| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Demon name "Asakku" | Babylonian | Plague spreading demons. Babylonian |
| God name "Asalluha" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian | Minor god. A son of ENKI who apparently acts as a messenger and reporter to his father. Linked with rituals of exorcism. Cult center Ku'ara. In Babylonian times he became largely syncretized with MARDTK.... |
| God name "Asira" | Pre - Islamic northern Arabian | Local god. Mentioned only in name by the Babylonian king Nabonidus, worshiped at Taima and influenced strongly by Egyptian culture.See also SALM.... |
| Goddess name "Asnan" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian | vegetation goddess. Minor deity probably known to the Sumerians from circa 3500BC or earlier. She is concerned with the abundance of grain in the fields, sent as its protectress by the gods ENLIL and ENKI. According to creation accounts, she and the cattle god LAHAR were first intended to serve the needs of the Annunaki, the celestial children of AN, but when the heavenly creatures were found unable to make use of their products, humankind was created to provide an outlet for their services. Attributes: ears of corn sprouting from her shoulders.... |
| God name "Assur" | Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian | Tutelary god. The national deity of Assyria. In the Assyrian copies of the creation epic Enuma Elis he replaces MARDUK as the hero.... |
| Goddess name "Astlik" | Pre - Christian Armenian | Astral goddess. Derived from the Mesopotamian model of ISTAR. Survived in Christian times as the mother of fairies.... |
| Goddess name "Asratum" | Western Semitic / Canaanite | Fertility goddess. Probably a corruption of the Semitic ATHIRAT or ASERAH. Also mentioned in Babylonian texts from the Hellenistic period. Also Asrat (Akkadian).... |
| Goddess name "Ategina" | Iberia | The Goddess of rebirth,Spring, fertility, nature, and healing in the Lusitanian mythology. She is also seen as the Lusitanian goddess of the moon. |
| Goddess name "Athirat" | Western Semitic / Canaanite | Fertility goddess. In Old Babylonian texts of Hammurabi she is identified as the daughter-in-law of the king of heaven. She is also known from pre-Islamic southern Arabia as a consort of the moon god AMM.See also ASERAH.... |
| God name "Ausautas" | Lithuanian | God of health and Medicine. Lithuanian |
| Goddess name "Aya" | Mesopotamian / Babylonian Akkadian | Mother goddess. Derived from the Sumerian model of S ERIDA. Consort of the Sun god S AMAS whose marriage was celebrated at New Year in Babylon.... |
| Goddess name "Baba" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian | Fertility goddess. Locally worshiped in Lagas, where Gudea built her a temple. Also Bau.... |
| Goddess name "Ban" | Babylonian | The consort of Ningirsu and one of the most prominent goddesses in the Babylonian pantheon. |
| God name "Barigputys" | Pre - Christian Lithuanian | Sea god. Known as the... |
| God name "Barsamin" | Pre Christian Armenian | weather or sky god. Probably derived from the Semitic god BAAL S AMIN.... |
| Goddess name "Bel" | Akkadian | Bel became especially used of the Babylonian god Marduk and when found in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in Mesoptamian context it can usually be taken as referring to Marduk and no other god. Similarly Belit without some disambiguation mostly refers to Bel Marduk's spouse Sarpanit. However Marduk's mother, the Sumerian goddess called Ninhursag, Ningal and Ninmah and other names in Sumerian, was often known as Belit-ili 'Lady of the Gods' in Akkadian. |
| God name "Bel" | Babylonian | Signifying "lord" or "master", is a title rather than a genuine name, applied to various gods in Babylonian religion. The feminine form is Belit 'Lady, Mistress'. Bel is represented in Greek and Latin by Belos and Belus respectively. Linguistically Bel is an East Semitic form cognate with Northwest Semitic Baal with the same meaning. |
| God name "Bel" | Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian | Generic title meaning lord. The Babylonian god MARDUK was often addressed as Bel, and the name occurs in the Vetus Testamentum. The New Year festival of akitu in Babylon included a ceremony of leading Bel by the hand. The name also appears at Palmyra as the tutelary creator god whose attributes include lightning and an eagle.... |
Table of Gods
Your guide to the World gods, spirits,
demons and legendary monsters
The Legend of Nian Monster
Chinese people held the first New Year Festival more than 3,000 years ago. Farmers gave thanks for the harvest and prayed. They asked the gods for good crops in the coming year.
But there is a story behind all the celebration, below is the legend of how the Chinese New Year celebration began.
Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a monster called "Nian" ("year") that would come out to eat people and animals on the eve of every New Year. To avoid the monster's attack, people would flee to the depth of the mountains and call this day "Nian Guan" (meaning "the Pass of Nian"). On one New Year's Eve, there came an old beggar in Peach Blossom Village, where an old lady gave him some food and asked him to hide himself in the mountain to avoid the monster Nian. The old man promised that he could drive the monster away as long as he was put up for the night at the old lady's home. Being unable to persuade the old man into hiding in the mountain, the old lady went alone. In the middle of the night, the monster Nian dashed into the village. He trembled and cried when he saw the red paper on the door of the old lady's house, which was brightly lit. Just as the monster reached the entrance, there came blasting sounds that prevented him from moving any further. At that time, the old man, wearing a red robe, opened the door and the monster was scared away.
The following year, the villagers were ready for it. They set off firecrackers, lit all their lamps and decorated their houses in red, they paste red paper on the doors, wear red clothing, hang up red lanterns. They made loud music, play the gong and drums and they dance and burn the fireworks whenever Nian was about to arrive, to scared away the beast.This is how these customs came into being.
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