Mokosh

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Mokosh
Goddess of life-giving and life-taking, fertility and moisture
Obec Mokošín- Bohyně Mokoš.jpg
Modern wooden statue in the Czech Republic
SymbolSun[citation needed]
Personal information
ConsortPerun and Veles (assumption)
ChildrenJarilo[citation needed] and Morana[citation needed]
Roman equivalentTerra, Minerva or Juno[citation needed]

Mokosh (Old East Slavic: Мóкошь) is a Slavic goddess mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, protector of women's work and women's destiny.[1] She watches over spinning and weaving, shearing of sheep,[2] and protects women in childbirth. Mokosh is the Mother Goddess.[3]

Mokoš was the only female deity whose idol was erected by Vladimir the Great in his Kiev sanctuary along with statues of other major gods (Perun, Hors, Dažbog, Stribog, and Simargl).

Etymology and origin[]

Mokosh probably means moisture. According to Max Vasmer, her name is derived from the same root as Slavic words mokry, 'wet', and moknut(i), 'get wet', or 'to dive deeply into something'. She may have originated among the northern Finnic peoples of the Vogul, who worship the divinity Moksha.[4][5]

Myth[]

Family relations[]

According to ancient Slav belief, this deity had some connection to thunder god Perun.[6]

Her consorts are probably both the god of thunder Perun and his opponent Veles. In saying, the former Katičić follows Ivanov and Toporov (1983) without further corroborating their claim.[7] Katičić also points to the possibility that as goddess Vela she is the consort of Veles, and might even be interpreted as another form of the polymorph god Veles himself.[7]: 167–198  Mokosh is also the mother of the twin siblings Jarilo and Morana.[citation needed]

A key myth in Slavic mythology is the divine battle between the thunder god Perun and his opponent the god Veles. Some authors including Ivanov and Toporov believe the abduction of Mokosh causes the struggle.[a][8]

Later worship[]

As late as the 19th century, she was worshipped as a force of fertility and the ruler of death. Worshipers prayed to Mokosh-stones or breast-shaped boulders that held power over the land and its people.[9]

In Eastern Europe, Mokosh is still popular as a powerful life-giving force and protector of women. Villages are named after her. She shows up in embroidery, represented as a woman with uplifted hands and flanked by two plow horses.[10] She has been claimed to be shown with male sexual organs, as the deity in charge of male potency, however no visual proof has been provided.[11]

Christianization[]

The Inquisition slandering the worshipping of Mokosh by pagan Muscovites.

During the Christianization of Kievan Rus', she was replaced by the cult of the Virgin Mary and St. Paraskevia.[12][13]

Archeological evidence[]

Archeological evidence of Mokosh dates back to the 7th century BC.[14]

Boris Rybakov, in his 1987 work Paganism of Ancient Rus,[15] conjectures that Mokosh is represented on one of the sides of the Zbruch Idol.

Traces of Mokosh in place names[]

Traces of Mokosh are today well preserved in the various toponyms of Slavic countries. In Slovenia, her name has been preserved in a village called Makoše in the vicinity of Ribnica, historically known as Makoša or Makoš, and also in the River Mokoš in the Prekmurje region. In Croatia, the village Makoše can be found near Dubrovnik, and also the suburb areas of Nova and Stara Mokošica. In the Czech Republic, in the Pardubice Region, there is a village named Mokošín. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the village Ravno is located a hill called Mukušina. South of Mostar lies the hill Mukoša.[16][17]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Ivanits, Linda J. (February 15, 1989). Russian Folk Belief. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765630889 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Miriam R. Dexter, Marija Gimbutas (2001). The Living Goddesses. University of California Press. pp. 197, 206–208. ISBN 9780520229150.
  3. ^ Katičić, Radoslav (2003). Die Hauswirtin am Tor: Auf den Spuren der großen Göttin in Fragmenten slawischer und baltischer sakraler Dichtung. Frankfurt am Main: PETER LANG. p. 40. ISBN 3-631-50896-4. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  4. ^ Hubbs, Joanna (Sep 22, 1993). Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture. Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 20. ISBN 0253115787.
  5. ^ Hubbs, Joanna (1988). Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture. Indiana University Press. pp. 10, 29, 53, 112, 122. ISBN 9780253115782.
  6. ^ Brlic-Mazuranic, Ivana. Croatian tales of long ago. Translated by Fanny S. Copeland. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.. 1922. p. 257.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Katičić, Radoslav (2010). Gazdarica na vratima: Tragovima svetih pjesama naše pretkršćanske starine. Zagreb: IBIS GRAFIKA. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-953-6927-59-3.
  8. ^ Евдокимова, Светлана; Evdokimova, Professor of Slavic Studies and Comparative Literature Chair Department of Slavic Studies Svetlana (July 26, 1999). Pushkin's Historical Imagination. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300070233 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Patricia Monaghan (2010). "[1]". Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines p. 516
  10. ^ Ivanits, Linda J. (February 15, 1989). Russian Folk Belief. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765630889 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ Hubbs, Joanna (September 22, 1993). Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253115787 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Vyacheslav Ivanov, Vladimir Toporov. Mokoš./ В. В. Иванов, В. Н. Топоров - «Мокошь». Мифы народов мира, т. II. М.:Российская энциклопедия, 1994.
  13. ^ Patricia Monaghan, PhD (1 April 2014). Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines. New World Library. pp. 306–. ISBN 978-1-60868-218-8.
  14. ^ Harald Haarmann (2008). "[2]". Introducing the Mythological Crescent: Ancient Beliefs and Imagery p. 98
  15. ^ Boris Rybakov (1987). "Святилища, идолы и игрища". Язычество Древней Руси (Paganism of Ancient Rus) (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka.
  16. ^ Češarek, Domen (2016). "Mala gora pri Ribnici – mitološko izročilo v prostoru (Mala Gora (Little Mountain) by Ribnica – Cosmic myth in mythical landscape)" (PDF). Studia mythologica Slavica. 19: 135. doi:10.3986/sms.v19i0.6619.
  17. ^ Katičić, Radoslav. "Gospa Međugorska i mokra Mokoš" [Unsere liebe Frau von Međugorje und die nasse Mokoš]. In: Ethnologica Dalmatica br. 19 (2012): 10-11. https://hrcak.srce.hr/107497

Notes[]

  1. ^ Although Ivanov and Toporov nowhere quote original sources indicating that fact. Compare: Katičić (2010): 210 
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