Among the
Nenets people
The Nenets ( yrk, ненэй ненэче, ''nenəj nenəče'', russian: ненцы, ''nentsy''), also known as Samoyed, are a Samoyedic peoples, Samoyedic ethnic group native to northern Arctic Russia, Russian Far North (Russia), Far North. Acco ...
of
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
, Nga was the god of death, as well as one of two
demiurge
In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term ''demiurge''. Al ...
s, or supreme gods.
According to one story, the world threatened to collapse on itself. To try to halt this cataclysm a
shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...
sought the advice of the other demiurge,
Num
Num may refer to:
* Short for number
* Num (god), the creator and high god of the Nenets people of Siberia
* Short for the Book of Numbers of the Hebrew Bible
* Khnum, a god of Egyptian mythology
* Mios Num, an island of western New Guinea
* Num, ...
. The shaman was advised to travel below the earth, to Nga's domain and call upon him. The shaman did as told and was wed with Nga's daughter. After that point he began to support the world in his hand and became known as "The Old Man of the Earth."
In another myth, Num and Nga create the world, collaborating and also competing with each other — the myth is an example of
dualistic cosmology
Dualism in cosmology or dualistic cosmology is the moral or spiritual belief that two fundamental concepts exist, which often oppose each other. It is an umbrella term that covers a diversity of views from various religions, including both traditi ...
.
[Vértes 1990: 104–105]
See also
*
Ceremonial pole
Notes
Sources
* The title means: “Belief systems of our language relatives in Siberia”.
Nenets people
Siberian deities
Death gods
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