to recall that in the ancient Iranian (Avestan) tradition, the motley cow is a symbol of Mother Earth, she is the magic cow Bermaie in the Iranian epic. Khlopin notes that: «The image of the Bermaye cow is very interesting: firstly, it was spotted, and secondly, it symbolized Khvanirasa – the land of the ancient Aryans».
Consequently, the drawings of a spotted cow and her sculptural images of the Eneolithic time (ie 5—3 thousand BC) can be considered as a symbol of the middle world, inhabited by people and livestock of the land.» Note that in the ancient Greek Orphic hymns about Earth-Gaia it is said: «You are the basis of the immortal world, the all-motley virgin», i.e. is no longer a «motley little calf», but Virgo. Thus, the Vladimir text, recorded in the second half of the 20th century, is actually more archaic than the ancient Greek one.
In the Vologda text, «Owl – mother-in-law grazed horses». But E. E. Kuzmina notes that
«the horse played a large role in the cult of the goddess – the mother.» In the Indo-European tradition, the image of the goddess, the mistress of horses, was widespread. «She was represented standing between two horsemen», personifying the opposite elements – life and death, over which the Goddess – Mother, is in control. Sometimes, instead of horsemen, just two horses were depicted.» On Shrovetide, the newlyweds, who got married last year, went «to their mother-in-law for pancakes» in a sleigh, which rushed horses decorated with bells, ribbons, and paper flowers. Moreover, it was on Shrovetide that the horses were dressed most richl Horses in the Indo-European tradition are symbols of the Sun. So in the ancient Russian ritual practice one of the names of the Sun was «Khors». But in English «Khors» is a horse, and in Sanskrit «hara» or «hari» is golden, sparkling, and an appeal to a deity. We emphasize once again that the Indo-European peoples had a widespread idea of the Goddess – the Foremother as the Lady or Lady of the horses. Suffice it to recall the images of the goddess with two horses on the sides, so widespread in embroidery and weaving in the Russian North, and found in a vast territory – from Scandinavia to India. Here it is worth remembering our «Baba Yaga» – the mistress of horses, holding in her hands the threads of life and death. And when she is the mother of Vasilisa the Wise or the Beautiful, (i.e. the Lady of wisdom or the Lady of beauty), she is also a mother-in-law. And the birds of Baba Yaga, besides the geese-swans, were owls.
Turning to the «owl» hypostasis of Mother-in-law – Pramateri, we note that in the ancient Greek tradition, in the esoteric Orphic hymns, which have preserved the deepest archaic, «Tovis» is called the wife of the Ocean. But Tethys or Tefida is one of the most ancient deities of ancient Greek mythology, the Titanide, the daughter of Gaia and Uranus. Her name is derived from the Indo-European teta – «mother», «grandmother». We note here that in the archaic Indo-European tradition, horses (whom the owl – mother-in-law grazed in the Vologda song) are associated not only with the sun, but also with the waters (seas, oceans, rivers) and the cosmic heavenly Ocean), whose wife in the hymn is called «owl» Tethys.
Among the characters of Hellenic mythology, having a zoomorphic version of the image of an owl, of course, Athena should be called. «Powerful, scary, scythe goddess of archaic», she was conceived as fate and the Great Goddess – Mother, who is known to archaic mythology as «the parent and destroyer of all living things.» This image originates in the ancient period of development of Greek mythology – matriarchy.
The «bright-lighted Athena» of the Greek archaic is very close, as it may seem strange at first glance, the Old Testament Lilith. She was also called the «Foremother» or «The Great Mother», «The Holy Ruler». Lilith is associated with the Etruscan goddess Leith, who met the dead at the gates of the Underworld. She, like Athena of the archaic, is the parent and destroyer of all living things.
But the most interesting – her name «Lilith» is translated as «nocturnal,» nocturnal ghost “, „nocturnal owl. The Sumerian bas-relief of the beginning of 2 thousand BC is known with the image of Lilith with owl wings and paws, and on her sides – two owls.
«Folk etymology connects the name Lilith with the Jewish lyl – night… the names of Lilith herself – Batna (aram.» Womb»), Odem («redness»), Amorpho (Greek.«Without form») – reports the Encyclopedia of Myths.» Thus, Lilith is the first wife of Adam, who gave birth to him «sparkling sons and radiant daughters», whose attributes were an owl and a snake – the twin sister of Greek Athena, whose attributes were also an owl and a snake.
Well, now it’s time for us to return to the Russian ritual song about «owl – mother-in-law».
Remember:
At home – that oak
On the oak there is an owl,
An owl is my mother-in-law…
It is worth recalling that the head of the pantheon of the gods of Ancient Greece – Zeus (Dyaus) in the archaic tradition is represented by an oak by the water (Zeus Dodonsky).
According to the myth, the goddess of wisdom, sacred knowledge, the maiden warrior Athena emerges from his head. That is, returning to phyto and zoomorphic codes, we get an oak tree, on top of which an owl sits. Moreover, elevated to the rank of the eternal virgin by the patriarchal tradition, which replaced the matriarchy, Athena, even in late antiquity, was surrounded by Kurets, who were sometimes called the «children of Athena.» Interestingly, earlier they were surrounded by the Great Mother of the gods Rey-Cybele and were considered children of the Earth (Gaia).
The Orphic hymn «Kuretam» says about them:
You were the first to institute sacraments among mortals,
You, oh immortal kuretes, you who are in the armor of Ares,…
You pestun deities, but you are destroyers too.
…kuretas, lords… children of the highest Zeus!
Pestun souls, invisible, everlasting spirits…
But since ancient Greek mythology, already at the level of Homer’s poems, fixes the stage at which Athena is only a virgin – a warrior and mother cannot be, because of her eternal virginity, we must emphasize that in the Vologda and Vladimir ritual songs, preserved in the Russian folk tradition almost until the end of the 20th century, the image of the Great Mother – «owl-mother-in-law» is much more archaic than the ancient Greek. She is not a virgin here, but the Foremother and her hypostasis – an owl – a nocturnal bird associated with the most ancient maternal lunar cults.
In the Russian North, in the archaeological sites of the Neolithic (6—4 thousand BC), there are images of women made of stone, bone and wood, ending with an owl’s head. S. V. Oshibkina notes that among the anthropomorphic images at the Kubenino site (basin of the Sukhona River, west of the Vologda Region), a bone figurine was found; one leg of which (the other was lost) ends with a hoof. She has an extended head and in general «there is a similarity of anthropomorphic figurines with an owl.» We repeat, this is the Neolithic, the new Stone Age.
There is no future Ancient Greece yet. The Indo-Europeans did not come to the territory of Western Europe yet. The palace of the Minotaur has not yet been built in Crete, which was guarded by an owl and a snake. The book of Job has not yet been written. And in the north of Eastern Europe, images of women are created – Mothers with the head of an Owl. The same goddesses with owl heads and wheat grains in clay stomachs are also characteristic of the sacred plastic art of the Trypillian culture (4—3 thousand BC). Owl – Foremother (Mother-in-law) is a symbol of divine wisdom, the one that embodies this wisdom in the manifested world, i.e. reflects. And to reflect is the function of the moon. Let us recall that the main ritual food and the symbol of Maslenitsa were pancakes associated with the world of the Ancestors and the Moon.
We have already noted earlier that in ritual pre-wedding texts in the Russian North, an orphan bride turned to her deceased mother, who became part of the Universal Feminine Principle, with the words «My Red Krasigorka». But