Siva (goddess)

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Depiction of the goddess Siva from 1740

Siva was the main goddess of the West Slavic tribe of polabians .

The goddess Siva was already mentioned by the Christian missionary such as the chronicler Helmold von Bosau and in later sources equated with the Roman grain goddess Ceres (the Greek Demeter ).

Areas of responsibility

Indeed, the main duties of this Slavic goddess seem to have been the fertility of the fields and the growth of the crops. Therefore Váňa also interprets her name in Slavic as Živa, goddess of life force, and assigns her a similar area of ​​responsibility as the East Slavic Mokosch .

It is possible that Siva could be the nameless goddess whose flag the West Slavic Liutizen took into battle according to the testimony of the chronicler Thietmar von Merseburg . In addition, Siva probably served as a general adviser to her followers.

Adoration

The main temple of Siva was in Ratzeburg . In its place was from 1159 the Ratzeburg Cathedral built. There was also a sanctuary of the goddess in Rethra . Your thereat idol was said to be clothed, with a sleeping man on the head, a bunch of grapes in his left and an apple in her right hand.

Modern reception

The goddess Siva appears in the historical novel The Last Priestess by Renata Petry , published in 1996/97, as one of the deities worshiped by the pagan Slavs . In this novel, the pagan Slavs east of the Elbe are fighting against Christianity and are still able to communicate with the pagan gods, including Siva (here: Siwa), who is portrayed as the summer-autumn aspect of a triune goddess whose other aspects are embodied by the pseudo goddesses Vesna and Morena (here: Morana).

Commons : Zhiva (goddess)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Zdeněk Váňa: Mythology and gods of the Slavic peoples: The spiritual impulses of Eastern Europe . Urachhaus, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-87838-937-X .
  • Michael Handwerg: The Slavic gods in Pomerania and Rügen . Edition Pommern, Elmenhorst 2010, [JJ Steinbrück, 1792], ISBN 978-3-939680-06-2 .
  • Renata Petry: The last priestess . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1996/1997, ISBN 3-453-12452-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Zdeněk Váňa: Mythology and gods of the Slavic peoples: The spiritual impulses of Eastern Europe . Stuttgart 1992, p. 95.
  2. ↑ Zdeněk Váňa: Mythology and gods of the Slavic peoples: The spiritual impulses of Eastern Europe . Stuttgart 1992, p. 207.
  3. ↑ Michael Handwerg: The Slavic Gods in Pomerania and Rügen . Elmenhorst 2010, p. 26.
  4. ↑ Michael Handwerg: The Slavic Gods in Pomerania and Rügen . Elmenhorst 2010, p. 26 f.
  5. ↑ Renata Petry: The last priestess . Munich 1996/1997, p. 258 f.