The moon is something all people on Earth, no matter where or when they’ve lived, have in common. Even modern city dwellers who rarely get a glimpse of the stars (outside a major power outage) can be struck silent with awe at the sudden appearance of the full moon over a nearby building or the reflection of the moon in a puddle of water.
That we all share the moon does not mean that we imagine it the same way, however. In our myths and stories, the moon plays many different roles. The mythologies of the moon are as varied as the cultures that create them.
The Moon in Ancient Mythology
The moon is both mysterious and not. Long before humans walked on the moon, they understood quite a lot about it. The relationship between the moon and the tides, for example, was clear to early peoples who lived near the sea, explains Tok Thompson, an anthropologist at the University of Southern California who specializes in folklore and mythology. Neither did the connection between fertility and the moon’s cycles go unnoticed.
