aestreae: MYTHOLOGY MEMES - [BALTIC // SLAVIC] Morena  Morena {Czech, Slovak, Russian},&nb

aestreae: MYTHOLOGY MEMES - [BALTIC // SLAVIC] Morena  Morena {Czech, Slovak, Russian}, Marzanna {Polish}, Moré {Lithuanian}(also known as Mara, Maržena, Morana, Moréna, Mora or Marmora) is the Baltic and Slavic goddess of witchcraft, winter and death. She is also associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death, rebirth of nature and nightmares. The end of winter is celebrated by throwing an effigy of Morena into the river on the first spring day in March. Some medieval Christian sources such as the Czech 9th century Mater Verborum compare her to the Greek goddess Hecate, therefore associating her even more with sorcery. 15th century Polish chronicler Jan Długosz likened her to Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov supposed her name was derived from the same root as the name of Roman god of war Mars, originally an agricultural deity. Other theories claim her name is derived from the same Indo-European root as Latin mors ‘death’ and Russian mor ’pestilence’. Some authors also likened her to mare, an evil spirit in Germanic and Slavic folklore, associated with nightmares and sleep paralysis. In some Russian dialects the word ‘mara’ means ‘phantom’, ‘vision’, ‘hallucination’. I // II // III // IV // V // VI // VII // VIII // IX -- source link

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