Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
God name "Vidar" | Nordic / Icelandic | God of war. A little known AESIR god, described as the silent one. One of the sons of OTHIN. An alternative tradition places him as the offspring of a brief liaison between THOR and the giantess Gird. A god of great strength and support in times of danger. The prospective avenger of Othin's death by the wolf Fenrir at Ragnarok, he is said to wear a shoe made of material collected throughout time which he will place between Fenrir's jaws before he tears them apart and runs the beast through with his sword. One of the survivors of the final great fire and flood, destined to live in Asgard's successor, Idavoll.... |
Goddess name "Viraj" | Hindu / Vedic | Primordial goddess. Identified as the active female creative principle in the Rg Veda.... |
Deity name "Vitzilipuztli" | Aztec / Mesoamerican | Aspect of HUITZILPOCHTLI. Invoked twice a year, in May and December, during an agrarian festival. Virginal female worshipers created an image of the deity from dough consisting of maize flour, beet seed and honey. The image was given eyes and teeth using pieces of colored glåśś and whole maize seeds and was paraded, before being broken into pieces and eaten as a form of sacrament.... |
God name "Vodu" | Fon / Benin, West Africa | Collective name for gods. The origin of the term voodoo in the Caribbean region.... |
"Wabun" | Hiawatha | Son of Mudjekeewis, East-Wind, the Native American Apollo. Young and beautiful, he chases darkness with his arrows over hill and valley, wakes the villager, calls the Thunder, and brings the Morning. He married Wabun-Annung, and transplanted her to heaven, where she became the Morning Star. Hiawatha |
"Wabung Annung" | Hiawatha | The Morning Star. She was a country maiden wooed and won by Wabun, the Native American Apollo, who transplanted her to the skies. Hiawatha |
"Wakon'da" | N American | A power by which things are brought to påśś. and through this mysterious life and power all things are related to one another and to man." Wakon'da is both a force and a state of being. Omaha, Native American |
Deities name "Whiro" | Polynesian / Maori | God of death. Regarded as an errant son of the creator deities, RANGINUI and PAPATUANUKU, Whiro stands as the chief antagonist of TANEMAHUTA, the creator god of light. He is, therefore, the personification of darkness and evil. During the time of creation from chaos, Whiro is said to have fought an epic battle against Tanemahuta in the newly formed heavens. He was vanquished and forced to descend into the underworld where he became ruler over the dead and chief among the lesser underworld deities who are responsible for various forms of disease and sickness. In the temporal world the lizard, a symbol of death, embodies him, and various creatures of the night, including the owl and the bat, are earthly representatives from his kingdom, as are such malignant insect pests as the mosquito. This deity is not to be confused with the legendary human voyager and adventurer of the same name whose traditions have, in the past, often been muddled with those of the god.... |
God name "Xolotl (monster)" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Monstrous deity. He performed the role of executioner when the gods sacrificed themselves to create mankind. He then sacrificed himself. In alternative tradition he tried to evade his own fate, but was himself executed by EHECATL-QUETZALCOATL. Also one of a pair of twins in the group clåśśed as the XIUHTECUHTLI complex, regarded as patron of the ball game.... |
Spirit name "Ya'halan (cloud man)" | Koryak / southeastern Siberia | Guardian spirit. The son of the supreme being TENANTO'MWAN, his consort is YINE'ANE'UT. In alternative tradi tion he is the son of the supervisor being, INA'HITELAN. He is a protector of young couples, and youths beat a sacred drum invoking the spirit to turn the heart of a girl.... |
Deity name "Yalafath" | Micronesia | A mighty and benevolent deity, who sits in the sky and views placidly the work of his hands and the operations of the multitudes of kan (also called yan), or genii, mostly evil and malevolent, each busy in his own sphere of activity., Micronesia |
Goddess name "Yama (1) (twin; alternatively the restrainer)" | Hindu / Vedic | God of death. The son of Vavasvan and Saranju, or of SURYA and SANJNA, his consort is DHUMORNA or YAMI. Yama is also the judge of the dead and the twin sibling of Yami, goddess of death. When KRSNA is perceived as the embodiment of the cosmos, his eye-teeth are Yama. He evolved into a dikpala or guardian of the southerly direction. His animal is a black buffalo. Color: black.... |
God name "Yama-No-Kami" | Shinto / Japan | mountain god. Specifically the deity who comes down to the rice paddies in spring and returns in autumn. The festival of Nolde-No-Shinji marks his descent.... |
Deities name "Yamadar Maraja" | Hindu | Collective name for the deities and spirits of the underworld. Hindu |
King name "Yang" | China | Is the brighter element; it is active, light, masculine, upward-seeking and corresponds to the day. Yin is often symbolized by water or earth, while Yang is symbolized by fire, or wind. China |
Goddess name "Yen Kuang Niang Niang" | Chinese | Mother goddess. One of a group of nine dark ladies who have a protective function. She cures the eye disease ophthalmia.... |
"Yin/ Yang" | China | Receptive, feminine, dark, påśśive force, and Yang, creative, masculine, bright, active force, are descriptions of complementary opposites rather than absolutes. Any Yin / Yang dichotomy can be seen as its opposite when viewed from another perspective. |
"Yuletide" | Germanic | Has been held as a sacred festival by numberless nations. |