The surface features of the moon that are visible from Earth have been interpreted by many cultures as the face or figure of a man, most often called the '''Man in the Moon''' in English. Many cultures additionally have a moon god, whether attributable to this pareidolia or not. Therefore, there are various explanations as to how there came to be a Man in the Moon.

A longstanding '''European tradition''' holds that the man was banished to the moon for some crime. Christian lore commonly held that he is the man caught gathering sticks on the sabbath and sentenced by God to death by stoning in the book of Numbers XV.32–36. Some Germanic cultures thought he was a man caught stealing from a neighbor's hedgerow to repair his own. There is a Roman legend that he is a sheep-thief.

One medieval Christian tradition claims him as Cain, the Wanderer, forever doomed to circle the Earth.

John Lyly says in the prologue to his Endymion (1591), "There liveth none under the sunne, that knows what to make of the man in the moone."

Some early texts are cautionary and stress the severity of the Man in the Moon’s punishment by emphasizing its long duration or his physical isolation. However despite this, he is often depicted as quite easily observing and even communicating with characters on earth. For example, in ''Queen Zixi of Ix'', Queen Lulea effortlessly interacts with him merely by gazing up at him and having a conversation as if he were only a short distance away. Similarly, in an illustration accompanying “A Message to Mother Goose,” the Man in the Moon, while still sitting on the moon, is close enough to the Man so Wondrous Wise as to even place his hand on him while they talk.

Despite his supposedly eternal banishment, imposed by God Himself according to many stories, the Man in the Moon nevertheless visits the earth quite frequently and with relative ease. In L. Frank Baum’s story “The Man in the Moon,” he visits earth by sliding down a moonbeam, and in the famous nursery rhyme, he literally tumbles from the moon to land on earth without any noteworthy ill effect. In fact, the only injury he is described as sustaining is his burning himself eating earthly food. (However, ''Mother Goose’s Melodies'' depicts a different character, “The man in the south,” as the one who burns himself, and in ''Five Mice in a Mouse‐Trap'', the Man in the Moon states that the nursery rhyme story is apocryphal anyway.) In “The Lumber Room,” he has no problem visiting earth repeatedly for long intervals, so long as he returns nightly because lighting up the moon is his responsibility, something that apparently would not occur were he not there. He also makes an impromptu visit to earth just to help Piggy escape from prison in “Tito’s Home‐made Picture‐Book,” and he is later able to attend the wedding ceremony in ''The Marriage of Jack and Jill''.

The appearance of the Man in the Moon varies greatly in public‐domain works, depending in part on whether it is the perception of his face or of his figure in the moon that serves as inspiration. He is sometimes depicted merely as a full or crescent moon with a face but is also sometimes depicted as a normal man; in between those two extremes is a range of more‐or‐less humanoid interpretations with varying degrees of moonlike face. He is often depicted carrying either an alcoholic beverage, presumably claret, or carrying the thorn bush or bundle of sticks that originally led to his banishment, along with a lantern that represents the moonlight. He is sometimes accompanied by his dog, which can also be seen in the moon’s surface features in some interpretations.

A few sources refer to him only as the Moon, blurring the distinction between the moon itself and the man therein, and in ''The Marriage of Jack and Jill'', he has the name Mr. Maninmoon.

There is also a '''Talmudic tradition''' that the image of '''Jacob''' is engraved on the moon, although no such mention appears in the Torah.

In '''Chinese mythology''', the goddess Chang'e is stranded upon the moon after foolishly consuming a double dose of an immortality potion. She is accompanied by a small group of moon rabbits. The Chinese also have Wu Gang, a man eternally punished on the moon, as well as the god Yue Lao, the “old man under the moon,” and the '''Japanese''' have a moon god named Tsukuyomi.

In '''Haida mythology''', the figure represents a boy gathering wood, who was taken up from the earth by the Moon as a punishment for disrespect.

There are a number of different tales in '''Maori mythology''' about Rona, who is sometimes portrayed as a lunar deity and sometimes as the human brought to the moon by such a deity (and is described as male in some stories and female in others). The Cook Islanders have a moon god named Marama.

In Brazil, there is a legend that Saint George lives on the Moon, some sources indicate that this is due to syncretism with the orisha Ogun.

*Sin or Nanna

*Kunnechup Kamui

*Jie Lin
*Tu'er Ye
*Wu Gang

*Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto

*Arma
*Kašku
*Men

*Napir

*Agni
*Chandra or Soma

*Kušuḫ

*Aglibol (Palmarene)
*Almaqah (Sabaean)
*Baal Hammon (Punic)
*Saggar (Eblaite)
*Ta'lab (Arabian)
*Wadd (Minaean)
*Yarikh (Amorite and Ugaritic)

*Ay Atla

*Mah

*Elatha

*Khors
*Myesyats

*Hjúki
*Máni

*Meness

*Tõlze

*Ayyur
*Iah
*Khonsu
*Thoth

*Metztli
*Tecciztecatl

*Kalfu

*Muuya

*Coniraya

*Alignak
*Tarqiup Inua

*Jive'cla

*Pah

*Jaci (the gender depends on the tribe)

*Avatea
*Fati
*Marama

*Bahloo

*Kidili

*Ngalindi

All published appearances of the Man in the Moon published before January 1, )-(95)}} are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:

*Teutonic Mythology, by Jacob Grimm (1835) – translation to English (1883)
*Shakespeare’s Puck, and His Folkslore, by William Bell (1852)
*Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, by Sabine Baring‐Gould (1866)
*English Folk‐lore, by T. F. Thiselton‐Dyer (1878)
*Moon Lore, by Timothy Harley (1885)
*Luniolatry, by Gerald Massey (1887)
*Classic Myths, by Mary Catherine Judd (1896)
*The Book of Nature Myths, by Florence Holbrook (1902)
*Oriental Studies, by Lewis Dayton Burdick (1905)
*Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols, by Gertrude Jobes (1961)

*“Mon in þe Mone” a.k.a. “A Song upon the Man in the Moon” (song) (ca. 1340, printed 1790)
*“The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret” (song) (1621) – incorporated into later works
**“A New Mad Tom of Bedlam,” words possibly by William Basse
**The Nursery Rhymes of England (1842)
*The Man in the Moone: or A Discourſe of a Voyage Thither a.k.a. The Strange Voyage and Adventures of Domingo Gonsales, to the World in the Moon, by Francis Godwin (1638)
* “Mad Maudlin, to Find out Tom of Bedlam” (song), words by Thomas d’Urfey (1719)
*“To the Man in the Moon,” by Thomas Gordon (1720)
*The Man in the Moon; or, Travels into the Lunar Regions, by William Thomson (1783)
*“The Man in the Moon” (nursery rhyme)
**Published in Gammer Gurton’s Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus (1810), Mother Goose’s Melodies (1833), The Nursery Rhymes of England (1842)
*“The Man in the Moon” (folk song)
**Published in Four Books of Choice Old Scotish Ballads (1868), The Ballad Book (1885)
*The Man in the Moon, by an undergraduate of Worcester College, Oxford (1839)
*An Introduction to Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, by James Halliwell‐Phillipps (1841)
*“A Shrewd Old Fellow’s the Man in the Moon” (song), words by Charles Sloman (1848)
*“The Man in the Moon” (folk song), Roud 21397
*At the Back of the North Wind, by George McDonald (1871)
*The Man in the Moon a.k.a. The Lumber Room, by Elizabeth Prentiss (1872)
*“The Giant Watabore,” by Mary Mapes Dodge (Dec. 1873)
*The Man in the Moon and Other People, by Rossiter W. Raymond (1874)
*Five Mice in a Mouse‐Trap, by Laura E. Richards (1880)
*“A Christmas Dinner with the Man in the Moon,” by Washington Gladden (Dec. 1880)
*“Masquerade Costumes,” by Geo. B. Bartlett (1882)
*“An Accident in High Life,” by Eleanor A. Hunter (Dec. 1882)
*“The Man in the Moon,” by James Whitcomb Riley (12 May 1883)
*“Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh‐Ride,” by Katharine Lee Bates (Dec. 1888)
*“Dutch Lullaby” a.k.a. “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod,” by Eugene Field (1889)
*“Elfie’s Visit to Cloudland and the Moon,” St. Nicholas (Apr. 1891)
*“My Sweetheart’s the Man in the Moon” (song), by James Thornton (1892)
*“The Man in the Moon,” by L. Frank Baum (1897)
*Cinderella and Other Stories (ca. 1900) – in “The Old Man in the Moon,” anonymous, and “Little Man in the Moon,” by Gussie Packard DuBois
*The Man in the Moon or the Unexpected, by Bertram Dendron (1901)
*The Surprising Adventures of the Man in the Moon, by Ray M. Steward (pseudonym of Edward Stratemeyer) (1903)
*“Tito’s Home‐made Picture‐Book,” by George Frederick Welsford (May 1904)
*Queen Zixi of Ix; or, The Story of the Magic Cloak, by L. Frank Baum (Nov. 1904)
*“A Message to Mother Goose,” by Ellen Manly (Dec. 1904)
*“Man in the Moon,” by W. Carew Hazlitt (1905)
*“The Man in the Moon,” Cassell’s Popular Science (ca. 1900–06)
*“Two men in a Balloon” (rhyme), by Sallie Macrum Cubbage (1912)
*“The Man in the Moon” (folk song), Roud 19710 – reprinted in The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore (1952)
*The Marriage of Jack and Jill, by Lilian Clisby Bridgham (1913)
*“Ivory Adventures: The Man in the Moon,” John Martin’s Book, reprinted in St. Nicholas (Mar. 1916)
*"The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late" by J. R. R. Tolkien (1923)
*Sandy, Skip and the Man in the Moon, by Inez Hogan (1928)
*Gay Legends of the Saints, by Frances Margaret Fox (1942)

*“Ur of the Chaldees,” by Edgar James Banks, Monumental Records (June 1900)[
*A Popular Handbook of Useful and Interesting Information for Beginners in the Elementary Study of Assyriology a.k.a. Bible Student’s Handbook of Assyriology, by Francis Collins Norton (1908)
*Sumerian Hymns from Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum, by Frederick Augustus Vanderburgh (1908)

* The Mythology of the Hindus, by Charles Coleman (1832)

* The Hydah Mission, Queen Charlotte’s Islands, by Charles Harrison (1884)

*Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand, Performed in the Years 1814 and 1815, by John Liddiard Nicholas (1817)
*The Ancient History of the Maori, His Mythology and Traditions, by John White (1887)
*“Marama: The Moon‐God,” by Arthur Henry Adams, The Monthly Review (Oct. 1902)

*A Nightmare (1896) by Georges Méliès
*The Astronomer's Dream (1898) by Georges Méliès
*A Trip to the Moon (1902) by Georges Méliès
*Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes (1902) by George Albert Smith
*L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune (1907)
*Excursion dans la lune (1908)
*The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914)
*Betty in Blunderland (1934)

* Professor Wayupski (newspaper strip) (25 May 1902 and 1 June 1902)
* Little Nemo in Slumberland (newspaper strip) (3 Dec. 1905)
* The Bad Dream That Made Bill a Better Boy (newspaper strip) (22 July 1906)
* Little Johnny and the Teddy Bears (magazine and newspaper strip) (5 Sept. 1908 in Judge, 15 Nov. 1908 in newspapers)
* The Little Journeys of Nip and Tuck (newspaper strip) (11 Apr. 1909)
* The Turr’ble Tales of Kaptin Kiddo (newspaper strip) (10 Apr. 1910)
* Hairbreadth Harry (newspaper strip) (25 Apr. 1920)
* All Good Comics (1944)
* Blue Ribbon Comics #1
* Crack Comics #31
* Spy Smasher #8

*MTV "Man & Cows" bumper (1988)

*There is a tradition that the Man in the Moon enjoyed drinking, especially claret. An old ballad runs (original spelling):
**"Our man in the moon drinks clarret,
**With powder-beef, turnep, and carret.
**If he doth so, why should not you
**Drink until the sky looks blew?"
*In the English Middle Ages and renaissance, the moon was held to be the god of drunkards, and at least three London taverns were named "The Man in the Moone."
*He is assigned to four code points in the [http://unicode.org/standard/standard.html Unicode text standard]: 🌚 (U+1F31A New moon with face); 🌛 (U+1F31B First quarter moon with face); 🌜 (U+1F31C Last quarter moon with face); 🌝 (U+1F31D Full moon with face).

ManMoonClaret.jpg|“The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret,” broadside illustration, 1600s.
ManMoonClarretHooper.jpg|“The Man in the Moon Drinks Clarret,” reproduction by William Harcourt Hooper after the original woodcut, in ''The Roxburghe Ballads'', vol. 2, 1874.
ManMoonRichter.jpg|Illustration by Adrian Ludwig Richter for ''Der Familienschatz'', reprinted in ''Curious Myths of the Middle Ages'', 1866.
ChandraSomaMythologyHindus.jpg|“Chandra or Soma, the Moon,” illustration for ''The Mythology of the Hindus …'', 1832.
ManMoonWiegand.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration for ''Mother Goose’s Melodies'', 1833.
ManMoonWiegand-0.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration by W. J. Wiegand for ''Mother Goose; or, National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs'', 1872.
ManMoonQuarto.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration for ''Mother Goose’s Quarto, of Nursery Rhymes'', 1800s.
ManInTheMoonCover.jpeg|Cover illustration for ''The Man in the Moon and Other Tales'', 1872.
ManMoonHowVeryAwkward12.png|“How Very Awkward!,” illustration for ''The Man in the Moon and Other Tales'', 1872.
Moon‐ManClothes‐Basket19.png|“The Moon‐Man in the Clothes‐Basket,” illustration for ''The Man in the Moon and Other Tales'', 1872.
ManMoonInBoat24.png|“In the Boat,” illustration for ''The Man in the Moon and Other Tales'', 1872.
ManMoonOtherPeopleCover.jpeg|Cover illustration for ''The Man in the Moon and Other People'', 1874.
ManMoonOtherPeopleFrontispiece.jpeg|Frontispiece for ''The Man in the Moon and Other People'', 1874.
FiveMiceMouseTrapCover.jpg|Cover illustration for ''Five Mice in a Mouse‐Trap'', 1880.
FiveMiceMouseTrap9.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration for ''Five Mice in a Mouse‐Trap'', 1880.
FiveMiceMouseTrap79.jpg|Illustration for ''Five Mice in a Mouse‐Trap'', 1880.
NyeRileysRailwayGuide122.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” headpiece from ''Nye and Riley’s Railway Guide'', 1888.
ManMoonAusten466.jpg|“Elfie Arrives at the Moon,” illustration by E. J. Austen for “Elfie’s Visit to Cloudland and the Moon,” ''St. Nicholas'', Apr. 1891.
ManMoonAusten468.jpg|“Elfie Meets the Man in the Moon,” illustration by E. J. Austen for “Elfie’s Visit to Cloudland and the Moon,” ''St. Nicholas'', Apr. 1891.
SweetheartManMoon.jpeg|Sheet music cover art for “My Sweetheart’s the Man in the Moon,” 1892.
ManMoonParrish1897.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration by Maxfield Parrish for ''Mother Goose in Prose'', 1897.
ManMoonGemsMotherGoose.jpg|“The man in the moon,” illustration for ''Gems from Mother Goose'', [1899?].
LittleManMoon.jpeg|“Little Man in the Moon,” illustration for ''Cinderella and Other Stories …'', ca. 1900.
ManMoonUnexpected1901.jpg|Illustration for ''The Man in the Moon or the Unexpected'', 1901.
ChildrenMoon1902.jpg|Illustration for “The Children in the Moon,” ''The Book of Nature Myths'', 1902.
File:Melies color Voyage dans la lune.jpg
ManMoonWelsford642a.jpg|“Piggy Is Cast into Prison by the Gobillillies,” illustration by George Frederick Welsford for “Tito’s Home‐made Picture‐Book,” ''St. Nicholas'', May 1904.
ManMoonWelsford642b.jpg|“The Man in the Moon Rescues Piggy,” illustration by George Frederick Welsford for “Tito’s Home‐made Picture‐Book,” ''St. Nicholas'', May 1904.
LuleaManMoonRichardson1904.jpg|“‘Give It to the First Unhappy Person You Meet,’ Said the Man in the Moon,” illustration by Frederick Richardson for ''Queen Zixi of Ix'', in ''St. Nicholas'', Nov. 1904.
ManMoonVarian1904.jpg|“The man who lived up in the moon…,” illustration by George Varian for “A Message to Mother Goose,” ''St. Nicholas'', Dec. 1904
ManMoonBetts1906.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration by Ethel Franklin Betts for ''While the Heart Beats Young'', 1906.
ManMoonCagney1912.jpeg|“The Moon, He was Full …,” illustration by Chauncey F. Cagney for ''The Bull Moose Mother Goose'', 1912.
ManMoonCoverBrooke1914.jpeg|“The Man in the Moon,” cover illustration by Leonard Leslie Brooke for ''A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book'', ca. 1914.
ManMoonFrontispieceBrooke1914.jpeg|“The Man in the Moon,” frontispiece by Leonard Leslie Brooke for ''A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book'', ca. 1914.
ManMoon1Brooke1914.jpeg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration by Leonard Leslie Brooke for ''A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book'', ca. 1914.
ManMoon2Brooke1914.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration by Leonard Leslie Brooke for ''A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book'', ca. 1914.
ManMoon3Brooke1914.jpg.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration by Leonard Leslie Brooke for ''A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book'', ca. 1914.
IvoryAdventuresManMoon.jpg|“The Poor Old Soul Was Bent with Toil,” illustration for “Ivory Adventures: The Man in the Moon,” ''St. Nicholas'', Mar. 1916.
Realmothergoosewrig 0042 copy.jpg|“The Man in the Moon,” illustration by Blanche Fisher Wright for ''The Real Mother Goose: Junior Edition'', 1916.
Khonsu1918.jpg|“Khôns as Moon‐God,” illustration from ''The Mythology of All Races'', 1916.
ManMoonHoganCover.jpg|Cover illustration by Inez Hogan for ''Sandy, Skip and the Man in the Moon'', 1928.
ManMoonHoganTitle.jpeg|Title page illustration by Inez Hogan for ''Sandy, Skip and the Man in the Moon'', 1928.
ManMoonHogan31.jpeg|Illustration by Inez Hogan for ''Sandy, Skip and the Man in the Moon'', 1928.
ManMoonHogan58.jpeg|Illustration by Inez Hogan for ''Sandy, Skip and the Man in the Moon'', 1928.
ManMoonHogan71.jpeg|Illustration by Inez Hogan for ''Sandy, Skip and the Man in the Moon'', 1928.
ManMoonHogan74.jpeg|Illustration by Inez Hogan for ''Sandy, Skip and the Man in the Moon'', 1928.
ManiSolWolvesOltman.jpg|Illustration for “The Creation,” ''Norse Mythology'', 1971.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_in_the_Moon Wikipedia] (Man in the Moon)
*Wikipedia (Wu Gang)
*Wikipedia (List of lunar deities)
**Wikipedia (Ay Ata)
**Wikipedia (Chandra)
**Wikipedia (Khonsu)
**Wikipedia (Kusuh)
**Wikipedia (Marama)
**Wikipedia (Tsukuyomi‐no‐Mikoto)
**Wikipedia (Yarikh)
**Wikipedia (Yue Lao)
*[http://comicvine.gamespot.com/khonshu/4005-42387/ Comic Vine] (Khonshu)
*[http://comicvine.gamespot.com/tsukiyomi/4005-57155/ Comic Vine] (Tsukiyomi)
*[http://www.comics.org/character/name/man%20in%20the%20moon/sort/alpha/ Grand Comics Database]
*[http://oz.wikia.com/wiki/Man_in_the_Moon Oz Wiki]
*[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Moon Muppet Wiki]
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