Old European religion from a nature conservation perspective

Myths are structures through which to construe the world and to pass on knowledge from one generation to the next. Many cultural and social layers have been written into myths. Thus, myths are constructions that help us recognize the cultural values of a given time, for example regarding the relationship to the environment and nature.

Archaeological research has shown that the Old Europeans didn't deliberately cause destruction to nature. They seemed to understand that their environment was of vital importance. Since they lived in balance with nature, their creativity and inventive ingenuity could blossom. Gender equality and ecological equilibrium enabled innovations of an advanced culture. Many inventions in world history were originally born in Old Europe, such as the first writing, the furnace, metal smelting, the potter's wheel, and the first navigation vessels. These new innovations didn't alienate the Old Europeans from Nature, since culture and nature weren't seen in opposition to one another.

Mother Earth was everywhere. For example, the oldest mythical layers of the Black Sea region are centered around female deities. In the South, the pre-Greek myths of female deities were transferred to Greek mythology, through which they remain influential. In the North and the Ural region, traces from ancient Fenno-Ugric mythology in particular can be seen in the living relationship to nature. According to many researchers, Ural folk traditions contain the same motifs as other religions around the world, and they can be traced back to the end of the Ice Age. One such motif is the belief in a feminine protective spirit. Fertility cults have been linked to the ”Venus statues” and ”Mother Nature” of the Ice Age. (Haarmann 2019, 155)

There are indications of an animistic, protective feminine spirit in the oldest layers of Eurasian figurative art. This spirit later developed into the Goddess cult and into particular archaic styles. For example, the forms of antropomorphic and zoomorphic female figurines transferred into the Bronze Age and later on into the Iron Age (Haarmann/Marler 2008, 115). The art of the original inhabitants of the Black Sea region had apparently been very influential, since Indo-European emigrants later embraced the cult of theGreat Goddess, even though their own religious panthenon was full of male gods. (Haarmann 2019, 156-157)

The ancient, mythical feminine nature spirit or force was honoured as Mother Nature after the migrants had settled in. Mother Nature later replaced other protective spirits, and she became a major goddess of agriculture (Haarmann 2019, 156). It makes sense that mobile hunter-gatherers would worship many spirits that dwelt in natural places, and revere forces that enabled and protected their way of life. Foragricultural societies, the earth and sedentariness, as well as places for cultivating crops, roots and kin, gained importance. A perception developed of a oneness unfolding into multiplicity.

The Great Goddess' metamorphosis in the South was similar to that in the Urals, and roots and resemblances to her animistic symbolism have appeared in many different areas. Figurines from the 6th and 7th centuries BCE have also been discovered in several places. These goddess figures have human bodies and animal features. The bird-headed and snake-headed goddesses can be connected to their predecessors, archaic feminine spirits, who could take on animal forms. (Haarmann 2019, 157)

Bird Goddess

The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas assumed that the figurines represented incarnations of the Great Goddess and that the Goddess' iconography was familiar in Anatolia as well as in Old Europe. (Haarmann/Marler 2008, 115) The term ”Great Goddess” is understood in a holistic context as a personification of nature. The Great Goddess or Mother Nature is Nature itself, and does not signify a goddess figure in the same sense as in Antiquity. The figurines can be seen as attracting good energy and fortune, but also as personifications of life-preserving protective spirits and manifestations of the oneness of life (Haarmann 2019, 157).

”The Goddess' power is everywhere, in water, stones, graves, tombs, in birds, snakes, fish and other animals, as well as in hills, trees and flowers. The holistic, mythopoetical perspective on sacredness and mystery sees holiness everywhere on earth and in nature, in the entire world.” (Gimbutas 1989: 321)

The cult of the Great Goddess was not limited to the early farmers of Southeastern Europe, but also appeared in Western Anatolia, in the region of modern-day Turkey. The oldest cult place of the Great Goddess is called “Ana Tanriça” in Turkish, and it is located in Çatalhöyük (Haarmann/Marler 2008, 115). After the retreat of the last Ice Age, around 9000-6500 BCE, humans transitioned from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to living in permanent settlements and domesticating animals. This first began in the Mediterranean, Southeast Europe, and the Middle East. It is estimated that animal domestication and pottery-making began in 7000-6500 BCE. This early neolithic culture was connected to Anatolian culture and its symbolic language. (Haarmann 2019, 158-159)

There were approximately 7000 inhabitants in Çatalhöyük during 6300-5500 BCE. During this time astable social organization was developed which included economics, trading, architecture, religion andart. The region's spiritual traditions and religion seem to have centred around rebirth, the goddess, animals and plants. A 20 centimeter terracotta figure was also discovered there, depicting a muscular woman giving birth on a throne between two leopards. Çatalhöyük was part of the goddess civilization. More evidence of this are the numerous small female statues and figurines found in the region. Statues

representing animals and other genders have also been discovered, but to a far lesser extent. It can thus be assumed that the Goddess in her various forms covered different areas and territories.

The ancient name of this neolithic goddess remains unknown, but echoes of her name may survive in the great Anatolian goddess Cybele and Kubaba (Haarmann/Marler 2008, 115). Cybele is usually portrayed amongst animals, as in this picture from Çatalhöyük and Hacilar, where she is pictured with leopards.

These symbols share a continuum of spiritual life from Old Europe, in which death, destruction and rebirth are recurrent themes (Kailo, 85). The balance which once mutually existed with goddess worship and gender equality created stable conditions for people to live in harmony with nature and the vegetation cycle. (Haarmann, Vassallo)

References:

Gimbutas, Marija 1989: The Language of the Goddess, Harper & Row

Haarmann, Harald & Maya Vassallo: The goddess cult in relation to gender equality -The dynamic process of cultural transition from the One-ness to the many female divinities under patriarchal pressure (blogi 14.06.2023)

Haarmann, Harald, 2019: The Mystery of the Danube Civilisation, Matrix Verlag

Haarmann, Harald & Marler, Joan, 2008: Introducing the Mythological Crescent. Ancient beliefs and imagery connecting Eurasia with Anatolia, Harrasowitz Verlag

Kailo, Kaarina, 2024: Karhu-mytologia – Luola uskonnosta Saunapyhäkköön, Basam Books

Siikala, Anna-Leena, 2014: Itämeren suomalainen mytologia, SKS