Žemyna (also Žemynėlė or Žemelė)[Laurinkiene, Nijole. "Gyvatė, Žemė, Žemyna: vaizdinių koreliacija nominavimo ir semantikos lygmenyje". In: Lituanistika šiuolaikiniame pasaulyje. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2004. pp. 285–286.] (from – earth) is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian religion. She is usually regarded as mother goddess 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.[Laurinkienė, Nijolė. "Požemio ir mirusiųjų karalystės deivė" Goddesses. In: Metai n. 1. 2010. pp. 116-127.] As the cult diminished after baptism of Lithuania, Žemyna's image and functions became influenced by the cult of Virgin Mary.[
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Name
Žemyna stems from the name of Proto-Indo-European Earth-goddess *Dʰéǵʰōm.[Laurinkienė, Nijolė. "Motina Žemyna baltų deivių kontekste: 1 d.: Tacito mater deum, trakų-frigų Σεμέλη, latvių Zemes māte, Māra, lietuvių bei latvių Laima, Laumė ir lietuvių Austėja" Mother-Goddess. In: Liaudies kultūra
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/ref>["Zemyna's name is the linguistic equivalent of that of Semele, mother of Dionysos, in the Greek and Thracian traditions." Jones, Prudence; Pennick, Nigel (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. Routledge. p. 175. .]
Role
Žemyna was first mentioned by Jan Łasicki (1582). It was later also described by Mikalojus Daukša (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 libation 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 names and .
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In addition, historical sources on Baltic mythology 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.[Laurinkienė, Nijolė. "Požemio ir mirusiųjų karalystės deivė" Goddesses. In: Metai n. 1 2010. pp. 116-127.] Pieces of Lithuanian folklore also make references to Earth as mother of humans and their final abode after death.[Ūsaitytė, Jurgita. " Motina Žemė: Moteriškumo reprezentacija" Mother. In: Tautosakos darbai Folklore. 2002, 23,. p. 148. ]
Family
The goddess is said to be married to either Perkūnas (thunder god) or Praamžius (manifestation of chief heavenly god Dievas). Thus the couple formed the typical Indo-European 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.][
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In modern culture
The Lithuanian folk music group Kūlgrinda in collaboration with Donis released an album in 2013 titled Giesmės Žemynai, meaning "Hymns to Žemyna".[ Kūlgrinda Ir Donis – Giesmės Žemynai. Discogs.]
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[Laurinkienė, Nijolė (2008). "Lietuvių žemės deivės vardai" The. In: Tautosakos darbai, XXXVI, pp. 77-78. ][Eckert, Rainer (1999). “Eine Slawische Une Baltische Erdgottheit". Studia Mythologica Slavica
/ref> ('Earth Spouse')][Borissoff, Constantine L. (2014). “Non-Iranian Origin of the Eastern-Slavonic God Xŭrsŭ/Xors" Neiranskoe. In: Studia Mythologica Slavica
/ref> and Žemininkas,][Laurinkiene, Nijole. "Gyvatė, Žemė, Žemyna: vaizdinių koreliacija nominavimo ir semantikos lygmenyje". In: Lituanistika šiuolaikiniame pasaulyje. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2004. p. 285.] male deities associated with cattle, agriculture and the fertility of the land.[Doniger, Wendy. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. 1999. p. 1161. ] Their names are present in historical records of the Lithuanian non-Christian faith by foreign missionaries.[Vaitkevičienė, Daiva. "Nuliejimas žemei: gėrimo apeigos adresato klausimu" Libation. In: Tautosakos darbai Folklore. 2004, 28. pp. 104-117. [3]][Ališauskas, Vytautas. "Apie nemokslinį žalčio ir gyvatės skirtumą: Jono Lasickio knygelės paraštėje". In: Naujasis Židinys–Aidai, 2003, Nr. 11–12, pp. 612–615.]
Another male divinity with the name Zemeluks, Zamoluksei,[Beresnevičius, Gintaras. "Aisčių mater deum klausimu". In: Liaudies kultūra
/ref> Zameluks or Ziameluks][Sorin Paliga. "La divinité suprême des Thraco-Daces". In: Dialogues d'histoire ancienne
www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1994_num_20_2_2182][Trynkowski, Jan. "Problemy religii Getów w korespondencji Godfryda Ernesta Groddecka i Joachima Lelewela". In: Przegląd Historyczny 71/2 (1980): 325-331.] is also said to be attested. An account tells he is a DEUS TERRAE ('earth god'),[Trynkowski, Jan. "Problemy religii Getów w korespondencji Godfryda Ernesta Groddecka i Joachima Lelewela". In: Przegląd Historyczny 71/2 (1980): 328.] 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.]
Footnotes
See also
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Zam
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Proto-Indo-European mythology
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Indo-European cosmogony
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Baltic mythology
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Prussian mythology
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Lithuanian mythology
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Semele
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Māra
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List of Lithuanian gods and mythological figures
Further reading
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Dundulienė, Pranė (1976). " Žemė lietuvių tikėjimuose ir liaudies mene. In: Istorija 16.1: 129-153.
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Laurinkienė, Nijolė. Žemyna ir jos mitinis pasaulis Žemyna. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2013.
