Mat Zemlya (Matka Ziemia or Matushka Zeml'ja)Gimbutas, Marija. "The Earth Fertility of old Europe". In: Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, vol. 13, 1987. p. 24. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/dha.1987.1750]; www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1987_num_13_1_1750 is an East Slavic personification of earth acting as a deity. She is also called Mati Syra Zemlya meaning Mother Damp Earth or Mother Moist Earth.
Mythology Old Slavic beliefs seem to attest some awareness of an ambivalent nature of the Earth: it was considered men's cradle and nurturer during one's lifetime, and, when the time of death came, it would open up to receive their bones, as if it were a "return to the womb".Васільчук, А. А.. "СЛАВЯНСКІЯ НАРОДНЫЯ УЯЎЛЕННІ ПРА ЗЯМЛЮ" [Slavic folk beliefs about the Earth]. In: МОВА–ЛІТАРАТУРА–КУЛЬТУРА. Матэрыялы VI Міжнароднай навуковай канферэнцыі г. Мінск, 28-29 кастрычніка 2010 года [LANGUAGE–LITERATURE–CULTURE. Proceedings of the VI International Scientific Conference in Minsk, October 28–29, 2010]. Minsk: БДУ. 2011. pp. 52-53.
The imagery of the "moist earth" also appears in funeral lamentations either as a geographical feature (as in Lithuanian and Ukrainian lamentations)Nevskaja, Lidija; Toucas-Bouteau, Michèle (traduceur). "Les lamentations balto-slaves: sémantique et structure". In: Cahiers slaves, n°3, 2001. La mort et ses représentations (Monde slave et Europe du Nord) pp. 201-202. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/casla.2001.904]; www.persee.fr/doc/casla_1283-3878_2001_num_3_1_904. or invoked as "Mother Moist Earth".Adon'eva, S.B.; Kabakova, Galina (traducteur). "Lamentation dans le Nord de la Russie: texte et rituel". In: Cahiers slaves, n°6, 2002. Les études régionales en Russie (1890-1990). Origines, crise, renaissance. pp. 434. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/casla.2002.962]; www.persee.fr/doc/casla_1283-3878_2002_num_6_1_962Labriolle, François de; Sériot, Patrick. "Lise Gruel-Apert, La tradition orale russe (compte-rendu)". In: Revue des études slaves, tome 68, fascicule 1, 1996. p. 138. www.persee.fr/doc/slave_0080-2557_1996_num_68_1_6318_t1_0137_0000_1
The Slavic epic bogatyr Mikula Selyaninovich, or Mikula the Villager, has his power from Mat Zemlya.Leonard Arthur Magnus, "The Heroic Ballads of Russia". K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Company, Limited, 1921, pp. 23-26.Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 189-191. .
See also Māra in Latvian folklore Mother Russia Mother Earth Zam
Footnotes
Notes
Further reading Pushkina, V.. "ОБРАЗ МАТЕРИ - СЫРОЙ ЗЕМЛИ КАК ЭКСПЛИКАЦИЯ АКСИОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ДОМИНАНТ ВОСТОЧНЫХ СЛАВЯН" [THE IMAGE OF THE MOTHER - RAW EARTH AS THE EXPLICATION OF AXIOLOGICAL DOMINANTS EASTERN SLAVS]. In: Аксиологический диапазон художественной литературы : сборник научных статей. - Витебск: ВГУ имени П. М. Машерова, 2017. pp. 290–293.