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

mother goddess A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, ...

and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. 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 () occurred in 1387, initiated by the Lithuanian royals Jogaila, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his cousin Vytautas the Great. It signified the official adoption of Catholic Christianity by Lithu ...

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

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

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. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

Earth-goddess ''* Dʰéǵʰōm''. It relates to

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

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

Role

Žemyna was first mentioned by

Jan Łasicki Jan Łasicki (; 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 the Unity of the brethren in 1567 ...

(1582). It was later also described by

Mikalojus Daukša Mikalojus Daukša (other possible spellings include ''Mikalojus Daugsza'', and ''Mikolay Dowksza''; after 1527 – 16 February 1613 in Varniai, Medininkai) was a Lithuanian language, Lithuanian and Latin language, Latin religious writer, transla ...

(1595), Daniel Klein (1653), Matthäus Prätorius, 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 word obtained by modifying a root word 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, and sometimes to belittle s ...

names and

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

s. In addition, historical sources on

Baltic mythology Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of the Baltic peoples stemming from Baltic paganism and continuing after Christianization and into Baltic folklore. History Baltic mythology ultimately stems from Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Bal ...

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 (, , Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Sudovian language, Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian language, Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic languages, Baltic List of thunder gods, god of thunder, and the second m ...

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

Dievas Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs and Debestēvs (" Sky-Father"), Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Diews, Yotvingian Deivas was the primordial supreme god in the Baltic mythology, one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas, and the ...

). Thus the couple formed the typical

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

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, usually winding, underwater stony road or ford across swamps, swampy areas, lakes, or along rivers, used as a defense in the lands of ...

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 Žemyna 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