Ngonde is the Kongo spirit of the moon, associated in traditional Kongo religion with menstruation and, by extension, with fertility and the female reproductive cycle. Ngonde is understood as the sibling of Ntangu, the sun and time spirit, the pair together marking the Kongo cosmological alternation of day and night. As a moon spirit tied to bodily cycles, Ngonde occupies a role paralleled by lunar deities across many African religious traditions, in which the moon's phases are linked to fertility and the rhythms of women's bodies.
Facts
Attestation
Veneration TodaySourced to the subject's own accountActively venerated in a living tradition 2 HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1 Function
Domain / Function Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 1 Sources
1. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
2. African Cosmology of the Bantu-Kongo: Principles of Life and Living
Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau, Athelia Henrietta Press
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