Lore24 Jan 21: Hath-Ur the Brilliant Sun

Depending on the myth, rite, or prayer Hath-Ur can be either male or female. This does not mean that Hath-Ur is of indeterminate gender, or that Hath-Ur is genderfluid, for the Brilliant Sun is above such mortal concerns. It also doesn’t mean that Hath-Ur has a male and a female aspect either. Hath-Ur expects mortals to know the lore of Hath-Ur, and to know in which contexts is Hatth-Ur male and in which others is Hath-Ur female. For this reason when people speak of Hath-Ur not in the specific contexts of Hath-Ur’s deeds or Hath-Ur’s rites, they do not use pronouns to refer to Hath-Ur. While this is a bit troublesome, it is preferable to the alternative, as misgendering a deity carries grave punishments indeed.

Hath-Ur, as mentioned, is the Brilliant Sun whose rays give life just as readily as they take it away. People revere and fear Hath-Ur in equal measure, and this is reflected in the way Hath-Ur’s worship is carried out. The priests pray for her life-giving gift in the spring, and entice her with sacrifices to stay in the autumn, while pleading to him in the summer to spare them from droughts and deadly heatwaves. Hath-Ur is also said to be one of the ancestors of the current Sorcerer-King of Nashat-Ippur, as well as other mythical and historical heroes (used here in the old Greek sense of “mighty person”, rather than in the modern sense of “nice mighty person”). Hath-Ur is also the wife or brother of Atar-Numash depending on the myth in question.

Hath-Ur is usually depicted as either a motherly woman wearing lots of gold jewelry, or a clean-shaven, naked young man. In both instances Hath-Ur wears a golden sundisk on Hath-Ur’s head. It is by far most common for Hath-Ur’s statues to be made of gold, but in less affluent temples and cities brass is also sometimes used.

Hath-Ur’s symbols are a golden disk, a flaming chariot wheel, jerboas, and cacti. Hath-Ur’s priests and champions receive the power to instantly evaporate water, to make plants grow, and the most powerful can even cause a person to die from dehydration by just touching them.

Hath-Ur-s holy day is the summer solstice, when animals are sacrificed by herding them out into the wastes to live or die at the whim of Hath-Ur. It is said that meeting an animal that was sacrificed this way in a previous year is good luck, while stumbling across the carcass of one foretells misfortune.

 Image by Annette He

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