, over which the divine drink did not have time to spill. His head remained and gained immortality. Separated from her body, she rose into the sky and wanders there in an attempt to take revenge on the Moon and the Sun. Sometimes Rahu manages to swallow his enemies and then a solar or lunar eclipse occurs.
You can also read about Sumerian and Greek, and at the same time subscribe for blog updates and receive the latest articles directly to your inbox.
The moon harbors powerful forces of nature. Each of us probably experienced these forces when we looked at the full Moon in the clear night sky and could not take our eyes off it. The moonlight mysteriously attracted and bewitched. And it is this magical attraction that is the reason that the Moon has been a central part of numerous myths and legends in the most diverse cultures that have ever existed on Earth. Lunar folklore has always been associated with love, purity and beauty.
Here is one of the beautiful legends about the Moon
The sun was in love with the moon and wanted to marry her. The night traveler was not particularly enthusiastic about this desire and came up with a condition. She told the Sun that she would marry him if she was given clothes that would fit her size as a gift. The almighty lover immediately gave his beloved the most beautiful robe, embroidered with silver and gold. But he did not suit the capricious Moon. Then the robe was replaced, but it was also not suitable for the bride. The clothes were either too big or too small. The unlucky groom did not understand the purpose of the Moon: after all, it is never the same size, passing through different phases every day.
Poor Sun is still trying to find clothes that fit his bride's size.
Let's bring a little romance to our knowledge about the celestial bodies. I’ll tell you a little about the most famous legends and myths of the world about the Moon.
moon and sun
The Sun was in love with the Moon and wanted to marry her. The Moon did not want to get married, but instead of refusing, she told the Sun that she wanted to receive gifts from him the size of the Moon itself. The sun agreed and gave his beloved the most beautiful clothes. But the marriage was never consummated. It is believed that the Sun still makes gifts to the Moon. During the full moon she wears one outfit, and during the new moon she wears another.
The Myth of the Necklace
There is a legend about the existence of a great queen who wore a beautiful diamond necklace and only took it off before going to bed. But one day the king ordered her not to wear this necklace, considering it inappropriate. After the queen removed the jewelry from her neck, a thief immediately stole it. It later turned out that the thief was the King of the Galaxy. The queen could not take the necklace from him. So, the diamond became the moon of the galaxy, illuminating its darkness.
Another legend tells us about a time when there was neither moon nor sun on earth. Then one coyote said to the eagle: “Together we can catch more prey than alone.” Coyote couldn't see in the dark, so he suggested that the eagle go in search of light. Flying over the earth, an eagle suddenly suddenly noticed a tribe of dancing Indians.
They had two chests. One with the moon and the other with the sun. The coyote and the eagle stole the chests and ran away. After they opened them, two glowing balls immediately flew out. The sun flew up and settled directly in the sky. And Luna, not knowing where to go, began to wander around the world.
But along with ancient legends, there are also modern stories related to the Moon.
When the Moon is not visible, it is believed that this affects a person’s behavior, which can result in crimes, including suicide. High birth rates are also associated with the moon, and in some countries people try to determine the sex of the child by the phase of the moon.
But despite the antiquity or modernity of these legends, everyone still admires her unapproachable beauty!
The moon always faces us with one side. The reverse side was seen only in 1959 - with the help of photo-television cameras of the Luna-3 interplanetary apparatus. There is a third side of the Moon - a secret one. It cannot be seen with the eyes, but it is discussed much more often and more fiercely than the two observed.
HOLLOW MOON
After Galileo Galilei looked at the Moon through his telescope in 1610 and saw there mountain ranges, canyons and other objects characteristic of earthly geography, European science unanimously decided: our natural satellite is a smaller copy of the Earth. Astronomers continued to think so for more than two centuries, but the advent of more powerful telescopes convinced scientists: although the Moon is similar in appearance to the Earth, it does not have a dense atmosphere, and the notorious “seas” are simply areas covered with darker rocks.
However, the hope of finding “brothers in mind” on the Moon still remained, because no one could know what was going on in its depths or on the invisible back side. One of the most original theories argued that nature on the Moon lives cyclically. When the two-week lunar day begins, the frozen air melts, evaporates, creating an atmosphere, and moon creatures crawl out of cracks and cracks to bask in the sun. This hypothesis, for example, was played out by H.G. Wells in his famous novel "First Men on the Moon"(1901). According to another version, the far side of the Moon, under the tidal influence of the Earth, should be concave, with a large number of depressions, due to which remnants of the atmosphere can be preserved there. And this option was also reflected in literature - in Jerzy Zulawski’s trilogy, consisting of novels "On the Silver Planet" (1903), "Winner"(1910) and "Old Earth" (1911).
The longer people watched the Moon, the clearer it became that there was no life there. Although in the 1920s they still wrote that there might be vegetation in the hot vents of volcanoes, this was already perceived as science fiction: according to the scientific community, nothing more complex than single-celled microorganisms could have arisen on the Moon. The Soviet interplanetary spacecraft Luna-3 put an end to this issue, photographing the far side of the Moon on October 7, 1959. The earthlings saw in the photo the same dead surface, sprinkled with dust.
However, despondency did not reign for long among the dreamers. Soon the theory of the hollow moon became very popular. Since the 19th century, it was believed that the Moon was formed from protoplanetary material along with the Earth or broke away from it later. Thus, the density of the night star should be close to the density of our planet. However, the apparent size of the Moon and its estimated mass indicated that the density of the satellite was much lower - about 60% of Earth's. In 1962, Dr. Gordon MacDonald of NASA stated that there was only one explanation for the abnormally low density: the Moon is hollow! He was supported by Dr. Harold Urey, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry.
Science fiction writers and ufologists latched on to the idea. They began to write that life should have developed inside the Moon, that there was a Selenite civilization there, and so on in the same spirit. The most famous work of that time, which popularized the theory of the hollow moon, is the fantastic story by Nikolai Nosov "Dunno on the Moon" (1964–1965).
But perhaps the most extravagant hypothesis was proposed by journalist Mikhail Khvastunov (Vasiliev) and engineer Alexander Shcherbakov in the article “The Moon is an Artificial Satellite!”, published on January 10, 1968 in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. In it they claim that the Moon is a colossal spaceship that arrived from the depths of space, and explain all the oddities with this. The thickness of the metal walls of the spaceship reaches several tens of kilometers; on top they are covered with a special heat-protective coating, and the beds of the lunar seas are protection restored after a collision with massive meteoroids. The authors of the article also calculated the age of the ship - 40 billion years, that is, much older than our Universe! They say that the builders of the Moon could also be the creators of our entire world, in fact gods! Maybe aliens are still buried in the inner cavity of the Moon? Or maybe they don’t rest, but interfere in the affairs of our civilization?..
The theory collapsed under the pressure of facts. At first, astrophysicists used models to show that the existence of a hollow Moon is impossible - gravitational forces will simply destroy a sphere of such dimensions if it is made of materials known to us. And the automatic seismographs installed by the astronauts of the American Apollo program confirmed that there are no significant cavities inside the Moon, but there is a small core - its insignificant mass explains the noticeable discrepancy in average density.
It would seem that everything is clear. But then lovers of conspiracy theories proposed another theory: who can confirm that the Americans were even on the Moon?
| THE MOON WAS OURS! |
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While American conspiracy theorists, with tenacity worthy of better use, prove to the whole world that their compatriots never flew to the moon, Russian filmmakers gave impetus to the birth of a new patriotic legend. Among people interested in the history of astronautics, rumors have long been circulating that even before Yuri Gagarin’s orbital flight, teams of cosmonauts were recruited, and some of those who were selected even managed to make a “rocket flight.” The rumors have a serious basis: indeed, in the 1950s, Soviet test pilots took part in experimental launches of rocket aircraft. Creators of the mockumentary "First on the Moon"(2005) decided that the history of experimental aircraft seemed "small" and suggested that in 1938 the Soviet Union had created all the conditions for launching a spacecraft to the Moon. The film was shot in the spirit of investigative reporting: the viewer is shown documents, newsreels, secret recordings, and eyewitness accounts. Overall, one gets the impression of a colossal scientific and technological breakthrough that ensured a dramatic flight and the successful landing of a Soviet officer on the Moon. It's a pity that this is just a fantasy... |
PAPER MOON
The first statements that the flights of American astronauts to the Moon were staged were made back in the days when NASA sent one expedition after another there. But then they did not arouse interest.
In total, nine expeditions took place between 1968 and 1972 - six with landings on the surface and three without landings. Then the American government froze, and a little later finally closed the Apollo program: the main goal - to get ahead of the Russians - was achieved, and each new space flight was very expensive for taxpayers.
Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of various documents, scientific articles, popular books, documentaries, interviews and memoirs of astronauts were published over the years of the Apollo program and after its completion, there were people who questioned all this immense wealth of evidence. In 1976, American writer Bill Kaysing published the book “We Never Went to the Moon,” in which he argued that all the flights of the Apollo astronauts were faked, and those scientists and astronauts who spoke out against the global deception were eliminated. The reasons for this action are unclear, but there is a version that Kaysing simply wanted to improve his financial situation. However, we will not violate the presumption of innocence (we will return to it later!) and will assume that the writer was sincere in his suspicions.
Bill Kaysing's main complaints were as follows: technology did not allow sending a man to the moon; there are no stars in the photographs taken there; the photographic film used by the astronauts was supposed to melt when exposed to sunlight; there are many optical anomalies in the photos themselves; the film footage shows a waving flag, which cannot happen in a vacuum; After landing, a crater should have formed, which is not observed.
Other conspiracy theorists, among whom there were quite a few technical specialists, began to join the lunar conspiracy theory, so it began to acquire an aura of plausibility. Today it looks something like this: the American government initially knew that it would not be able to cope with the daunting task of sending pilots to the Moon before the end of the decade, as President John F. Kennedy bequeathed, so in parallel with the usual preparations, it launched a project to create a fake, in which the intelligence agencies took part , agencies, corporations, astronauts, flight directors and a whole army of engineers. The main role in this case went to the great director Stanley Kubrick, who filmed historical footage of the moon landing in Hollywood pavilions.
The lunar conspiracy theory remains popular to this day, because time passes and there are fewer and fewer direct participants in the events, and more and more people want to “expose” them. At some point, NASA simply stopped engaging in discussions with conspiracy theorists, publishing refutations, etc., because there was more material evidence of the reality of the flight, including the lunar soil brought by the astronauts (which any competent specialist can order for research) and the freely accessible archive of documents. than enough. For example, anyone who even slightly knows the history of astronautics can easily answer why the film in the astronauts’ cameras did not melt. Exactly for the same reason why the film did not melt in the Soviet interplanetary spacecraft Luna-3: special thermal protection was provided for it.
Although supporters of the lunar conspiracy theory love to argue and create scandals, they should not be given the opportunity to get carried away by “inconsistencies” (after all, with the help of amateurish quibbles and demagogy, you can prove anything). It is enough to recall the presumption of innocence, which applies to any type of human activity. The fact of the presence/absence of staging must be proven not by NASA employees (the accused party), but by the supporters of the theory themselves (the accusing party), and the evidence presented should not be indirect (“inconsistencies”, film defects, etc.), but direct and obvious: at least - authentic documents confirming the existence of the staging project, or, at most, direct inspection of the places where the astronauts landed. But to this day, any discussion about the reality of lunar flights comes down to disputes on forums.
| LUNAR MICROBES |
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Long before Apollo launched to the Moon, the scientific community was firmly convinced that lunar conditions were unsuitable for the emergence and development of even the simplest forms of life. Nevertheless, NASA experts insisted on the use of special measures that would prevent the possible penetration of lunar microorganisms to Earth. For this purpose, the Lunar Reception Laboratory was built on the territory of the Manned Space Flight Center in Houston. It housed three zones: the crew zone, designed for isolated living for three weeks; an area for lunar soil samples with vacuum chambers where the samples were stored and analyzed; administrative area with laboratories, offices and conference rooms. The first two zones were separated from the outside world by a “biological barrier.” Immediately after landing in the Pacific Ocean, the astronauts transferred from the ship's command module to an inflatable boat, donned biohazard suits, and then transferred to a pressurized van in which they were transported to Houston. Despite these tricks, in the entire history of the Apollo program, not a single lunar microbe was caught. |
RUSSIAN MOON
During the Second World War, the engineers of the Third Reich managed to generate several projects that were considered science fiction at that time: heavy ballistic missiles, cruise self-guided bombs, rocket fighters, electronic computers, a uranium reactor for submarines, flying disc-shaped vehicles. Specialists from the anti-Hitler coalition troops, who worked with captured documents and prototypes after the war, were shocked by the scale of these project developments. It seemed that the “gloomy German genius” had indeed made a breakthrough into the future. Therefore, almost immediately after the war, rumors spread: if the Nazis had such unique equipment, then perhaps some of the leaders of the Third Reich managed to escape from the burning Berlin on rockets or disk-shaped devices, hid in a secret place and are now preparing a monstrous armada to deliver a “retaliation strike” "?
The first to use this idea in a literary text was the American science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, who published the novel in 1947 "Rocket ship Galileo". The plot of the novel inadvertently gave rise to another conspiracy theory: the Nazis used their advanced technologies to get to the Moon, earthly governments know about this, but carefully hide everything so as not to provoke another world war. Subsequently, the theory became popular and was played out in comics, science fiction novels and ufological books. But the most original and absurd interpretation of this idea was shown by Finnish director Timo Vuorensola in the film "Iron Sky" (2012).
Could something like this really happen? Of course no. Despite certain successes, Hitler's engineers were unable to go beyond the boundaries of known technologies: neither ballistic missiles, nor disk-shaped aircraft, nor rocket planes developed speeds sufficient to enter the orbit of the Earth, much less the Moon.
In the 1990s, documents related to the Soviet lunar program were finally declassified. The names of the projects became known, technical descriptions of launch vehicles and spacecraft appeared, and memoirs of the developers of lunar technology began to be published. Of course, all this abundance of information did not go unnoticed by conspiracy theorists. A version has emerged that far from the whole truth about the space projects of the USSR has been revealed, that in fact, Soviet cosmonauts tried to land on the Moon twice and twice failed.
The first mythical attempt was made by Yuri Gagarin, who went to the Moon on the ship 7K-L1 (“Zond-4”). On March 2, 1968, it launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, circled the Moon, but something went wrong and the ship exploded. The death of the first cosmonaut was classified by the Soviet authorities, and twenty days later, on March 22, they staged his death in a banal plane crash.
In this story, lies are mixed with truth - Yuri Gagarin did participate in the launch of Zond-4, but as a member of the flight control group. Immediately after the launch, he went with a group of officers to Yevpatoria, where the Center for Long-Range Space Communications was located, to monitor the work of an unmanned ship, whose task was to fly around the Moon and return to Earth at the second cosmic speed. The ship actually lost control and was destroyed upon re-entry. Yuri Gagarin remained in Yevpatoria for some time and celebrated his birthday there on March 9 along with fellow cosmonauts and city residents.
Soviet cosmonauts made the second mythical attempt to fly to the Moon in November 1968, trying to get ahead of the launch of the American Apollo 8 expedition on the 7K-L1 (Zond-6) spacecraft. The spacecraft successfully flew around the natural satellite, but upon return the descent module crashed. It is clear that the authorities hid the fact of the presence of astronauts on board and the fact of their terrible death.
Such a launch took place in reality and went exactly as conspiracy theorists describe. Only there were no astronauts on board - the Zond spacecraft had not yet been adapted for human flight.
The main problem with the conspiracy version is that the cases described are in no way connected with the hypothetical landing of astronauts on the Moon. It requires a completely different ship, as well as a huge N-1 rocket, which, despite four launches, was never able to put a payload into orbit. If there is no corresponding rocket, there is no flight to the Moon. Which, however, doesn’t stop us from fantasizing about this topic, as the filmmakers did Apollo 18(2011), which shows with great “reliability” both the mythical “military” expedition of American astronauts and the remains of the Soviet cosmonaut who finally reached the Moon, after which he died in a battle with local aggressive life forms.
| MOON OF DOCTOR KATZ |
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In 1993, a nondescript brochure was published by a certain Doctor of Philology R.S. Katz entitled “The History of Soviet Science Fiction.” The book outlined in sufficient detail, with a large number of references and illustrations, the history of the formation of science fiction in the USSR, with lunar themes in the center of attention. However, connoisseurs of the genre immediately noticed many inconsistencies and anachronisms. A more careful study of the text showed: before us is a skillfully made hoax - a fantastic story about an alternative USSR, masquerading as a serious study. The author of the hoax turned out to be the well-known critic Roman Arbitman (you can read his detailed story about this book on page 32). Although the hoaxer’s plan was revealed, the story was so popular that some of the “facts” presented in it are still used in pseudo-documentary films dedicated to the “terrible secrets” of the Moon. And the text itself went through four editions. |
ALIEN MOON
If you think that the Hollow Moon proponents have abandoned the development of their theory, then you are mistaken. On the contrary, she received new “facts” to support her. Conspiracy theorists asked the question: why, in fact, did the United States so suddenly interrupt flights to the Moon, and the USSR not only did not try to “catch up and overtake”, but also classified its lunar projects for decades? And they instantly came up with an answer: because the Moon is already occupied - by a civilization that is much more powerful than the earth’s.
The prerequisites for the emergence of such a theory appeared a long time ago. Astronomers from Galileo's time noticed strange flashes on the lunar surface, but mistook them for volcanic eruptions. When observations became quite regular, there was a need to record “short-term lunar phenomena” (or LTP - from Lunar Transient Phenomena). Since 1957, they have been included in a special catalog, divided into several types: changes in the appearance and clarity of the image of relief details; changes in brightness and sudden flashes; change in color of a lunar object; the appearance or disappearance of dark spots; lengthening of the lunar horns; anomalous phenomena during the occultation of stars by the Moon; non-stationary phenomena during lunar eclipses; moving objects.
Here are just a few of the registered LTPs. In May 1964, American astronomers observed a white spot over the Sea of Tranquility for an hour, moving at a speed of about 32 km/h. It is curious that it gradually decreased in size. Somewhat later, in June, the same observers recorded a spot moving at a speed of about 80 km/h. On a moonlit night in 1966, an English astronomer, looking at the bottom of a lunar crater, noticed strange stripes that turned from black to green-brown, then diverged along radii, changed shape, grew, and by lunar noon reached their maximum size. By the moonlit evening they shrank, faded and finally disappeared altogether. In September 1967, Canadian astronomers recorded a dark body with a purple tint at the edges in the Sea of Tranquility, moving from west to east within ten seconds. The body disappeared near the terminator (the line separating the illuminated and shadow sides of the celestial body), and thirteen minutes later, a yellow light flashed for a split second near the crater located in the area of the spot’s movement. And so on and so forth...
It is quite possible to find a natural explanation for some LTPs: the release of gases from a crack, the consequences of tectonic activity, the fall of a meteoroid. However, the vast majority remain a mystery. However, conspiracy theorists already have detailed versions of what happened.
In 2007, scientific consultants Richard Hoagland and Mike Bara published a voluminous book, Dark Mission. The Secret History of NASA”, which collected a huge number of “facts” (including LTP), which allegedly indicate the presence of a powerful space civilization on the Moon. They said that NASA itself invented the lunar conspiracy theory in order to “avert its eyes” from more important and sensational information. According to the authors of the book, even during the period of the Apollo flights, the American government came into contact with the Selenites and now receives from them ready-made technologies to achieve total superiority over other powers. Therefore, NASA in every possible way prevents the collection of genuine information about the solar system, so that our knowledge is distorted by falsifiers.
And here we have to admit: it is impossible to refute the theory of Richard Hoagland and Mike Bahr, because it is based not on vague suspicions, like all the previous ones, but on faith in the truth of an obviously fantastic assumption. And faith, as we know, is not refuted by scientific arguments.
The “big moon effect” is well known. It manifests itself in the fact that when the Moon is low above the horizon, it appears much larger in size than at its position near the zenith. In reality, the apparent size of the Moon does not change - this is an illusion that our brain creates. Conspiracy theories can be considered the same illusion. Upon careful examination, they turn out to be a figment of the imagination, operating with imaginary phenomena and incredible events. All of them, without exception, are a type of fantasy. No more, but no less.
There is a legend about a beautiful girl-Moon... A long time ago, when Time itself was young, when the whole world was just gaining its color and beauty, a girl lived on Earth. Her heavenly beauty amazed everyone around, making her hold their breath. Passing by the unopened buds, the earthly beauty gifted them with a piece of her unearthly beauty. The bud blossomed and began to emit a warm rainbow light. At that time, people knew neither malice nor envy: love, mutual understanding and harmony reigned around. God rejoiced looking at the World he created. So days and nights passed, followed by years. Years turned into centuries... The planet blossomed and everything around seemed like a fairy tale. Nothing could mar such a beautiful picture. But, having forgotten herself in the rays of her own beauty and success, the Earthly beauty began to lead a riotous lifestyle. Seducing the most beautiful inhabitants of the male half of the planet at night, she illuminated the dark nights with a bright glow. God noticed this, and in order to punish the libertine, he sent her to the sky. Every night, the Moon Girl illuminated the pure, beautiful planet with her gentle and captivating glow. More and more inhabitants of the planet began to appear on the streets at night to admire the incomprehensible beauty. In the hearts of every girl and every boy this gentle warm light lit up, which awakened this violent attraction and made the heart beat faster and the soul tear the body apart. The Moon Girl took away sleep and peace at night from the inhabitants of the planet. Therefore, even in our time, appearing in the sky at night in all its glory, the Moon lures us into its delicate trap. The moon in full bloom gives us the most inexplicable feelings. It takes away our loneliness: all people on Earth during the full moon have their hearts beat in rhythm. To the beat of mysterious feelings and thoughts. To the beat of incomprehensible beauty and fabulous love.
Hangs on high
jade moon hare.
Eternal melancholy
soul is full..
Guan Han-Qing
(1240 - 1310)
Per.I.Smirnova
Since ancient times, there was a belief that a hare lived on the moon, which could be seen during the full moon. The story comes from pre-Buddhist China:
“The three creatures lamented that they were born as animals - a monkey, a fox and a hare. Together they decided to do good deeds on the day of fasting. According to tradition, it was believed that whoever performed the most noble deed would be rewarded.
The heavenly ruler, having decided to test them, came to them in the form of a poor old man. The monkey brought him fruits from the trees, the fox caught fish. Only the hare had no special abilities. He collected branches, lit a fire and said: “I don’t know how to do anything special, so take me, fry me and eat me!” With these words he threw himself into the fire. Here the old man was transformed into a heavenly lord, who reasoned: “You are all determined to do good deeds, so that in your next rebirth you can become human. The example of the hare is worthy of special praise. Touched by the hare's readiness for self-sacrifice, he took him to heaven, settled him on the moon, and granted him immortality.
Since then, he has lived with the moon goddess Chang-e under a growing cinnamon tree, pounding in a magic mortar the potions that make up the magic elixir that bestows eternal life.”
After birth, a talisman with the image of a lunar hare was placed around the neck of infants - this protected them from bad spirits and dreams coming from the subconscious.
The name of the moon in Greek mythology is Selene
The name comes from the Greek word “selas” - light, shine, radiant. Myths about the origin of Selena are very diverse. Sometimes it is associated with the Sun. Aeschylus in his works calls Selene the daughter of Helios (according to other sources, Selena is the wife of Helios or the sister of Helios and Eos, that is, the daughter of the titan Hyperion and the titanide Theia). According to other myths, she is the daughter of the titan Pallant and the sister of Nikta. Other names for Selene are Ithianassa, Hyperippe, Chromia, Neida. Selene was usually depicted as a winged woman in silver robes with a golden crown on her head, she dominates the night skies, moving across them in her chariot. The chariot is drawn by shining winged white horses, bulls or buffaloes (their horns symbolize the crescent moon). Sometimes she sits astride a buffalo, horse or mule. From her union with Zeus, Selene gave birth to Pandia (goddess of the midday sun). The myth tells about Selena’s love for the beautiful young man Endymion, immersed in an unremitting sleep. Here is this myth: Night replaced the white-faced Hemera (Day) retiring, to the joy of nature, a majestic chariot emerged from the horizon, drawn by leisurely bulls. They were ruled by the goddess Luna-Selene, wearing a long saffron-colored robe with a crescent moon on her white forehead. When Selena appeared, the sea, overcome with anxiety, noisily rolled waves onto the shore. And there was not a mortal on earth who did not experience vague languor and sadness with the appearance of Selena. Darkness enveloped everything around. Around the chariot of the goddess of Night, the stars crowd and pour their unfaithful, flickering light onto the earth - these are the young sons of the goddess of Dawn, Eos and Astraea. There are many of them, they dotted the entire dark night sky. Once upon a time in Greece there lived a beautiful young man named Endymion. He was the son of the king of Caria (a country in Asia Minor, on the Mediterranean coast) Eflius and Kaliki, the daughter of the god-lord of the wind Aeolus. But one day he met the beautiful Endymion, the goddess of the Moon, Selene, the daughter of the titans Hyperrion and Theia. Selene and Endymion fell deeply in love with each other. Every day Selena descended from the sky to her lover. Time passed... The Moon Goddess knew that someday the hour of separation would come and her lover would have to descend to the kingdom of Hades. Selena couldn't imagine life without Endymion. And she turned to Olympus and the lord of lightning Zeus with a request to give Endymion eternal youth.
Zeus could not resist the pleas of the Moon goddess, but he could not disrupt the established order in the world. Then he decided to preserve Endymion’s eternal youth by plunging him into eternal slumber. And now Selena could see her lover every night, no longer fearing about the future.
The goddess of the night Nyukta rides slowly across the sky in her chariot drawn by black horses. A light glow appeared in the east. It flares up more and more. This is Selena ascending to heaven. Round-horned bulls slowly drive her chariot across the sky. Calmly, majestically, she rides across the sky in her long white robe with the crescent moon on her headdress.
A peaceful silvery light streams from the chariot and illuminates the sleeping earth. Having traveled around the vault of heaven, the goddess Moon will descend into the deep grotto of Mount Latma in Cariya. Endymion lies there, dozing. And she can spend the whole night next to her lover. According to another version, one day, accidentally throwing her rays under the arch of the cave, Selena saw the beautiful Endymion and, struck by his peaceful beauty, lost her peace. Since then, in the hours when she was not visible because of the clouds, the goddess, stopping the chariot, descended into the grotto, gently bowed over the sleeping handsome man, kissed the closed eyes and uttered words of love. Endymion hears them, but, enchanted by Hypnosis, is unable to lift his eyelids and respond to the caresses. That’s why Selena always grieves, and her melancholy gives rise to the same melancholy and sadness among all living things. And sad is the light that she sheds on the earth at night.
Juno
Juno - goddess of the Moon in Ancient Italy and guardian of women; among the Etruscans she was known under the name Uni, among the Greeks she was identified with Hera, the wife of Zeus. In the Roman pantheon, Juno is the wife of Jupiter and the patroness of marriage, married women and women in labor, and it was believed that every woman has her own Juno. In her honor, on March 1, Roman women celebrated a family holiday - matronalia. Gradually Juno acquired new epithets. Sospita (“helper”), the warlike Populona and Kuritis, depicted in a chariot, Fulgura (“throwing lightning”), Moneta (“adviser”); money was printed in her temple.
Coyolxauqui
Coyolxauqui is the goddess of the moon in Aztec mythology, the daughter of the goddess of earth and death, Coatlicue. Coatlicue ("she in a dress of snakes") or Coatlantonan ("our snake mother") was a pious widow and lived with her sons - Senzon Huiznahua and daughter Coyolxauqui (goddess of the Moon). Every day she climbed Mount Coatepec ("snake mountain") to make sacrifices. One day, on the top of a mountain, a ball of feathers fell from the sky to her, which she hid in her belt; this ball instantly disappeared. Soon Coyolxauqui felt that she was pregnant. Having learned about this, the children became furious, and the daughter advised the brothers to kill their mother, who had disgraced herself. But the child in Coyolxauqui's womb promised to protect her. When the killers approached, Huitzilopochtli (the sun god), having been born, attacked them and put them to flight, and Coyolxauqui cut off his head.
According to another myth, after the creation of the world (or at the beginning of the fifth era), the gods gathered to decide which of them would become the sun god. To do this, they lit a fire into which the chosen one was supposed to rush, but everyone was afraid of the terrible heat. Finally, Nanahuatl (“strewn with buboes”), suffering from a terrible illness, threw himself into the flames, where he began to “crackle like meat roasting on coals.” He was followed by Tecquistecatl (“located in a sea shell”), who tried three times before Nanahuatl to jump into the fire, but retreated from the unbearable heat. Nanahuatl became the Sun, Tecquistecatl - the Moon - the god Metztli. According to the myth, for the first time after appearing in the sky, the Moon shone as brightly as the Sun, until one of the gods, irritated by this, threw a rabbit at it. Since then, Metzitli has been depicted as a black disk or a vessel with water on which there is a rabbit.
Khonsou(ancient Egyptian “passing”, “wandering”) - in Egyptian mythology, a lunar deity, the god-lord of time, the god of truth, the patron of medicine, who was close to Thoth. The son of Amon and Mut, he was part of the Theban triad of deities. The center of the cult of Khonsu was Thebes, where (in Karnak) his main temple and oracle were located. He was depicted as a young man with a heart and a moon disk on his head, sometimes as a child god with a finger at his mouth and a “lock of youth” (which boys wore on the side of their heads until adulthood: in this case it was often mixed with Gor-pa-herd). Also depicted as a young man in a mummy pose with his legs tied. Through divine childhood - father Amon, mother Mut - Khonsa is associated with two other sons of the gods: with Shu, who holds the sky, and with the god Horus. From the latter he adopted the symbols of power, the hook rod and the whip. He was identified with Thoth (Khonsu-Toth), Yakh (Khonsu-Yah). Sebek. As an epithet, the name of the moon god Neferhotep (ancient Egyptian: beautiful is pleased) was often attached to his name - in Egyptian mythology he is the Theban deity of the moon; revered along with Khonsu, often acted as his hypostasis. Neferhotep wears the United Crown, and Khonsu is crowned with a silver disk - the Moon, and an atef crown. Because of its proximity to the falcon god, Horus Khonsa is often depicted with the head of a falcon, with the lunar disk above the crescent moon obscured by the solar disk. The name “Khons child” should be understood as the form of the young Sun god, who is invoked for protection from wild animals. In this capacity, Khons and Horus are depicted standing on a crocodile. As “Khons the Advisor” (called Hespicis by the Greeks), he was called upon to help in case of illness.
The form of the name of the Syrian Istar-Astarte is 'Athar, but it occurs only in the name Atar'otseh (Atar gives strength) of one Aramaic inscription from Kuyundzhik. In general, the Syrian Astarte is known under the complex name Atargatis (more correctly Athar’athe, “Atar, mother of Ate”). The cult performed in Hieropolis, which Lucian describes in detail and from his own observations, fully confirms the origin of the name Atargatis from the combination of the two names Atar and Attis. Two cults were united here, Astarte and Adonis, as Lucian also reports about the temple of Astarte in Byblos. Attis is the Lydian Adonis. There is only one difference between the myths of Attis and Adonis, namely: Attis dies from self-castration. This fact is fully consistent with the wild and passionately sensual nature of the cult performed in honor of Atargatis in Hieropolis. At the entrance to the temple, phalluses were placed and obscene signs of the cult of Astarte were located. A large crowd of castrated people (Gauls, led by an archigall) in women's clothing performed service to the goddess; others, excited by the ecstatic worship, during which they cut their hands until they bled while dancing and playing music, castrated themselves in honor of the goddess. In addition, Lucian gives three facts that characterize Atargatis as the goddess of water. He says that fish, along with the dove, were also dedicated to her, and that on her holidays, which happened twice a year, water was brought to her temple; Pilgrims flocked here from all over Syria and carried sea water in a solemn procession to the temple, which was poured here. In Ascalon, where this goddess was depicted with a fish body, the temple was built on the shore of a sacred lake rich in fish. However, all explanations regarding the fish species Atargatis represent only later mythological interpretations. Atargatis in Hieropolis was depicted without a fish body. Lucian, describing the golden images of two seated deities, calls them Hera and Zeus. Probably these images represented Atargatis and Hadada. Atargatis is depicted as being carried by lions, and Hadad as seated on bulls. The first, according to Lucian, bears the most resemblance to Hera, but also to many other Greek goddesses. In one hand she holds a scepter, and in the other a spindle; on her head, surrounded by rays, there is a tower. This goddess is girded with a magnificent belt, which usually adorns only Urania (Venus), and on her head she has a precious stone that brings happiness, which illuminates the entire sanctuary with its brilliance at night. Between these two divine images is placed a third, carved, without any special sign, but with a golden dove on its head (the sacred symbol of Astarte). This image was taken to the sea twice a year during a holiday. If Atargatis was revered in Hieropolis and in other places as the goddess of waters, this is explained by the fact that the Syrian Astarte, as the goddess of the moon, sent humidity, and at the same time fertility. As a moon goddess, she is indicated by the presence of rays and lunar emblems.
The Slavic-Aryan Vedas mention that the first Great Flood occurred as a result of the destruction of the Moon Leli, one of the three Moons revolving around Midgard-Earth. This is how ancient sources say about this event: “You are My children! Know that the Earth walks past the Sun, but My words will not pass you by! And about ancient times, people, remember! About the Great Flood that destroyed people, about the fall of fire on Mother Earth!” (“Songs of the bird Gamayun”). “You have been living peacefully on Midgard since ancient times, when the world was established... Remembering from the Vedas about the deeds of Dazhdbog, how he destroyed the strongholds of the Koschei, who were on the nearest Moon... Tarkh did not allow the insidious Koschei to destroy Midgard, as they destroyed Deya... These Koschei, the rulers of the Grays , disappeared along with the Moon in half... But Midgard paid for freedom with Daariya, hidden by the Great Flood... The waters of the Moon created that Flood, they fell to the Earth from heaven like a rainbow, for the Moon split into pieces and with the army of Svarozhichi descended to Midgard...” (“Santii” Vedas of Perun”). After the waters and fragments of the destroyed Moon Lelya fell on Midgard-Earth, not only the appearance of the Earth changed, but also the temperature regime on its surface, as its axis began pendulum oscillations. The Great Cooling has begun. However, not all the descendants of the Clans of the Great Race and the Heavenly Clans died along with Daariya. People were warned by the Great Priest Spas about the impending death of Daariya as a result of the Great Flood and began to move to the Eurasian continent in advance. 15 deportations from Daariya were organized. For 15 years, people moved along the Stone Isthmus between the Eastern and Western Seas to the south. These are the now known names Stone, Stone Belt, Ripean or Ural Mountains. 111,812 years ago (or 109,808 BC) their complete migration took place. Some people were saved by flying into low-Earth orbit on small Vitman aircraft and returning back after the Flood. Others moved (teleported) through the “gates of the interworld” to the Hall of the Bear into the possessions of the Da’Aryans. After the Great Flood, our Great Ancestors settled a large island in the Eastern Sea called Buyan. Nowadays this is the territory of Western and Eastern Siberia. From here began the settlement of the Holy (White) Race to the nine cardinal directions. The fertile land of Asia or the Land of the Holy Race is the territory of modern Western and Eastern Siberia from the Riphean Mountains (Ural) to the Aryan Sea (Lake Baikal). This territory was called Belorechye, Pyatirechye, Semirechye. The name “Belorechye” comes from the name of the Iriy River (Iriy Quiet, Ir-tish, Irtysh), which was considered the White, Pure, Sacred River and along which our Ancestors first settled. After the retreat of the Western and Eastern Seas, the Clans of the Great Race settled the lands that were previously the seabed. Pyatireche is a land washed by the Irtysh, Ob, Yenisei, Angara and Lena rivers, where they gradually settled. Later, when warming occurred after the First Great Cooling and the glacier retreated, the Clans of the Great Race also settled along the Ishim and Tobol rivers. Since then, Pyatirechye has turned into Semirechye. As the lands east of the Ural Mountains were developed, each of them received an appropriate name. In the north, in the lower reaches of the Ob, between the Ob and the Ural Mountains - Siberia. To the south, along the banks of the Irtysh, Belovodye itself is located. East of Siberia, on the other side of the Ob, is Lukomorye. South of Lukomorye is Yugorye, which reaches the Irian Mountains (Mongolian Altai).
The capital of our Ancestors at this time became the city of Asgard of Iria (As - god, gard - city, together - the city of the Gods), which was founded in Summer 5,028 from the Great Migration from Daariya to Russenia, on the holiday of the Three Moons, the month of Taillet, the ninth day 102 years of the Circle of Chislobog - the ancient calendar (104,778 BC). Asgard was destroyed in Summer 7038 S.M.Z.H. (1530 AD) Dzungars - people from the northern provinces of Arimia (China). Old people, children and women hid in dungeons and then went to monasteries. Today, on the site of Asgard is the city of Omsk. In memory of the salvation from the Flood and the Great Migration of the Clans of the Great Race, a unique ritual appeared in the 16th year - Easter with a deep inner meaning, performed by all Orthodox people. This ritual is well known to everyone. At Easter, colored eggs are hit against each other to see whose egg is stronger. The broken egg was called the Koshchei egg, i.e. the destroyed Moon Lelya with the bases of the Foreigners, and the whole egg was called the Power of Tarkh Dazhdbog. The tale of Koshchei the Immortal, whose death was in an egg (on the Moon Lele) somewhere at the top of a tall oak tree (i.e., actually in the heavens), also appeared in common use. As a result of the first Great Cooling, the northern hemisphere of Midgard-Earth began to be covered with snow for a third of the year. Due to the lack of food for people and animals, the Great Migration of the descendants of the Heavenly Family began beyond the Ural Mountains, which defended the Holy Russia on the western borders. The Kh'Aryan Family, led by the Great Leader Ant, reached the Western (Atlantic) Ocean and, with the help of Whiteman, crossed to an island in this ocean where Beardless people with skin the color of the flame of the Sacred Fire (people with red skin) lived. On that land, the Great Leader built the Temple (temple) of the Trident of the God of the Seas and Oceans (God Niya), who patronized people, protecting them from the Forces of Evil. The island began to be called the Land of the Ants or Antlan (in ancient Greek - Atlantis).
In India there is a legend about Chandra, the moon, who used to be a man. My teacher, a brahman, told it to me.
The then ruling Maharaja Daksha had 62 daughters. Every morning they naked and swam in a beautiful lake near the palace. One day, while passing by, Chandra witnessed this fascinating action. The smooth surface of the water reflected the beautiful bodies of the young girls, the lotuses emphasized the golden skin - they were beautiful! The young man could not resist and fell in love with them... The Maharaja, having learned about this, became angry and cursed the unfortunate young man. “From now on,” he said, “to be your shadow! Get out of sight! So that no girl can see you!” Seeing such injustice, Shiva's wife Parvati turned to her husband: “Chandra is so young... I think your wisdom and justice will help correct the situation. After all, each of us has our own purpose, and Chandra, who controls water, cannot disappear forever!” And then Shiva descended into the other world underground. And he pulled out the moon, placing it on his head. Since then, Luna-Chandra has been in and out of hiding to fulfill her mission. But love was stronger than the father’s curse, and he, during the period of escape from oblivion, managed to seduce Daksha’s 28 daughters. The father had to give them as wives to the persistent young man. But he was never able to part with his most beloved, his youngest. Therefore, Chandra received 27 wives, whom he visits in turn.
Indian astrology has the same 28 constellations - lunar stations - as in Chinese. But the 28th stop is very short-term - literally for a few hours. Therefore, in India they don’t even talk about it, but only 27 are taken into account, and they are called “nakchatras”.
To be continued…
The moon in the beliefs of the peoples of the worldMyths and legends are part of the cultural heritage of mankind. Continuing the lunar theme, today I will begin to tell you about myths about the Moon, which have been preserved and come to us from time immemorial thanks to folk art.
The inhabitants of Mesopotamia not only composed legends and myths dedicated to the Moon, but also developed a lunar measure of time, which passed on to many peoples. The lunar calendar is used to determine religious holidays by Mohammedans and Jews, Christians use it to calculate the onset of Easter, and representatives of the Buddhist religion associate birth and departure to nirvana with the phases of the moon.
The ancient peoples of Mesopotamia, therefore, approached the Moon more pragmatically, although this did not exclude a mystical perception and enthusiastic worship of her as a mysterious and beautiful goddess.
Many peoples continued to dedicate poems to her and compose legends and tales. Her changeable face and inconstancy have led to the fact that it has become difficult to predict in what form and in what form the night beauty will appear in the legends and myths of various peoples.
In Southeast Asia, for example, it was identified with a frog, turtle or fish. Images of these living creatures on the altars of ancient temples are echoes of moon worship. And only one who knows can connect them with the mistress of the night sky.
There is also a “lunar trace” in Siberian shamanism. The round tambourine used by shamans when performing witchcraft is nothing more than the face of the Moon. Among many peoples, she was considered the patroness of witchcraft, since she herself is the bearer of witchcraft spells.
The purely visually young Moon - the Moon - was associated with horns, which led to its identification with a bull.
Wherever there is a cult of gods with horns, the worship of the Moon is visible as the source of this cult. The mother goddesses - the Babylonian Astrata and the Indian Parvati - are endowed with lunar horns as a symbol of supreme power and holiness. The mother appears as the Egyptian Isis, the keeper of secret knowledge, depicted with lunar horns on her head.
Connecting the past and the future - life resurrected from death, she gives birth to the baby Horus from the dead Osiris, personifying eternal life.
The Moon and the Ancient Sumerians
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In Sumerian myths about the creation of the world, the night traveler is called the “beauty of heaven,” “the king of the gods, to whom the kingdom of heaven was entrusted,” “the circle of heaven.” It was believed that the Moon was created by the order of the creator of the world, whose name was Marduk. It was she who first appeared in the sky and illuminated the world immersed in darkness. One light side of the Moon, according to Marduk, personified life, the other, the dark side, became a symbol of death and destruction. Thus, with the help of this luminary, the Creator pointed out to those living on Earth the finitude of all things and its rebirth after death.
The Moon, according to Sumerian legends, became the deity Sin, embodying the infinity of the world. Each of the priests, who carefully observed the sky, firmly knew the covenant of the lunar god Sin: “For three days he rests dead in heaven. Does he rest for four days? No, he never rests on the fourth day.” We were talking about periods of the “dark moon” when it disappeared from the heavens.
No one doubted that the Moon is a living creature, because only it can have changeability: be born, move, grow, die and be reborn again. For the ancient Sumerians, this celestial body was a living deity, which clearly demonstrated to the living that death is not the end, but the beginning. Dying and being reborn, the Moon gave people hope for eternal life. This evoked a feeling of appreciation, gratitude and worship of her in the form of the god Sin. They prayed to him, he was revered and given gifts, for he was for the living the lord of time, life and death, a protector and a powerful patron.
Greek myths about the moon
In Greek myths, the Moon appears in a female form: she is the daughter of the titan Hyperion and Thea, the sister of Helios - the Sun. Her name is Selena. The ancient Greeks believed that when day fades and night comes, beautiful Selene gets into her majestic chariot drawn by snow-white bulls and slowly moves through her heavenly domain.
She is dressed in long saffron robes, and a new moon shines on her forehead - a symbol of youth and beauty.
With the appearance of the goddess in heaven, the sea noisily raised its waves and rushed to the shore to meet the most beautiful of the beautiful. People, noticing her power over the forces of nature, were filled with awe of her. There was not a mortal on earth who did not experience an unclear languor and sadness with the appearance of the goddess Selene. The Greeks explained the feeling of melancholy and sadness evoked by the rays of the Moon by the great sorrow that settled in Selena’s heart from unrequited love for the beautiful young man Aedimion.
Once upon a time there lived a young man, Aedimion. He was so good-looking that Zeus himself took him for his beauty into the host of gods on Olympus. But beauty did him a disservice, arousing love and desire in Hera’s heart. Zeus imprisoned him in a cave and, with the help of the god Hypnos, doomed him to eternal sleep. Selena, accidentally throwing rays under the arch of the cave, saw his beautiful face and lost peace forever. But no matter how much she caressed him, whispering words of love and tenderness, no matter how much she kissed his closed eyes, the young man could not lift his eyelids or respond to her caresses.
That's why Selena is always sad. And her melancholy is so great that it gives rise to sadness and sadness in all living things on earth.
Dogs and wolves howl at the Moon, and people, overwhelmed by incomprehensible anxiety and anxiety, find no place for themselves and sometimes do things that they are then surprised by with the arrival of Helios - the Sun.
Myths about the Moon are present in the folklore of almost all peoples and ethnic groups that have ever inhabited our planet.