Vegetation deity

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Vegetation deity or fertility gods and goddesses is a term of religious history and mythology , which usually defines a Gods type, which, if it represents the cyclical moments of nature, is also called "death Santander God" or the occasional ritual of sacred marriage be connected can. A characteristic of the respective deities is that, among other things, they descend into the underworld in the cycle of vegetation rhythms in order to return to this world in spring or, in the underworld, as a chthonic deity as god of death, rule over the realm of the dead, sometimes together with a companion who may periodically access the upper world, e.g. B. Persephone . A special variant is represented by the so-called Dema deity , another is the mother goddess .

Origin and function

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Vegetation deities emerged in particular with the agriculture of the Neolithic (pastoral nomads tended to have astral or sky gods) and often survived into the Bronze and Iron Ages , sometimes as judges of the dead , as with Osiris and Hades , if their chthonic character came to the fore. Female deities often also function as mother goddesses. The type, however, often does not appear purely, but has often also taken on other tasks. For example, the Akkadian Ishtar is an original vegetation goddess, but also functions as the goddess of the evening star , i.e. as an astral deity . In this case, the connection with the cult of vegetation arises from calendar references to rural cultures. As far as the Paleolithic is concerned, there is speculation about deities such as the Lord or Mistress of the animals , who in some way could also have something to do with the fertility of humans and animals (cf. Religion in the Paleolithic ). However, this is not the subject of this article, cf. plus shamanism .

Some examples

Compare the individual lemmas in.

Vegetation myths

The nature, function and origin of the gods of vegetation can be read and deciphered particularly well using the myths that are associated with them, especially since they are often the only things that have been passed down about them. Agricultural myths are accepted from the 10th millennium BC at the beginning of the Neolithic, but can only be found with the beginning of the written culture , in the Near East around 3500 BC. Prove. No completeness is sought here, rather the most important vegetation myths, including their changes, interrelations and supra-regional references, etc., are briefly described here paradigmatically.

Myths of the ancient Mediterranean region

You can find them here mainly in Asia Minor, Palestine and in the area of ​​the Roman, Greek and Etruscan cultures.

Old European myths

Above all, the Celts, Teutons and Slavs as well as the Caucasus region offer plenty of examples.

Myths of the Indo-Iranian area

The Indian and Iranian regions are characterized by a superimposition of pre-Indo-European and Indo-Aryan myths.

East Asian Myths

They mainly affect Central Asia, India, China and Japan as well as Indonesia.

African myths

Africa offers a particularly archaic picture here, which is nevertheless relatively uniform in terms of the themes and structures of the myths.

Oceanic and Australian Myths

The myths of this region show a particularly diverse picture with a partly also very archaic state. Above all, Jensen's theory of the dema deity , which relates to this region and is derived from it, has greatly enriched the analysis of oceanic myths.

Old American myths

As far as relative uniformity is concerned, the same applies as in Africa. Here as there, however, the superimposition of the high religions, in Africa especially Islam, in America especially Christianity, must be taken into account.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger : Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 2001, p. 54.
  2. ↑ Bellinger.
  3. ↑ Julien Ries: Origin of Religions. Pattloch Verlag, Augsburg 1993, pp. 62-65.
  4. ↑ Cavendish, pp. 86-109; Comte, pp. 12-169.
  5. ↑ Cavendish, pp. 170-205; Comte, pp. 284-314.
  6. ↑ Cavendish, pp. 14-33, 40-47; Comte, pp. 130-137, 170-211.
  7. ↑ Cavendish, pp. 34-39; 48-85; Comte, pp. 212-245.
  8. ↑ Cavendish, pp. 206-229; Compte, pp. 268-283.
  9. ↑ Cavendish, pp. 258-267; Comte, pp. 268-283.