Earth goddess

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Ibu Pertiwi, the earth mother of Indonesia, derived from the Hindu goddess Prithvi

In ethnological and religious studies literature, mythical spirits or goddesses are primarily referred to as earth goddess , earth mother or earth mistress , who in some historical or recent ethnic religions have divine power over the soil and its inhabitants (human, animal, vegetable, but also possibly their inherent spirits ) exercise. She (much less often he, the Lord of the Earth ) is responsible for the fertility of plants - often also of animals - and thus decisive for the well-being of people. Often she is also the patroness of the division of land among people. Earth mothers are almost exclusively worshiped in plant cultures, where the earth as the origin of the plants is of central economic and religious importance. The number of earth goddesses who go back to a corresponding basic idea is very large; but in the course of history the cults of the individual deities have repeatedly mixed with one another. The earth goddesses are often connected not only with fertility, but also with the underworld and with death.

Worldviews that focus on worshiping the earth are sometimes referred to as chthonism . This also applies to modern theories such as the evolutionary Gaia hypothesis .

The religious-historical and archaeological equivalent to the Earth Mother is the Mother Goddess or Great Mother . However, the terms are often used synonymously.

Differentiation from "Mother Earth" and "Mother Nature"

While earth mothers and mother goddesses are divine personifications of the earth in the narrowest sense , to which human-like traits, will and agency are assigned, there is also the idea of ​​a mother earth , which is more pantheistic or animistic (in the sense of the environment, land, nature or planet) than one holy wholeness is seen with various supersensible transcendent attributes . However, this is seldom differentiated in the ethnological literature. In addition, the metaphorical expression Mother Nature must be distinguished from it, which has no religious meaning.

Mythology and belief

In many mythological systems where Erdmütter happen also the origin of man is often in the ground (in terms of soil ) seen (compare: Biblical creation of man or Atrahasis epic ) . Also common is the idea that after death you will return to earth or continue to live in the earth (in the sense of the underworld ).

A central idea in traditional planter cultures is the "world parent couple", which consists of a heavenly father (often weather god) and an earthly mother goddess. Every year they unite in a “holy wedding”, during which the earth is fertilized by the rain to produce new plant growth. This picture is particularly prevalent in crops with cereal cultivation. The cultivated plants are often viewed as son or daughter deities of the world parents. The earth mother was therefore responsible for the harvest blessing and in many cultures also for the fertility of women, so that she had a priority position for the well-being of the people. She was often presented as a mature, older woman (compare: matron ) who was predominantly blessing.

Nevertheless, there is also a belief in negative properties: in some cultures it has a “gloomy aura”, which is expressed in dark colors and nocturnal, often orgiastic rites . Almost all over the world, the earth mother cult is associated with bloody animal (or earlier also human) sacrifices , which it needs for "fertilization" or reconciliation in order to develop its power of blessing.

Michael Witzel (2012), however, considers a late Paleolithic origin of the idea of ​​the world parent couple to be likely; the idea that humans came into being through the separation of heaven and earth is not only part of the mythological inventory of plant cultures. In early times, the mythological tradition was little influenced by the climatic and scenic surroundings; it is extremely conservative and stable.

origin

In many hunter-gatherer cultures of "is Lord of the Animals " considered divine guardians of wildlife, sometimes as their creator and sustainer of their fertility or as assistant to the hunter. A mistress of the animals occurs much less often , for example among Siberian peoples , the Eskimo peoples (→ Sedna ) and South and Southeast Asian ethnic groups. The oldest Neolithic depictions of mother goddesses show them partly in connection with certain wild animals, so that prehistorians assume the transitional form from the animal mistress to the fertility goddess . The latter aspect became more and more important due to the increasingly agrarian way of life. Even today, earth mother goddesses have a not inconsiderable, sometimes even dominant role in numerous traditional planter and farmer cultures in the respective religion.

The religious scholar Albrecht Dieterich saw in his extensive work Mother Earth - An Attempt on Folk Religion (1905) the idea of ​​a "godlike", soulful earth without human-like features as a forerunner of the anthropomorphic conceptions of an earth goddess. As a direct continuation of the animistic belief in universal soul of the early days or of recent hunter peoples, this thesis is also supported by modern authors. A clear assignment to the soulful earth or earth goddess is difficult in very many cases, since both aspects often play a role.

distribution

Clay figure of Demeter (approx. 520–500 BC), Museo Archeologico Regionale (Agrigento)

In hunter-gatherer cultures Erdmuttergöttinnen very rare. In the pastoral cultures of the dry steppes, too , the fertility of the earth plays a much less important role than the rain-bringing sky and corresponding sky gods.

In contrast, the motif of a personified earth with human-like characteristics is the constituent element of traditional planter cultures. It is already detectable for many historical agricultural cultures. For the correct delimitation of the technical terms, these are listed in the article Mother Goddess .

The following are some examples of earth goddesses in ancient and recent plant cultures:

Hellas and Rome

The Greek goddess of fertility, seeds and grain was Demeter ( Chthonia Thea , the earth goddess). The corresponding Roman goddess was Ceres ("the creator" from Latin creare , "to create", "to beget"). Its origin is probably Etruscan . Their festival, the Cerialia , is already recorded in the oldest Roman calendar. The essence of Ceres is characterized by a gradual adjustment to older ideas about mother earth (Italian / Latin: Tellus or terra mater , Greek: Gaia ). The earth goddesses later sank into underworld goddesses , such as the daughter of Demeter, Persephone and that of Ceres, Proserpina .

Rest of Europe

The earth and fertility goddess of the Eastern Slavs was Mokosch , that of the Lithuanian Zemes māte ("earth mother") or Žemyna (from lit .: žemė , "earth"; similar to Latvian), that of the Basque Mari . With the Celts, Germans and Finns there were only (partly male) vegetation and fertility deities, no typical earth goddess.

West Africa

Many tribal societies in West Africa know a divine earth mother in addition to the god of rain, lightning and thunder. She is personalized as the mother of humanity and is responsible for the fertility of humans and the soil.

For those in North Togo and Ghana -based Konkomba about is the goddess Kiting on the one hand the life-giving force, and secondly, the nurturer, the Community is closely linked; as well as the highest moral authority. It too receives its fertility through the rain of a heaven god. She is also the mother of the highest being Uwumbor . However, this god is considered too abstract and distant so that he is never addressed directly.

For the Yoruba , too , Aja is the goddess of the earth, the forest, plants and animals. The bodies and spiritual "heads" ( ori-inu ), d. H. The potter Ajala created the fates of the people here ; the supreme god Olodumare breathes life into them, which is reminiscent of the traditions of the Semitic high cultures. The complex metaphysics of the Yoruba, presumably around 5000 years old, is no longer that of a tribal society; it may have been influenced by Egypt.

Sudan

Among the black African tribes of Sudan, Ile - the earth - is represented by the goddess Onile , from whom all life comes, which is necessary for the well-being of the "king" and his kingdom and to which the dead return as vengeance demons. She is addressed as mother ( Iya ) and associated with the left side. In addition, there are no uniform statements about their appearance. She is the same age as heaven and both existed before the gods Orisha .

North America

  • The vegetation and earth goddess of the Navajo Indians was the Shifting Woman , who ages and rejuvenates with the cycle of the seasons.
  • Tuwapongtumsi (sand altar maiden - goddess of all plants), Tiikuywuuti (child who slides out of the woman - goddess of the game) or Taalawtumsi (dawn woman - goddess of birth and growth) were the three most important earth goddesses of the Hopi , who were often equated and not differentiated .

Central America

  • In the high cultures of Mesoamerica , which are always threatened by drought and which had the ability to make precise astronomical observations, the earth deities lose their importance in favor of the sky and water deities. The cruel earth goddess of the Aztecs was Coatlicue , who was also mother of the moon and stars. The Mayan goddess of fertility was not earth, but the moon goddess Ix Chel .
  • Some peoples of Mesoamerica culture areal down to Zirkumkaribik of all major had Jaguar -God the role of a male or sexless Erdmuttergöttin.

Andean region in South America

Ritual in honor of Pachamama at the Universidad Nacional de Lanús (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Among the Quechua and Aymará peoples of the entire Andean region , the belief in the "mother world" Pachamama is still clearly pronounced, despite centuries of Christian influence. The word component Pacha stands for the original pantheistic idea of ​​a sacred cosmic whole, which includes the living space of the whole universe and is represented by the human environment. Pacha is the central force in space and time that unites the world of gods, myths and earthly life. Only the syncretistic mixing with the Christian devotion to Mary led to the personification as the anthropomorphic mother goddess (mom), who determines the life of the people. Pachamama has beneficial properties for the cultivation of the earth through agriculture and animal husbandry as well as ominous and uninhabitable areas, natural disasters and epidemics. Her sacrifices have always been made (such as chicha corn beer, coca leaves or animal blood) to give her new strength.

India

The mother goddess from the Vedas is called Prithivi . In the Rigveda she is called in six hymns together with her husband Dyaus as Dyava-Prithivi . She is considered the friendly mother of all beings. Her children are: Indra , Agni , Surya and Ushas . Their symbolic animal is the sacred cow . Prithivi no longer plays a role in “official” Hinduism , but is revered in the Indian folk and tribal religions or in Shaktism as the earth and mother goddess. The goddesses Sarasvati , Kali , Bhumi, Bhudevi or Durga are also variously viewed as mother goddesses.

Indonesia

In eastern Indonesia (especially Central Seram, Ambon and West Flores) as well as in parts of Sulawesi, many ethnic groups have the idea of ​​the sacred primeval wedding of heaven and earth, in which the respective earth goddess is fertilized by the rain. In addition, this pair of gods often plays a role in local creation myths. This is how the highest god of the Ngaju from Borneo separated Father Heaven and Mother Earth; the creator beings, who then continued to exist as mountains.

Oceania

Rangi and Papa in a deep embrace

In Maori mythology , but also in parts of Indonesia and Polynesia , the heavenly father Rangi (in Hawai: Wakea ) and the earth mother Papa (in Hawaii: Papahanaumoku ) are initially so closely united that their sons have to live in darkness. These sons grow up and talk to one another what it would be like to live in the light. They split up later. This myth shows parallels to myths of the Turkic peoples, Mongols, Koreans and Chinese.

See also

Remarks

  1. ↑ Sorted according to frequency of use in literature, after a query in Google Books for books from publication date 1980: "Erdgöttin" approx. 8,650 results, in connection with "Religion" approx. 1,820 and with "Ethnology" approx. 232; “Earth Mother” approx. 7,890 results, in connection with “Religion” approx. 1,650 and with “Ethnology” 214; “Erdherrin” 46 results, in connection with “Religion” 5 and with “Ethnology” 8. Queries on November 12, 2015.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bettina Schmidt: Erdherr (in). In: Walter Hirschberg (founder), Wolfgang Müller (editor): Dictionary of Ethnology. New edition, 2nd edition. Reimer, Berlin 2005, pp. 96-97.
  2. ↑ Manfred Kurt Ehmer: Goddess Earth: Cult and Myth of Mother Earth. Zerling, Berlin 1994, p. 12.
  3. ^ A b c Wilhelm Kühlmann : Pantheism I. In: Horst Balz et al. (Ed.): Theologische Realenzyklopädie . Volume 25: Ochino - Parapsychology. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995/2000, ISBN 3-11-019098-2 , p. 628.
  4. ^ A b Josef Franz Thiel: Religionsethnologie. In: Horst Balz et al. (Hrsg.): Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Volume 28: “Pürstinger - Philosophy of Religion”. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1997, ISBN 3-11-019098-2 , pp. 560-565.
  5. ↑ a b c Klaus E. Müller: The better and the worse half. Ethnology of the gender conflict. Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York 1984, ISBN 3-593-33360-0 , pp. 272-277.
  6. ↑ Albrecht Dieterich: Mother Earth - An attempt on popular religion. Second edition. BG Teubner, Leipzig / Berlin 1913, pp. 8-14, 17, 26, 35, 40, 80, 124.
  7. ↑ a b Markus Porsche-Ludwig, Jürgen Bellers (Hrsg.): Handbook of the religions of the world. Volumes 1 and 2, Traugott Bautz, Nordhausen 2012, ISBN 978-3-88309-727-5 , pp. 974-977.
  8. ↑ Geo Widengren : Religious phenomenology . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1969, pp. 125–126.
  9. ^ Suzanne J. Crawford (Ed.): American Indian Religious Traditions: AI. (= American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia . Volume 1). Dennis F. Kelley, ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara (USA) 2005, ISBN 1-57607-517-6 , p. 563.
  10. ↑ Klaus E. Müller: Shamanism. Healers, spirits, rituals. 4th edition. CH Beck, Munich 2010 (original edition 1997), ISBN 978-3-406-41872-3 , p. 18.
  11. ↑ Barbette Stanley Spaeth: 1 The Roman Goddess Ceres. University of Texas Press, 2010.
  12. ↑ Svetlana Pakhomova: Religion in Togo . ( Memento from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: Markus Porsche-Ludwig, Jürgen Bellers (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Religionen der Welt. Verlag Traugott Bautz, online version accessed on October 30, 2015.
  13. ↑ Oladele Abiodun Balogun: The Concepts of Ori and Human Destiny in Traditional Yoruba Thought: A Soft-Deterministic Interpretation. In: Nordic Journal of African Studies, vol. 16 (2007), no. 1, pp. 116–130, here: p. 121.
  14. ↑ Jürgen Zwernemann: The earth in the imagination and cult practices of the Sudanese peoples. D. Reimer, Berlin 1968, p. 66.
  15. ↑ Philip Wilkinson: Myths & sagas from all cultures. Origins, tradition, meaning . Dorling Kindersley, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8310-1503-0 , pp. 110-111.
  16. ↑ John D. Loftin: Religion and Hopi Life. 2nd Edition. Indiana University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-253-34196-5 , pp. 148-149.
  17. ↑ Wolfgang Lindig, Mark Münzel (Ed.): The Indians. Volume 2: Mark Münzel: Central and South America. 3rd, revised and expanded edition. dtv, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-423-04435-7 , p. 78.
  18. ^ Douglas T. Peck: Ix Chel Maya Queen of Heaven in the New World: Evolution of the Maya Goddess Ix Chel from Ancient Times to Modern Times. Xlibris Corporation, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4568-5040-1 , pp. 35-44.
  19. ↑ Johannes Winter: Religion in the Andean countries - Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador. In: Markus Porsche-Ludwig, Jürgen Bellers (Hrsg.): Handbook of the religions of the world. Volumes 1 and 2, Traugott Bautz, Nordhausen 2012, ISBN 978-3-88309-727-5 , pp. 467-471.
  20. ↑ Steffen Graefe: The new radical Hinduism - India in the clash of cultures. LIT-Verlag, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10472-4 , p. 271.
  21. ↑ Waldemar Stöhr: The old Indonesian religions. In the. Handbook of Oriental Studies . Brill, Leiden / Cologne 1976, ISBN 90-04-04766-2 , pp. 45, 55, 73, 170, 199, 201-202, 214-222.
  22. ^ EJ Michael Witzel: The Origins of the World's Mythologies . Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 126-129 .