Hou Yi: Chinese God of archery

      Forget Green Arrow or Robin Hood!  The real hero with the bow and arrow is Hou Yi, Chinese God of Archery and hero of mankind!  Although most gods of mythology demand respect, Hou Yi is a pretty chill guy.  He's always calm and clearheaded.  There's only one time he lost his cool, but we'll talk about that in a minute.  He's known as a hero who aids mankind, so obviously he's loved by the people.  He loves humans, and does a lot of good for them, including scaring off bad water gods and killing monsters for them.  He would stop at nothing to assist his precious people, even shooting down the suns.
      Remember when I said Hou Yi lost his cool once?  Well this ties in with the story of him and the 10 suns.  In Chinese Mythology, there were originally 10 suns, who are all represented by three-legged crows called sunbirds.  These sunbirds were the suns of the god Di Jun.  At first, the sunbirds did their duty: travel around the world to warm the land.  Eventually, the birds were tired of the routine, so they became a little naughty.  All 10 birds rose at the same time, heating up the earth.  It got way too hot, and the emperor begged Di Jun to stop them.  Di Jun sent Hou Yi to stop them by scaring them off.  Hou Yi agreed, as he wanted to end the problem peacefully.  But with one sight of the burnt land, Hou Yi wasn't too happy.  He decided to kill them.  he killed nine of them, and he was about to kill the last one when the emperor reminded him that they still needed one.  The last sunbird was completely scared, so he did his job correctly from then on.
      You'd think that Hou Yi would be praised for his accomplishment.  He was praised by the humans, but Du Jun was angry that Hou Yi killed his sons.  He decided to banish him from heavens, thinking that since Hou Yi loved the humans so much, he will live like them.  Hou Yi didn't hold a grudge, though.  In fact, he set off to save China.  On one of his adventures, he met his wife Chang'e.  But Chang'e unknowingly drank immortality elixirs and became the goddess of the moon.  After his loss, he became a tyrant.  He was then killed by an apprentice of his out of jealousy.

Symbols: bow and arrow
Title: Defender of the Earth
Alt Versions: In some versions, he isn't a tyrant.  He is a wonderful king who ruled the land he saved.

Coyolxauhqui: Aztec Goddess of the Moon

            This week, I will be talking about the moon goddess, Coyolxauhqui.  I know, I know, the name's hard to pronounce, but you get used to it.  Anyway, she is the goddess of the moon, and is the leader of the Centzon Huitznahuas.  The  Centzon Huitznahuas are the gods of the southern stars.  Plus, some scholars believe that she was the goddess of the Milky Way galaxy.
            She is not known in many myths, in fact, she is only known for how she became the goddess of the moon.  In this myth, she had a big fight with her mom, Coatlicue.  Like most mom and daughter fights, it was about pregnancy.  Though, it wasn't Coyoxauhqui's, it was Coatlicue's.  Coatlique became pregnant when a ball of hummingbird feathers fell on her chest while sleeping.  Coyoxauhqui and her other 400 brothers were ashamed of the weird pregancy and planned to kill her.  Huitzilopochtli, god of of the sun and war, sprang out of Coatlique's womb and killed Coyoxauhqui and many of her brothers.  The remaining brothers ran away and are known as the stars we see in the sky.  Huitzilopochtli cut off Cooyoxauhqui's limbs and threw her head into the sky, where it became the moon.

Symbols: bells on her cheeks, severed head
Parents: Coatlicue and Mixcoatl
Sacrifice: cut off heads, cut out hearts, and throw body down the temple of Coyoxauhqui
Name Meaning: woman with copper bells on her cheeks

Freyr: Norse God of Spring, Summer, Sun, Rain, Harvest, Abundance, Fertility, Growth, and Vitality

         In light of the recent release of Rick Riordan's book, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, I decided to do this week's god on a Norse god.  And what better god to do than Magnus's father.  Oh, spoiler alert for those who have not read the book yet.  Anyway, this week I will be taking about the Norse god Freyr.  In Norse Mythology, Freyr is quite popular and very important.  In fact, everyone loves him, if you don't count Surt, lord of the fire giants in the realm of fire, Muspelheim.  But other than him, Freyr was on everyone's good list.  Now why would Surt hate him if he's so good?  It may be the fact that they were pretty much destined to kill each other.  In Ragnorok, the Norse doomsday, Surt is said to charge into battle against the Asgardian and Vanir gods.  Wielding a sword of fire, Surt will fight against and kill Freyr, and in turn, he will be slain by Freyr.
         In Norse myths, he is known as the lord of one of the 9 worlds, which lie on the world tree, Yggdrasil.  He is the king of Alfheim, the realm of the light elves.  Just like his realm, Freyr is considered a great beauty among the male deities.
         One of his most famous legends is when he tried to marry the giantess, Gerðr.  In the legend, Freyr sees Gerðr in the distance and sends his servant Skirnir to get her to marry him.  She refuses at first, even with gifts that included Freyr's magic sword that fought by itself.  She finally accepts after threats were made by Skirnir.

Symbols: sword, Gullinborsti-- his golden boar, Skídblaðnir-- his ship that could hold all the gods and could become small enough to fit in a pocket.
Parents: Njord and unknown mother
Siblings: Freya
Type of Deity: Aesir and Vanir (the Aesir were war-like, while Vanir were associated with nature and fertility)

Sekhmet: Egyptian Goddess of fire, war, destruction, plagues, healing, and the sun

                Just like last week, we have another feisty goddess of destruction.  Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Egypt, is known as the goddess of destruction, fire, the sun, plagues, and strangely healing.  In ancient Egypt, she was widely feared for her destructive nature, especially those who pose a threat to Egypt and her father Ra.  She unleashes plagues, scorching flames and heat, and diseases to those who have wronged her father and kingdom.  Though she is the cause of plagues and diseases, she also brings cures to those she deems as worthy of protection.  Because of this protection and life-giving side of hers, she is often shown with the ankh—the symbol for life.  I guess this is what attracted her husband, Ptah, to her in the first place, unless he is into the bloodthirsty, ruthless babes of Egypt.  Not only is she split between healing and destruction, she also has a whole different personality named Hathor.  It is sometimes shown that Hathor turns into Sekhmet when she turns angry. Just think of her as the ancient Egyptian womanly version of the Hulk.

                Sekhmet is one of the oldest deities in the Egyptian mythology.  She is also known as one of the most powerful.  In fact, in her most famous legend, she almost destroyed the whole human race.  It started with her birth.  In some variations, she was born from Ra’s eye when he looked at the ground.  I know, I know.  Weird way to be born, but that’s mythology for ya.  Anyways, she was born from his eye, and is mainly a protector of him as the first pharaoh.  When humans were being a little bit too chaotic, Ra got mad and sent Sekhmet to take care of the situation.  The problem?  She was too destructive and almost took out the whole human race.  To stop her, Ra poured 7000 jugs of beer and red dye into the Nile to look like blood.  She drank from the river, and ended up wasted and passed out for 3 days.  When she woke up, returned to Ra nice and calm.

Symbols: lion, sun disk, red dress

Major city: Memphis, Leontopolis

Parents: Ra or Nut and Geb

Titles: Powerful One, Destroyer of Rebellion, Lady of Terror, Lady of Life

Children: Maahes, Nefertem