Vegetation deity
Encyclopedia
A vegetation deity is a nature deity
whose disappearance and reappearance, or life, death and rebirth
, embodies the growth cycle of plants. In nature worship
, the deity
can be a god
or goddess
with the ability to regenerate
itself. A vegetation deity is often a fertility deity. The deity typically undergoes dismemberment (see sparagmos
), scattering, and reintegration, as narrated in a myth or reenacted by a religious ritual
. The cyclical pattern is given theological significance on themes such as immortality
, resurrection
, and reincarnation
. Vegetation myths have structural
resemblances to certain creation myths in which parts of a primordial being's body generate aspects of the cosmos
, such as the Norse myth
of Ymir
.
In mythography
of the 19th and early 20th century, as for example in The Golden Bough
of J.G. Frazer, the figure is related to the "corn spirit," "corn" in this sense meaning grain in general. The concept has a tendency to become a meaningless generality, as Walter Friedrich Otto
remarked of trying to use a "name as futile and yet pretentious as 'Vegetation deity'."
, during the journey of Inanna
or Ishtar
to the underworld, the earth becomes sterile, and neither humans nor animals are able to procreate. After confronting Ereshkigal
, her sister and ruler of the underworld, Inanna is killed, but an emissary from the gods administers potions to restore her to life. She is allowed to return to the upper world only if someone else will take her place. Her husband, the vegetation god Dumuzi, agrees to spend half the year in the underworld, during which time vegetation dies off. His return bring regrowth.
In ancient Egyptian religion, the cultural achievements of Osiris
among the peoples of the earth provokes the envy of his brother Set
, who kills and dismembers him. Osiris's wife Isis
makes a journey to gather his fourteen scattered body parts. In some versions, she buries each part where she finds it, causing the desert to put forth vegetation. In other versions, she reassembles his body and resurrects him, and he then becomes the ruler of the afterlife.
In European folklore
, a woman's fertility has an influence on farming. Vegetation goddess figurines from the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture have a lozenge
and dot pattern that represents a sown field
and female fertility.
and the Parable of the Sower
– "the sower soweth the word" where the seed
is the word of God. Parable of the Mustard Seed
and Parable of the Growing Seed
explain the Kingdom of God
where growth is due to God, not man, and follows its own timetable.
In the Gospel of John
12:24, the Death and resurrection of Jesus
is compared to a kernel that falls in the ground and dies, and then produces many seeds. In many Christian
traditions, Easter
sunrise service
or Resurrection Service is held in God's Acre
where the bodies of the dead are "sown as seed." The sowing of seeds also refers to scattering of people away from their ancestral homeland.
Nature deity
In nature worship, a nature deity is a deity in charge of forces of nature such as water deity, vegetation deity, sky deity, solar deity, fire deity or any other naturally occurring phenomena such as death deity or fertility deity...
whose disappearance and reappearance, or life, death and rebirth
Life-death-rebirth deity
A dying god, also known as a dying-and-rising or resurrection deity, is a god who dies and is resurrected or reborn, in either a literal or symbolic sense. Male examples include the ancient Near Eastern and Greek deities Baal, Melqart, Adonis, Eshmun, Attis Tammuz, Asclepius, Orpheus, as well as...
, embodies the growth cycle of plants. In nature worship
Nature worship
Nature worship describes a variety of religious, spiritual and devotional practices that focus on natural phenomenon. A nature deity can be in charge of nature, the biosphere, the cosmos or the universe. Nature worship can be found in panentheism, pantheism, deism, polytheism, animism, totemism,...
, the deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
can be a god
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
or goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
with the ability to regenerate
Regeneration (biology)
In biology, regeneration is the process of renewal, restoration, and growth that makes genomes, cells, organs, organisms, and ecosystems resilient to natural fluctuations or events that cause disturbance or damage. Every species is capable of regeneration, from bacteria to humans. At its most...
itself. A vegetation deity is often a fertility deity. The deity typically undergoes dismemberment (see sparagmos
Sparagmos
Sparagmos refers to an ancient Dionysian ritual in which a living animal, or sometimes even a human being, would be sacrificed by being dismembered, by the tearing apart of limbs from the body. Sparagmos was frequently followed by omophagia...
), scattering, and reintegration, as narrated in a myth or reenacted by a religious ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
. The cyclical pattern is given theological significance on themes such as immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
, resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
, and reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
. Vegetation myths have structural
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
resemblances to certain creation myths in which parts of a primordial being's body generate aspects of the cosmos
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
, such as the Norse myth
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
of Ymir
Ymir
In Norse mythology, Ymir, also called Aurgelmir among the giants themselves, was the founder of the race of frost giants and was later killed by the Borrs.-Etymology:...
.
In mythography
Mythography
A mythographer, or a mythologist is a compiler of myths. The word derives from the Greek "μυθογραφία" , "writing of fables", from "μῦθος" , "speech, word, fact, story, narrative" + "γράφω" , "to write, to inscribe". Mythography is then the rendering of myths in the arts...
of the 19th and early 20th century, as for example in The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer . It first was published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes...
of J.G. Frazer, the figure is related to the "corn spirit," "corn" in this sense meaning grain in general. The concept has a tendency to become a meaningless generality, as Walter Friedrich Otto
Walter Friedrich Otto
Walter Friedrich Gustav Hermann Otto was a German classical philologist particularly known for his work on the meaning and legacy of Greek religion and mythology, especially as represented in his seminal 1929 work The Gods of Greece.-Life:Walter F...
remarked of trying to use a "name as futile and yet pretentious as 'Vegetation deity'."
Examples of vegetation myths
In the Mesopotamian traditionMesopotamian religion
Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Sumerian and Akkadian peoples living in Mesopotamia that dominated the region for a period of 4200 years from the fourth millennium BC to approximately the 3rd century AD...
, during the journey of Inanna
Inanna
Inanna, also spelled Inana is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare....
or Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
to the underworld, the earth becomes sterile, and neither humans nor animals are able to procreate. After confronting Ereshkigal
Ereshkigal
In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal was the goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead or underworld. Sometimes her name is given as Irkalla, similar to the way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler.Ereshkigal was the only one who could pass judgment and...
, her sister and ruler of the underworld, Inanna is killed, but an emissary from the gods administers potions to restore her to life. She is allowed to return to the upper world only if someone else will take her place. Her husband, the vegetation god Dumuzi, agrees to spend half the year in the underworld, during which time vegetation dies off. His return bring regrowth.
In ancient Egyptian religion, the cultural achievements of Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
among the peoples of the earth provokes the envy of his brother Set
Set (mythology)
Set was in Ancient Egyptian religion, a god of the desert, storms, and foreigners. In later myths he was also the god of darkness, and chaos...
, who kills and dismembers him. Osiris's wife Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
makes a journey to gather his fourteen scattered body parts. In some versions, she buries each part where she finds it, causing the desert to put forth vegetation. In other versions, she reassembles his body and resurrects him, and he then becomes the ruler of the afterlife.
In European folklore
European folklore
European folklore or Western folklore refers to the folklore of the western world, especially when discussed comparatively.There is, of course, no single European culture, but nevertheless the common history of Christendom during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period has resulted in a number...
, a woman's fertility has an influence on farming. Vegetation goddess figurines from the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture have a lozenge
Lozenge
A lozenge , often referred to as a diamond, is a form of rhombus. The definition of lozenge is not strictly fixed, and it is sometimes used simply as a synonym for rhombus. Most often, though, lozenge refers to a thin rhombus—a rhombus with acute angles of 45°...
and dot pattern that represents a sown field
Field (agriculture)
In agriculture, the word field refers generally to an area of land enclosed or otherwise and used for agricultural purposes such as:* Cultivating crops* Usage as a paddock or, generally, an enclosure of livestock...
and female fertility.
In Christianity
In the Parables of JesusParables of Jesus
The parables of Jesus can be found in all the Canonical gospels as well as in some of the non-canonical gospels but are located mainly within the three synoptic gospels. They represent a key part of the teachings of Jesus, forming approximately one third of his recorded teachings...
and the Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower
The Parable of the Sower is one of the parables of Jesus found in three out of the four Canonical gospels and in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas In this story, a sower dropped seed on the path, on rocky ground, and among thorns, and the seed was lost; but when seed fell on good earth, it...
– "the sower soweth the word" where the seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
is the word of God. Parable of the Mustard Seed
Parable of the Mustard Seed
The Parable of the Mustard Seed is one of the shorter parables of Jesus. It appears in three of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. The differences between Gospels of Matthew , Mark , and Luke , are minor...
and Parable of the Growing Seed
Parable of the Growing Seed
The Parable of the Growing Seed is a parable of Jesus which appears in only one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. According to Mark it is a parable about growth in the Kingdom of God...
explain the Kingdom of God
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
where growth is due to God, not man, and follows its own timetable.
In the Gospel of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
12:24, the Death and resurrection of Jesus
Death and Resurrection of Jesus
The Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus states that Jesus returned to bodily life on the third day following his death by crucifixion. It is a key element of Christian faith and theology and part of the Nicene Creed: "On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures"...
is compared to a kernel that falls in the ground and dies, and then produces many seeds. In many Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
traditions, Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
sunrise service
Sunrise service
Sunrise service is a worship service on Easter. It takes the place of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran tradition of the Easter Vigil, and is practised mainly by Protestant churches...
or Resurrection Service is held in God's Acre
God's Acre
God's Acre is an ancient Germanic designation for a burial ground. In his poem "God's-Acre," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow attributes the term to ancient Saxons.-In Christianity:...
where the bodies of the dead are "sown as seed." The sowing of seeds also refers to scattering of people away from their ancestral homeland.
List of vegetation deities
Other examples of vegetation deities include:- AdonisAdonisAdonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...
- AttisAttisAttis was the consort of Cybele in Phrygian and Greek mythology. His priests were eunuchs, as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis and castration...
- BaʿalBaʿalBaʿal is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" that is used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant and Asia Minor, cognate to Akkadian Bēlu...
- BlodeuweddBlodeuweddBlodeuwedd or Blodeuedd, , is the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Welsh mythology, made from the flowers of broom, meadowsweet and the oak by the magicians Math and Gwydion, and is a central figure in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi.-Role in Welsh tradition:The...
- CronusCronusIn Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky...
- DemeterDemeterIn Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...
- DionysusDionysusDionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
- JariloJariloJarilo , alternatively Yarilo, Iarilo, or Gerovit, was a major male Proto-Slavic deity of vegetation, fertility and spring, also associated with war and harvest.-Sources:...
- ModronModronIn Welsh mythology, Modron was a daughter of Afallach, derived from the Gaulish goddess Matrona. She may have been the prototype of Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legend...
- Mother NatureMother NatureMother Nature is a common personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it in the form of the mother. Images of women representing mother earth, and mother nature, are timeless...
- Rauni (deity)Rauni (deity)In Finnish mythology, Rauni is the goddess who provides feminine fertility, strength and sexuality. She is married to Ukko, the god of thunder in the Finnish Pantheon....
- PachamamaPachamamaPachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. Pachamama is usually translated as Mother Earth, but a more literal translation would be "Mother world"...
- PersephonePersephoneIn Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld....
- ProserpinaProserpinaProserpina or Proserpine is an ancient Roman goddess whose story is the basis of a myth of Springtime. Her Greek goddess' equivalent is Persephone. The probable origin of her name comes from the Latin, "proserpere" or "to emerge," in respect to the growing of grain...
- Saturn (mythology)Saturn (mythology)In ancient Roman religion and myth, Saturn was a major god presiding over agriculture and the harvest time. His reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace by many Roman authors. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength. He held a sickle in...
- Tammuz (deity)
- Xipe TotecXipe TotecIn Aztec mythology and religion, Xipe Totec was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths and the seasons. Xipe Totec was also known by the alternative names Tlatlauhca, Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca and Youalahuan...
Corn spirit
The corn spirit is a closely related concept, defined by Frazer as "conceived in human or animal form, and the last standing corn is part of its body—its neck, its head, or its tail."See also
- Dying god
- ProtogenoiProtogenoiIn Greek mythology the Prôtogenoi are a genealogy of primordial Greek gods, the name literally means "first born" or "primeval" and are a group of deities born in the beginning of the universe....
- Puer aeternusPuer AeternusPuer aeternus is Latin for eternal boy, used in mythology to designate a child-god who is forever young; psychologically it refers to an older man whose emotional life has remained at an adolescent level. The puer typically leads a provisional life, due to the fear of being caught in a situation...
- Archetypal literary criticismArchetypal literary criticismArchetypal literary criticism is a type of critical theory that interprets a text by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes in the narrative, symbols, images, and character types in a literary work...
- Sky fatherSky fatherThe sky father or heavenly father is a recurring theme in mythology all over the world. The sky father is the complement of the earth mother and appears in some creation myths, many of which are Indo-European or ancient Near Eastern. Other cultures have quite different myths; Egyptian mythology...
- Earth mother
- Myth and ritualMyth and ritualIn traditional societies, myth and ritual are two central components of religious practice. Although myth and ritual are commonly united as parts of religion, the exact relationship between them has been a matter of controversy among scholars...
- Green ManGreen ManA Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit...