Karaya is the moon spirit. She has the responsibility of marking out the 28 day period of Ata Bey’s fertility. Since the 28 day cycle of the moon is almost identical to the 28 day cycle of a human female, Karaya creates a symbolic link between the human woman and the Cosmic Woman. In this way the human realm is linked to the Divine every month. We celebrate that link by performing a ceremony called the Full Moon ceremony.
The moon also creates other links between the human and the divine by periodically affecting the level of the sea during high and low tides. This connection between the sea, which is the blood of the Earth Mother and the moon with its 28 day cycle calls to mind the way in which human women manifest their 28-day long menstrual cycle by the shedding of their own blood.
Caney tradition call for the constructing of a circle of 28 stones representing the 28 days of Karaya’s cycle. This circle is laid on the ground and the participants of a Caney gathering sit inside it during ceremony.
Caney Circle 