«THE SIGN OF THE COW»: LUNAR SYMBOLISM IN OLZHAS SULEIMENOV’S HISTORIOSOPHY AND WEST AFRICAN MYTHORITUAL PRACTICES

Abstract

Abstract. The article examines the historiosophical hypothesis of the Kazakh poet, thinker, and researcher of ancient symbolic systems, Olzhas Suleimenov, concerning the primacy of lunar symbolism and its connection with early forms of sacred thought that originated in Africa and were expressed through the image of the crescent moon, the “sign of the cow.” Drawing on mythological and myth-ritual complexes of the peoples of West Africa (Fon, Ewe, Ouatchi, Yoruba, Igbo, and others), the study analyzes possible correspondences between lunar representations, bovine symbolism (horns as a crescent form), and the structure of cosmological oppositions between the Sun and the Moon. Particular attention is paid to ethnoastronomical data, ritual practices, and narratives reflecting the rivalry between solar and lunar principles within local ontologies. The article demonstrates that although direct mythologemes equating the crescent moon with horns are rare in West Africa, structural and functional parallels between lunar and bovine symbolic systems can nevertheless be traced. Using field materials collected during the author’s 2025 expedition to the southern regions of Benin and Togo, the study emphasizes the myth-ritual beneficence of the Moon, symbolizing vital forces and the ancient divine Great Mother, as well as the danger of the Sun, ambivalently associated with asociality, cannibalism, and witchcraft, but also with retribution for violations of social norms. The article concludes that Suleimenov’s hypothesis possesses partial heuristic value, provided that rigid climatic determinism is rejected and due consideration is given to regional variability and the semantic polycentrism of African cosmologies.
Keywords: Olzhas Suleimenov, lunar symbolism, West African mythology, Vodun, Orisha, cosmology, horns, Sun and Moon, myth-ritual practices, historiosophy, structural anthropology