Personification of Russia
The personification of Russia is traditionally feminine and most commonly maternal since medieval times.[1] Most common terms for national personification of Russia are:
- Mother Russia
Russian: Ма́тушка Росси́я, romanized: Matushka Rossiya (dim.); also
Russian: Мать-Росси́я, romanized: Mat'-Rossiya; or
Russian: Ма́тушка Русь, romanized: Matushka Rus', lit. 'Mother Rus''; or
Russian: Росси́я-ма́тушка, romanized: Rossiya-matushka, lit. 'Russia the Mother'
- Homeland the Mother
Russian: Ро́дина-мать, romanized: Rodina-mat
In the Russian language, the concept of motherland is rendered by two terms:
- "place of birth", (femenine gender, Russian: ро́дина, romanized: rodina)
- "fatherland", (masculine gender, Russian: отечество, отчи́зна, romanized: otchizna)
Harald Haarmann and Orlando Figes see the goddess Mokosh a source of the "Mother Russia" concept.[2][3]
Usage[edit]
During the Soviet period, the Bolsheviks extensively utilized the image of "Motherland", especially during World War II.
-
1914 Russian poster depicting the Triple Entente – Britannia (right) and Marianne (left) in the company of Mother Russia.
-
"For the Motherland!" on a 1965 Soviet stamp. The literal translation is "Motherland calls!"
Statues[edit]
During the Soviet era, many statues depicting the Mother Motherland were built, most to commemorate the Great Patriotic War. These include:
- The Motherland Calls (Russian: Родина-мать зовёт, tr. Rodina-mat' zovyot), a colossal statue in Volgograd, Russia, commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad
- Mother Motherland (Ukrainian: Батьківщина-Мати, tr. Batʹkivshchyna-Maty, Russian: Родина-мать, tr. Rodina-mat' ), now called Mother Ukraine, is a monumental statue in Kyiv that is a part of the Museum of The History of Ukraine in World War II
- Mother Motherland (Saint Petersburg), a statue at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Mother Russia (Kaliningrad), a monument in Kaliningrad, Russia
- Mother Motherland Mourning over Her Perished Sons (Russian: Родина-мать, скорбящая о погибших сыновьях, tr. Rodina-mat', skorbyashchaya o pogibshikh synov'yakh), Minsk, Belarus commemorating the dead in Afghanistan
- Mother Motherland (Naberezhnye Chelny) , a monument in Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia[4]
- Mother Motherland (Pavlovsk), a memorial complex, Pavlovsk, Voronezh Oblast, Russia[5]
- Motherland Monument (Matveev Kurgan)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Рябов О. В. (1999). Русская философия женственности (XI—XX века). Иваново. pp. 35–46.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Harald Haarmann, The Soul of Mother Russia: Russian Symbols and Pre-Russian Cultural Identity, ReVision Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine, June 22, 2000 (retrieved May 2, 2016)
- ^ Figes, Orlando (2002). Natasha's Dance: a cultural history of Russia. New York: Metropolitan Books. p. 321. ISBN 9780805057836.
[...] the goddess known as Mokosh, from whom the myth of 'Mother Russia' was conceived.
- ^ Казань. Храм на шести сотках — Ольга Юхновская."Не йог, не маг и не святой" — Российская Газета — Этот объект не включен в программу подготовки к казанскому миллениуму. Но его, без сомнений, будут показывать гостям города как редкую достопримечательность. Создатель множества памятников, художник из пригорода Казани Ильдар Ханов к тысячелетию столицы Татарстана строит на своем участке храм всех религий. В свое время творчество Ханова высоко оценил Святослав Рерих
- ^ "Павловск (Воронежская область)". Archived from the original on 2011-01-24. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
Further reading[edit]
- Ellen Rutten, Unattainable Bride Russia: Gendering Nation, State, and Intelligentsia in Russian Intellectual Culture, 2010, ISBN 0810126567.
External links[edit]
- Media related to Mother Russia at Wikimedia Commons