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There are a number of deities and personifications associated with seasons in various mythologies, traditions, and fiction.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2023) |
There are a number of deities and personifications associated with seasons in various mythologies, traditions, and fiction.
In ancient Greek mythology Anemoi were the gods of wind, some of which were associated with seasons:
In Norse mythology, Skaði is a jötunn and goddess associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains. Skaði is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda and in Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the works of skalds.
In Greek mythology and religion, Eurus is the god and personification of the east wind, although sometimes he is also said to be southeast specifically. He is one of the four principal wind gods, the Anemoi, alongside Boreas, Zephyrus and Notus. Eurus is featured rarely in ancient literature, appearing together with his three brothers as part of a whole if at all, and virtually has no individual mythology of his own. Often he is excluded entirely, leaving Boreas, Zephyrus and Notus to represent the Anemoi. His Roman equivalent is the god Vulturnus.
Psychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, demons, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife.
Hindu mythology is the body of myths attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedas, the itihasa the Puranas, and mythological stories specific to a particular ethnolinguistic group like the Tamil Periya Puranam and Divya Prabandham, and the Mangal Kavya of Bengal. Hindu myths are also found in widely translated popular texts such as the fables of the Panchatantra and the Hitopadesha, as well as in Southeast Asian texts.
Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Indo-European speakers lived in preliterate societies – scholars of comparative mythology have reconstructed details from inherited similarities found among Indo-European languages, based on the assumption that parts of the Proto-Indo-Europeans' original belief systems survived in the daughter traditions.
*Dyḗus, also *Dyḗus ph₂tḗr, is the reconstructed name of the daylight-sky god in Proto-Indo-European mythology. *Dyēus was conceived as a divine personification of the bright sky of the day and the seat of the gods, the *deywṓs. Associated with the vast diurnal sky and with the fertile rains, *Dyēus was often paired with *Dʰéǵʰōm, the Earth Mother, in a relationship of union and contrast.
In ancient Greek religion and myth, the Anemoi were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions. They were the progeny of the goddess of the dawn Eos and her husband, the god of the dusk, Astraeus.
Old Man Winter is a personification of winter. The name is a colloquialism for the winter season derived from ancient Greek mythology and Old World pagan beliefs evolving into modern characters in both literature and popular culture. He is usually depicted as an old man, often blowing winter over the landscape with his breath, or simply freezing the landscape with his very presence.
A triad, in a religious context, refers to a grouping of three gods, usually by importance or similar roles. A triad of gods were usually not considered to be one in the same being, or different aspects of a single deity as in a Trinity or Triple deity.
A vegetation deity is a nature deity whose disappearance and reappearance, or life, death and rebirth, embodies the growth cycle of plants. In nature worship, the deity can be a god or goddess with the ability to regenerate itself. A vegetation deity is often a fertility deity. The deity typically undergoes dismemberment, scattering, and reintegration, as narrated in a myth or reenacted by a religious ritual. The cyclical pattern is given theological significance on themes such as immortality, resurrection, and reincarnation. Vegetation myths have structural resemblances to certain creation myths in which parts of a primordial being's body generate aspects of the cosmos, such as the Norse myth of Ymir.
Pat Ka Chiong originated from the Southern Han folk beliefs and myths, and usually generally refers to eight members of the godly realm. The general understanding of the origin of Pat Ka Chiong is that it is derived from the existence of eight generals who performed exorcism of evil spirits for the Wufu Emperor (五福大帝). These eight generals became revered as the gods of the underworld, and are represented as the bodyguards or attendants for the temples of the nether Gods such as the Dongyue Emperor (東獄大帝), Yama and City Gods (城隍). Gradually Pat Ka Chiong evolved to appear also as bodyguards to Ong Yah and Matsu (媽祖), and at many other temples. Later on, believers at those temples dressed up as Pat Ka Chiong in order to defend the Gods. These actions evolved into Taiwanese folk activities, which are part of the Bu-tin in Tin-thau. Pat Ka Chiong is responsible for the capture of ghosts and evil spirits, bringing safety and good luck, and providing protection. They contain a strong religious nature, and Tin-thau often seem as mysterious, threatening and serious. Some Pat Ka Chiong members have relations with Taiwanese gangsters.