Žemyna (also Žemynėlė or Žemelė) (from lt, žemė – ''earth'') is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian religion. She is usually regarded as

mother goddess A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or th ...

and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian

Zemes māte In Latvian mythology, the term Māte stands for "mother", sometimes written in English as Mahte. It was an epithet applied to some sixty-seventy goddesses. They were clearly distinct goddesses in most or all cases, so the term definitely referre ...

. Žemyna personifies the fertile earth and nourishes all life on earth, human, plant, and animal. All that is born of earth will return to earth, thus her cult is also related to death. As the cult diminished after

baptism of Lithuania The Christianization of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos krikštas) occurred in 1387, initiated by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło and his cousin Vytautas the Great. It signified the official adoption of Christianity ...

, Žemyna's image and functions became influenced by the cult of

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

Name

Žemyna stems from the name of

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

Earth-goddess ''*

Dʰéǵʰōm ''*Dʰéǵʰōm'' (Proto-Indo-European: ''*dʰéǵʰōm'' or ''*dʰǵʰōm''; lit. 'earth'), or ''*Pleth₂wih₁'' (PIE: ''*pleth₂wih₁'', lit. the 'Broad One'), is the reconstructed name of the Earth-goddess in the Proto-Indo-European mytholo ...

''. It relates to

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

''Zemele'' ('mother earth') and Greek '' Semelē'' (''Σεμέλη'').

Role

Žemyna was first mentioned by

Jan Łasicki Jan Łasicki ( la, Johannis Lasitii or Lasicius; 1534–1602) was a Polish historian and theologian. He was well-educated and traveled extensively in Western Europe from 1556 to 1581. Around 1557 he converted to Calvinism, becoming a follower of th ...

(1582). It was later also described by

Mikalojus Daukša Mikalojus Daukša (other possible spellings include ''Mikalojus Daugsza'', pl, Mikołaj Dauksza and ''Mikolay Dowksza''; after 1527 – February 16, 1613 in Medininkai) was a Lithuanian and Latin religious writer, translator and a Catholic churc ...

(1595), Daniel Klein (1653),

Matthäus Prätorius Matthäus Prätorius (c.1635–c.1704) was a Protestant pastor, later a Roman Catholic priest, a historian and ethnographer. Prätorius is thought to have been born in Memel (Klaipėda). He probably grew up speaking both German and Lithuan ...

, Jacob Brodowski (1740), and in numerous folk legends, beliefs, and prayers. Prätorius described a ritual, called ''žemyneliauti'', performed at major celebrations (e.g. weddings) or agricultural works (e.g. harvest). The head of the household would drink a cup of beer, but first, he would spill some of the drink on the ground and say a short prayer. Then he would kill a rooster or a hen, which would be cooked and eaten by the entire family. Each family member would receive a loaf of bread and say prayers, blessings, and greetings. The bones and other scraps would be sacrificed to the goddess (burned or buried). Other recorded rites included burying bread baked from last crops of prior harvest in a field before new sowing and sacrifice of a black piglet. People would also kiss the earth saying a short prayer thanking Žemyna for all her gifts and acknowledging that one day they will return to her. People addressed Žemyna in various affectionate

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

names and

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

s. In addition, historical sources on

Baltic mythology Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of the Baltic people stemming from Baltic paganism and continuing after Christianization and into Baltic folklore. Baltic mythology ultimately stems from Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Baltic region w ...

describe the dual role of goddess Zemyna: while she was connected to the fertility of the land, she was also associated with receiving the dead and acting as their ruler and guardian. Pieces of Lithuanian folklore also make references to Earth as mother of humans and their final abode after death.

Family

The goddess is said to be married to either

Perkūnas Perkūnas ( lt, Perkūnas, lv, Pērkons, Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic god of thunder, and the second most important deity in the Baltic pantheon after Die ...

(thunder god) or Praamžius (manifestation of chief heavenly god

Dievas Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs, Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Dìews, Yotvingian Deivas was the primordial supreme god in the Baltic mythology and one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas and he was brother of Potrimpo. He ...

). Thus the couple formed the typical

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

pair of mother-earth and father-sky. It was believed that the earth needs to be fertilized by the heavens (rain and thunder). Thus it was prohibited to plow or sow before the first thunder as the earth would be barren.

In modern culture

The Lithuanian folk music group

Kūlgrinda (plural ; from the Samogitian 'stone' and 'pavement', itself from 'to rake, pull together') is a hidden underwater stony road or ford across swamps and swampy areas used for defense in the history of Lithuania. Similar secret roads made primar ...

in collaboration with Donis released an album in 2013 titled ''Giesmės Žemynai'', meaning "Hymns to Žemyna".

Related male deities

Other characters in Lithuanian mythology are related - etymologically or semantically - to goddess Zemyna and a cult of the earth, such as ''Žemėpatis'' ('Earth Spouse') and ''Žemininkas'', male deities associated with cattle, agriculture and the fertility of the land. Their names are present in historical records of the Lithuanian non-Christian faith by foreign missionaries. Another male divinity with the name ''Zemeluks'', ''Zamoluksei'', ''Zameluks'' or ''Ziameluks'' is also said to be attested. An account tells he is a ''DEUS TERRAE'' ('earth god'), while in other he is "a lord or god of earth who was buried in the earth" by the Prussians.W. M. Flinders Petrie. "104. Links of North and South". In: ''Man'' 17 (1917): 158-62. Accessed February 1, 2021. doi:10.2307/2788049.

Name

Role

Family

In modern culture

Related male deities

Footnotes

See also

References

Further reading