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Writer's pictureKarl Roe

Crater of the Day: Doh


Location: Northwest Callisto

Diameter: 37 miles

Etymology: Ket (Siberian)


The Kets of central Siberia are believed to be the only modern representatives of a once widespread people. Today they number less than two thousand. Interestingly their language, which is completely unrelated to languages in other parts of Siberian, shares characteristics with many native North American languages in Alaska and Canada, and even with the Navajo and Apachean languages of the American Southwest.



Up until the Twentieth Century the Kets practiced a type of shamanism. According to their mythology, Doh was the original shaman. Like all people Doh possessed an "ulvei", which is an essential spirit (literally "water wind") not unlike the concept of the soul. However, one's ulvei is not bound to one's body as tightly as you might wish. Various illnesses were attributed to a wandering ulvei. Chills or fever meant your ulvei had gotten lost in a cold or hot place. Even worse was if your ulvei got captured and devoured by an evil witch named Hosedam, which would cause paralysis or coma, and eventually death. According to legend, Hosedam got hold of Doh's ulvei and nailed its hands and feet to a tree. Thereafter Doh was unable to cast a shadow on the Earth and was obliged to retreat to the second layer of sky. The Milky Way is sometimes referred to as "Doh's Trail".



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