When was the last time you experienced in a group – a feeling of oneness? by Danica Anderson

The Kostenki Venus is 20,000 years old found in Siberia
  
In the upper Paleolithic the Pregnant Moist Mother Earth figurines were nude and often with her hands on her round belly. The womb is iconic for the caves in this period.

Gimbutas revealed in her archeological research of ‘Old Europe’ that the Pregnant Goddess was accompanied by vital energy symbols of the spiral, snakes, and two line and four-corner signs. Additionally, she pointed out the surviving Slavic belief that striking the earth or spitting upon her would make her weep and how the Moist Mother Earth must be partnered in the growth of new life.

Pregnant Moist Mother Earth Goddesses-pigs was revered as mother to the plants, animals and in partnership to the rich lush landscapes- Mother Nature forces in the mountains, rocks, trees. With sows, the social ecology mirrors the moist mother from breast feeding to childbirth.

For Slavs amulets of the Boar or Sow have been since time immemorial. Amulets or charms attest to the ancient perspective of social relationships and interrelationships of their communities to that of the Moist Mother Earth. The Karanovo Culture in what is known geographical as Central Bulgaria, Nova Zagora region, is in the land of blood and honey- fertile soils for agriculture.

The various divinities represented in the Neolithic Slav art forms associated as the attendant of the Pregnant Goddess, herself, is evidenced in the Cucuteni period (mid-4th millennium BCE) with images of zoomorphic figures and vases. The sow is shown among the animal sculptures with some extremely schematized artifacts as well.

Found with the Pregnant Goddess are stiff nudes- sometimes with round masks interned in graves in groups of three. What is interesting to note with the Proto-Slavs in Neolithic Old Europe is that male figurines are extremely rare. If present, the male figures are supporting or protectors of the Pregnant Goddess.

Remnants of the Pregnant Mother Earth and the association with the Pig for Slavs- both former Yugoslavs and Russians- can be found in current church liturgy songs. The following are translations of a prayer and a song.

Mother Earth, giving suck from bountiful breasts to countless children. When the peasants spoke of Matushka Zemlia, their eyes, usually dull and expressionless, were flooded with love, like the eyes of children who see their mother at a distance.

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If you don't give us a tart - We'll take your cow by the horns.
If you don't give us a sausage - We'll grab your pig by the head.
If you don't give us a bliny - We'll give the host a kick.



Erin Hilleary paints a sprial on her pregnant belly


 When was the last time you experienced in a group – a feeling of oneness?

Do not note concerts or mass gatherings, let alone patriotic duty where every individual is isolated and do not relate to each other and/or involve killing, mayhem, gossip, character assignation, targeting and blame.

Do you know of any female leaders of nations, organizations, or groups that are not a part of the hierarchal system or think?

Do movies, script writers, media writers, radio/audio adhere to female stereotypes?

Do you know female humanities, female civilization of the ancient past or have an interest in having that in schools and media? Note the curricula and media are mostly all based on male authors, male heroes, and male leaders and use the terminology “mankind.” Do you accept the term mankind as meaning women, too? How does that erase females from the human race? What stereotypes and labels occur?

-Danica Anderson, Blood & Honey Icons Herstories (2nd book not yet published)



Be sure to check out Danica's Blood & Honey Icons: Biosemiotics & Bioculinary page on Facebook and The Kolo website.

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