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Pantheons + Name Aesthetics :

Greek 1 , 2 , 3 

Egyptian 1 , 2 , 3

Norse 1 , 2 , 3

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MYTHOLOGY AROUND THE WORLD → night deities

“The twilight tints have left the sky, and night commences her watch over the world, high in the heavens is her taper lit, around which will soon glow a thousand kindred flames.” —Henry James Slack

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Radande

Region of origin: Sweden

A fae tree spirit, a radande will attach itself to a young sapling and aid in its growth, the tree growing faster and more healthy than any other around it, occasionally leaving a fairy-ring around its trunk. The radande’s lifeforce becomes tied to its tree; its appearance will begin resembling the bark and leaves, and will only be able to move as far away from the tree as the shadow it casts. If the tree is cut down, the radande may die with it, or its spirit may remain and grow vengeful, haunting the forest or those who felled the tree.

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Daily Monster 307: Baobhan-sith

Region of origin: Scotland

A faerie creature from the Scottish highland, cousin to the banshee and with properties similar to the European vampire, the baobhan-sith would initially appear to men they encountered as beautiful women in green or white dresses, often traveling in groups of three or four. They would lure the men away to dance and drink and once they had the men alone and distracted, they would reveal their true form, including sharp talons and the lower legs of a horse or deer, attacking their prey and drinking their blood. Like other fae creatures, they can be injured by iron and have been shown to be afraid of horses, though stories are unclear or conflicting if the fear is of the animals themselves or just their iron horseshoes.

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Daily Monster 302: Mngwa

Region of origin: Tanzania

A very large cat, even compared to its leopard and lion cousins, said to stalk the tall grasses of eastern Africa; local stories of the mngwa or nunda attacking people in the night have existed for hundreds of years and first came to the attention of British explorers in the late 1800s. Theories range from it being a separate species to a subspecies or mutation of a leopard or golden cat resulting in a larger body and unique coloration, or even an extant species of ancient tiger or machairodus. It has been proposed the nandi bear, another east African cryptid predator, and the mngwa might be one and the same creature.

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Daily Monster 297: Boo Hag

Region of origin: Southeastern United States

A variation of the hag folklore from Gullah tradition, the boo hag is a skinless, vampiric creature who may tear the skin off a victim and wear it as their own to blend in as human. The boo hag sustains itself by sneaking into homes at night through cracks and shadows and perch itself upon the sleeping person inside, sucking out their breath and feeding off their life essence. They are associated with sleep paralysis and waking up exhausted even after a full night’s sleep.

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Daily Monster 288: Kumakatok

Region of origin: The Philippines

Omens of death, the kumakatok are three hooded figures, often described as one young woman and two old men, who never interact directly with witnesses but would approach houses in the middle of the night and knock loudly on the door as a sign that someone in that family would die the next day. They are particularly associated with outbreaks of disease and other large-scale tragedies.

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Daily Monster 272: Koschei the Deathless

Region of origin: Slavic regions

A villainous figure from Slavic folklore and fairy tales, Koschei was often depicted as an evil king or sorcerer who had achieved immortality, granted eternal life and able to recover from any bodily harm because he had separated his soul from his body. The soul was bound to a needle, which in turn was hidden inside an egg that was inside a duck that was inside a hare, and all were locked in an iron chest and buried on the mythical island of the Buyan. In the tales the questing hero would invariably need to recover this needle to put an end Koschei and rescue the various wives or princesses he had kidnapped or otherwise cursed.

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Daily Monster 154: Khyah

Region of origin: Nepal

A class of household luck spirits, the ape-like khyah will live in homes hiding in attics or storerooms away from electric lighting. White-haired khyah provide good luck and wealth to the household while black-haired ones bring misfortune. They are also depicted as attendants to Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity, and their likenesses decorate temples as shrine guardians.

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When mothers expose their newborn children, leaving them where they will not be found, they turn into a ghost known as útburður. When they are seen, their appearance resembles that of a bird, such as a raven. They raise themselves up on one knee and one hand and flutter about. Their colour depends on the colour of the rag in which they were wrapped. Those who see an útburður should not hesitate to follow it, as it will eventually flee to its mother. They howl intensely during bad weather, but rarely speak. An exception to this is the tale of an útburður visiting its mother in a sheepfold and reciting the following verse to her:

My mother in the fold of sheep, Do not worry, do not weep, I shall lend you my blood-red rag For you to wear, for you to wear.

Source: Jón Árnason, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og ævintýri III, bls.290

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Daily Monster 224: Humbaba

Region of origin: Mesopotamia

A chimeric giant, Humbaba (or Humwawa) functioned as guardian of the home of the gods, the Cedar Forest, and while a fearsome protector was seemingly beloved by the gods and the other inhabitants of the forest. He was, however, slain by Gilgamesh as part of his journey in his titular Epic who then proceeds to destroy a swath of the forest and steal the lumber to bring back to his home of Mesopotamia in what strikes me as a serious Dick Move of historical literature.

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Name: Tzitzimitl (roughly pronounced Zee Zee Meel) Area of Origin: Central Mexico; The Aztecs In Aztec Mythology, A Tzitzimitl (plural: Tzitzimimeh) is a female deity associated with the stars. They were usually depicted as skeletal figures, often wearing skirts and decorative headdresses. In the most famous depictions, adorning their bodies are severed hands, and cut-out hearts, and appear to have pointed claws on both their hands and feet. Another odd detail is that they seem to have eyeballs growing out of different joints, such as the ankles, knees, wrists and elbows, though this differs between the different portrayals. They’ve been decribed as demons, though this doesn’t necessarily reflect their function in the Aztec belief system. Because the Tzitzimimeh were female, they were also related to fertility, and as such associated with other female deities such as Tlaltecuhtli and Coatlicue. They were worshipped by midwives and women in labor. Their leader was the goddess, Itzpapalotl who ruled over Tamoanchan, the paradise where these deities resided. Being associated with the stars, when stars would not be seen in the sky during solar eclipses, this was intepreted as Tzitzimimeh attacking the sun. This caused a belief that during an eclipse, they would descend down to earth to devour humans. They were seen as both protectors of the feminine and progenitors of mankind, and as such, were powerful and dangerous, especially in periods of cosmic instability.

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It is useful to divide all Maori legends into two categories, namely, myths and traditions. Myths are set in the remote past and contain a large element of the marvellous. They embody Maori beliefs about the creation of the universe and the genesis of gods and of men. Natural phenomena, the weather, the stars and the moon, the fish that swim in the sea, the birds that fly in the forest, and the forests themselves are all accounted for in the mythology.

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MYTHOLOGY MEME  |  [3/9] GREEK GODS & GODDESSES » MORPHEUS 

Morpheus was the god of dreams in greek mythology. He was one of the three Oneiroi, sons of the god of sleep, Hypnos. Along with his two brothers, Phobetor (“nightmares”) and Phantasos (“illusion”), he was a diety of the underworld and would appear in the dreams of kings and rulers as a forebearer of omens and messages.

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mythology: Hades (Άδης) and Persephone (Περσεφόνη) requested by @sansasfark

“but if you have tasted food, you must go back again beneath the secret places of the earth, there to dwell a third part of the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you shall be with me and the other deathless gods.”

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PHILIPPINE MYTHOLOGY : A S W A N G

Stories recount aswangs living as regular townspeople. As regular townspeople, they are quiet, shy and elusive. At night, they transform into creatures such as a cat, bat, bird, boar or most often, a dog.

Aswangs are physically much more like humans at daytime; they only change their appearance at night when they feel they are in need of food. It has been said that if an aswang married a human, upon their wedding, his or her mate would become an aswang as well but rarely can they reproduce. The couple may hunt together at night but will go in separate directions, either to avoid detection or because they do not like to share their meal.

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Kyöpelinvuori. Kyöpelinvuori (Finnish from Kyöpeli = obsolete word for Ghost and Vuori = Mountain), in Finnish Mythology, is the place which Dead Women Haunt. It is rumoured that Virgins who die young gather there after their Death at the start of their Afterlife. It corresponds to Blockula (in modern Swedish Blåkulla) of Swedish Mythology. Kyöpelinvuori is also well known in Finland due to Easter. It is said to be the Ancient Home of Mountain Witches who fly on brooms with Black Cats, and leave the area only during Easter in order to spook children.