Žemyna (also Žemynėlė or Žemelė) (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. As the cult diminished after baptism of Lithuania, Žemyna's image and functions became influenced by the cult of Virgin Mary. It relates to Thracian Zemele ('mother earth') and Greek Semelē ().

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. 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 (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.

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.

Footnotes

See also

  • Zam
  • Proto-Indo-European mythology
  • Indo-European cosmogony
  • Baltic mythology
  • Prussian mythology
  • Lithuanian mythology
  • Semele
  • Māra
  • List of Lithuanian gods and mythological figures

References

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Further reading

  • Dundulienė, Pranė (1976). "Žemė lietuvių tikėjimuose ir liaudies mene. In: Istorija 16.1: 129-153.
  • Laurinkienė, Nijolė. Žemyna ir jos mitinis pasaulis [Žemyna and her mythical world]. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2013.