Zonja e Dheut
Zonja e Dheut (also
Name
Attestation
The Albanian
The Albanian word for earth – dhé, in its
Etymology
Zonja e Dheut (also
In Albanian, capitalized
Albanian Dheu "The Earth" is the
of dhé.Epithets
The Earth-goddess was represented with the epithet "
Cult, practices and folk beliefs
Overview
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The absence of any single and specific theonymic root for the "earth" in the various branches of the
The confrontation between the belief systems of Pre-Indo-European populations—who favored "Mother Earth Cults" comprising earthly beliefs, female deities and priesthood—and of Indo-European populations who favored
The fact that dhé "earth" is an Albanian inherited word from Proto-Indo-European, with ritualization in sacred contexts preserving its stability and density, highlights the important role of the earth in Albanian culture.[4] Very serious Albanian oath swearings taken by earth, and many curse formulas based on the earth, also show the great significance of the earth cult in Albanian tradition.[13]
Living Earth
According to old Albanian beliefs that have been preserved by the Arbëneshë of Zara (Zadar, present-day Croatia), nxiri is a concept referring to all-seeing eyes that look at humans from the ground following their movements everywhere, and it is considered to be the sight of the living Earth. Some people believe that water is to the living Earth what blood is to the humans.[3]
Mother Earth
For the inhabitants of Kelmend, environment is of great importance, and they are deeply attached to their territory, considering it as Mother Earth. They venerate her and dedicate her deep homage at every moment and through every action, showing deep respect to both natural landscapes and animals. This balance involves material aspects as well as cultural and spiritual aspects.[14]
According to an old Albanian custom, when an Albanian migrates to a foreign land, he takes with him a bag of earth of the "mother earth" (Alb. baltë mëmë-dheu), which in case the emigrant dies abroad, would be thrown on the grave, so that the earth would be light to the dead person.[10]
Female ancestor and maternal breasts
A reflection of the worship of the earth mother goddess in Albanian folk beliefs is the cult of the maternal breasts.[15] Considered as a symbol of fertility, breasts are reproduced on wooden or stone gates in Albanian houses. One of the heaviest type of oath swearing (Alb. be e rëndë) is taken by one's mother's breasts.[16] A taboo forbids Albanians to hit the earth, because it would be like "hitting a dead mother's breasts".[17] This expression is always said in such cases, regardless of the fact that people who pronounce it might have the mother alive or dead, which represents an analogy between the earth as the source of life for humans, and the mother likewise as the source of life for humans with childbirth and her breast. It also reflects the cult of the ancestors from the perspective of the milk or maternal line (Alb. lisi i tamlit or gjini bashkë, according to the Kanun, the Albanian traditional customary law).[18] When a woman with many children dies, northern Albanian tradition requires that her relatives kiss her naked breasts.[19]
In Albanian culture the original female ancestor of the kin group (Alb. fis or farë) is referred to as the "mother of the home" representing the Great Mother, and she is imagined as a serpent (see Vitore and Nëna e Vatrës).[20] The serpent is a sacred animal totem of the Albanians. Regarded as an earth-deity, the serpent is euphemistically called with names that are derived form the Albanian words for earth, dhé and tokë: Dhetokësi, Dheu, Përdhesi, Tokësi or Itokësi.[21]
Maternal breasts, immurement and building
The cult of the earth mother goddess is also reflected in the renowned Balkan motif of
Spring, renewal of nature and soil fertility
Celebrated during the days around the
According to an old Albanian custom practiced until recently in various villages in Tomorr, Mirdita, and perhaps also in other areas, from the middle of May families with a lot of cattle slaughtered young cattle as sacrifices in order to make the earth fertile, so that the cattle would not be harmed during the summer and would have abundant milk during the harvest time in the mountains. Such a ritual burial ceremony was also found among other Balkan peoples, and it has been interpreted as a trace of the cult of an agricultural deity, for it was a sacrifice that allowed the renewal of the products of the soil, giving force to the vegetation of the fields, trees and vines.[25]
A sacred ritual called "funeral of the Sun's Mother" was dedicated to the Albanian mother goddess Nëna e Diellit. It consisted in burying a female figure that probably personified a seasonal phase of the mother goddess. Occurring at the end of May, it was the last festival of the spring cycle, coinciding with the feast of Pentecost (Rusica).[26] It was very widespread in southeastern Albania until the 20th century.[27]
Ritual of death and rebirth
The cult of the earth is clearly manifested in an old Albanian ritual of death and rebirth, practiced especially in sick children in the
Final dwelling of humans
In Albanian tradition the Earth is deeply respected so that she would carefully receive the dead in her chest.
In all Albanian lands the burial custom required to put a metal coin in the grave, inserting it in the dead's hand or mouth, or on one side of the body. A general explanation was that it served "to pay for the place of the grave" or "to pay the Earth so that she keeps the dead inside her". This is a reflection of the cult of the Earth, associated "with the place of the new dwelling in the eternal life", with the coin representing a symbolic gift to the Earth. Coins of this type have also been found by archaeologists in the graves of the Albanians in the Middle Ages and in those of the Illyrians in antiquity.[29]
In the Albanian mountains it was believed that the earth does not treat sinners and bad persons well. In the grave they would suffer being squashed by the earth; their graves also could catch fire.[31] According to folk beliefs the earth could not bear inside her a dead person who has committed serious crimes during his life, so in that case the dead becomes a wandering lugat, harming people and livestock.[32] This belief involves Albanian curse formulas as well, also appearing in Albanian epic poetry, in particular in the Kângë Kreshnikësh, such as the expression zirma, tokë, përjashta n'natë të vorr! "bring him out, oh earth, from that grave!".[33] On the other hand, dead people who were good persons during their life would feel relieved in the grave spending their "life after death" in peace as the earth receives them well.[31]
A special cult of graves and their sacredness can be seen in Albanian tradition. Tombs can never be destroyed, violated, or replaced with a house plot. The dead people are deified and venerated, and it is believed that they continue afterlife in the divine space of the earth where their graves are placed. This belief is strictly associated with the cult of the ancestors.[34]
Pristine sacred places and building plots
According to Albanian folk beliefs, if someone cuts the wood in a pristine
The builder has to find a suitable place to build a house, through the signs that are provided by the earth, which either allow to establish the house plot where one thinks, or which doesn't allow it, so that the builder is obliged to step back and find another place.[36] These beliefs are reflections of the worship of the earth goddess, who rules the earth, allowing or forbidding humans to place the plot of a new house in a tested location. If one doesn't listen to the relevant signs, he would go against this divine power.[34]
Proofs for determining the placement of a house plot were mainly of mystic nature, and sometimes of techno-practical nature. The latter were easier to deal with, as they consisted in checking a place with or without moisture, a strong subsoil or a slippery soil, etc. As for the mystical aspects, such as luck and prosperity, they were harder to detect, and several concerns emerged about them. The elders, who preserved much historical and legendary knowledge, were also consulted.[37] Houses could certainly be built in the land of the ancestors whose permanent prosperity was well-known, or in the place where a prosperous cattle stable used to be located.[38]
A mystic practice consisted in stucking four pickaxes in the four corners of the tested plot at night, leaving the place and returning in the morning; if the pickaxes remained stuck in the morning it was a good sign, otherwise another place was to be tested.[38] Another practice, consisted in filling one, or alternatively four bowls, with a liquid, often water (but sometimes also wine, olive oil, melted butter, honey, or milk, depending on the regional tradition), and in placing it at the center of the tested plot or alternatively on its four corners; when returning in the morning, if the liquid in the bowl(s) remained unchanged, it was a good sign.[39] These mystic practices were always performed on waxing moon nights.[39]
Another mystic test, widespread in all Albanian lands, consisted in performing a particular ritual with ashes poured in the area of the future domestic hearth (Alb.
Another test consisted in the ritual plowing of the land that is desired to be used to make the new house, by using oxen to drag the plow. If the oxen grunted during this process, it was a bad sign; if they walked quietly without grunting, it was a good sign and the land was considered suitable for building a house.[41]
All these different rites converge in the mysterious and supernatural communication of humans with the earth-deity who was consulted for hosting the building, and who responded either by accepting the presence of humans giving them prosperity, or by driving them away.[41]
Earth and Sky pairing
The earth is often paired with the sky in Albanian oath swearings, e.g.: për qiell e dhé, pasha tokën e pasha qiellin, etc.[42]
See also
Citations
- ^ Ushaku 1988, pp. 92, 95–97; Mann 1948, pp. 583–584.
- ^ Poghirc 1987, p. 178; Ushaku 1988, pp. 92, 95–97; Pipahi 1993, p. 253; Tirta 2004, pp. 189–190, 230.
- ^ a b Stipčević 2009, p. 506.
- ^ a b Ushaku 1988, pp. 92, 95–97.
- ^ a b Witczak 2016, pp. 40–41.
- ^ a b Mann 1948, pp. 583–584.
- ^ a b Demiraj et al.
- ^ a b York 1993, p. 247.
- ^ a b Matasović 2018.
- ^ a b Tako 1988, p. 29.
- ^ Calin 2017, p. 75.
- ^ Loria-Rivel 2020, pp. 47–48, 52.
- ^ Ushaku 1988, pp. 92, 95–97; Pipahi 1993, p. 253; Elsie 2001, p. 193; Tirta 2004, pp. 42, 68, 230, 439; Hysi 2006, pp. 349–350.
- ^ Wolff 2022, pp. 109, 115.
- ^ Poghirc 1987, p. 178; Tirta 2004, pp. 189–190.
- ^ Poghirc 1987, p. 178; Tirta 2004, pp. 188–189.
- ^ Poghirc 1987, p. 178; Tirta 2004, pp. 189–190.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 189–190.
- ^ Poghirc 1987, p. 178; Tirta 2004, p. 190.
- ^ Doja 2005, p. 458.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 147–152, 239, 409.
- ^ Poghirc 1987, pp. 178–179; Tirta 2004, p. 191.
- ^ Poghirc 1987, p. 179; Tirta 2004, p. 191.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 254–255.
- ^ Tirta 2004, p. 260.
- ^ Golan 1991, p. 55; Daum 1998, p. 236; Golan 2003, pp. 93–94; Tirta 2004, pp. 259–260; Neziri 2015, p. 124.
- ^ Daum 1998, p. 236; Tirta 2004, pp. 259–260; Neziri 2015, p. 124.
- ^ Tirta 2004, p. 217.
- ^ a b Tirta 2004, pp. 230–231.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 220–221.
- ^ a b Tirta 2004, p. 230.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 230, 375.
- ^ Tirta 2004, p. 375.
- ^ a b Tirta 2004, p. 335.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 333–334.
- ^ a b c Tirta 2004, p. 334.
- ^ Tirta 2004, p. 336.
- ^ a b Tirta 2004, p. 337.
- ^ a b Tirta 2004, pp. 337–338.
- ^ a b Tirta 2004, p. 338.
- ^ a b Tirta 2004, p. 339.
- ^ Ushaku 1988, pp. 92, 95–97; Pipahi 1993, p. 253; Elsie 2001, p. 193; Hysi 2006, pp. 349–350.
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