A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in animistic religions and folklore across many parts of the world.
Household deities were usually worshiped in the home, where they would be represented by small idols (such as the teraphim in the Bible), amulets, paintings, or reliefs. They could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a small shrine to the household gods, for example the lararium in ancient Rome. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals or be given offerings of food and drink.
Types
Household deities fit into two types. The first type was a specific deity typically a goddess often referred to as a hearth goddess or domestic goddess associated with the home and hearth, such as the ancient Greek goddess Hestia.
The second type of household deity is an animistic deity, which usually has lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the lares of ancient Roman religion, the gashin of Korean shamanism, and cofgodas of Anglo-Saxon paganism. These survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish brownie and Slavic domovoy.
Household deities in the modern period Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period. Some examples of these include:
Brownie (Scotland and England) or Hob (England) / Kobold (Germany) / Duende y Trasgu (Spain and Portugal) / Goblin / Hobgoblin Domovoy (Slavic) Nisse (Norwegian or Danish) / Tomte (Swedish) / Tonttu (Finnish) Húsvættir (Norse)
Although the cosmic status of household deities was not as lofty as that of the Twelve Olympians or the Aesir, they still had to be appeased with shrines and offerings.For example, reserving a seat at the hearth for the brownie, and offering him milk and honeycomb. Because of their immediacy, household deities had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the major pagan gods did. The influence of household deities persisted long after Christianity and other major religions reduced the worship of the major pagan pantheons. Elements of household deity worship can be seen even today, with Christian accretions, where statues to various saints (such as St. Francis) protect gardens and grottos. Even the gargoyles found on older churches could be viewed as guardians partitioning a sacred space.
For centuries, Christianity fought a mop-up war against these lingering minor pagan deities, but they proved tenacious. For example, Martin Luther's Tischreden have numerous references to dealing with kobolds.See Brüder Grimm, Wörterbuch, s.v. "kobold", "poltergeist", etc."Luther glaubt nicht mehr an katholische Wunder, aber er glaubt noch an Teufelswesen. Seine Tischreden sind voll kurioser Geschichtchen von Satanskünsten, Kobolden und Hexen." ("Erstes Buch".) "Luther no longer believes in Catholic miracles, but he still believes in diabolical entities. His Table Talks are full of curious tales of satanic arts, kobolds, and witches." Rationalism and the Industrial Revolution threatened to erase most of these minor deities, until the advent of romantic nationalism rehabilitated and embellished them into objects of literary curiosity in the 19th century. Since the 20th century, this literature has been mined for characters in role-playing games, video games, and other fantasy personae, sometimes given invented traits and hierarchies differing from their mythological and folkloric roots.
Origins in animism and ancestor worship
Shinto as an exemplar of development The general dynamics of the origin and development of household deities over a considerable span may be traced to the Shinto belief system in Japan. As Japanologist Lafcadio Hearn claimed:
Many Japanese houses still have a shrine (kamidana, kami shelf) where offerings are made to ancestral kami, as well as to other kami.
Cultural evolution and survival Edward Burnett Tylor, one of the main founders of the discipline of cultural anthropology, spoke of survivals, vestiges of earlier evolutionary stages in a culture's development. He also coined the term animism. Tylor disagreed with Herbert Spencer, another founder of anthropology, as well as of sociology, about the innateness of the human tendency towards animistic explanations, but both agreed that ancestor worship was the root of religion and that domestic deities were survivals from such an early stage."Herbert Spencer as an Anthropologist", Journal of Libertarian Studies, V:2, 1981.
Animism and totemism In contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its genesis in totemism. This distinction is somewhat academic since totemism may be regarded as a particularized manifestation of animism, and a synthesis of the two positions was attempted by Sigmund Freud. In Freud's Totem and Taboo, both totem and taboo are outward expressions or manifestations of the same psychological tendency, a concept which is complementary to, or which rather reconciles, the apparent conflict. Freud preferred to emphasize the psychoanalytic implications of the reification of metaphysical forces but with particular emphasis on its familial nature. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component.SF.
Domestic deities and ancestor worship
Jacob Grimm (1835)
European folklorist Jacob Grimm did not hesitate to equate the Roman lar familiaris to the brownie.JG, Chapter 17, p 12. He explains in some detail in his Deutsche Mythologie:
Thomas Keightley (1870)
To underscore the equivalence of brownie, kobold, and goblin, consider the words of the English historian and folklorist Thomas Keightley:
MacMichael (1907) MacMichael elaborated his views on the folkloric belief complex as follows:
New International Encyclopaedia Demonstrating that this evolution and functional equivalence has generally come to be accepted and that their nature is indeed that proposed by Grimm, one may refer to the early twentieth century New International Encyclopaedia:
and also
Origin of ancestor worship in animism
Hearn (1878) William Edward Hearn, a noted classicist and jurist, traced the origin of domestic deities from the earliest stages as an expression of animism, a belief system thought to have existed also in the Neolithic and the forerunner of Indo-European religion. In his analysis of the Indo-European household, in Chapter II, "The House Spirit", Section 1, he states:
In Section 2, he proceeds to elaborate:
George Henderson (1911) George Henderson elaborated on the presumed origin of ancestor worship in animism:
List Domestic or hearth goddesses from various mythologies include:
African Bes, a god in Ancient Egyptian religion Ekwu, a god in Igbo Odinani
European Agathodaemon in Ancient Greek religion Aitvaras in Lithuanian mythology Berehynia (originally a river spirit, since 1991, has become a hearth goddess in Ukrainian Romantic nationalism) Bieresel in German folklore Brighid, a goddess in Ancient Celtic religion Brownie or Urisk in Scottish folklore Bwbachod in Welsh folklore Cofgodas in Anglo-Saxon paganism Domovoy in Slavic religion Drak in German folklore Erdhenne in German folklore Frigg, a goddess in Old Norse religion Gabija, a goddess in Baltic religion Haltija, or Haldjas in the Baltic Finnish religion, Finnish folklore, and Estonian mythology. Heinzelmännchen, Heimchen, and Fenixmännlein in German folklore Hestia, a goddess in the Ancient Greek religion Hob, Lubber fiend, and Puck in English folklore Húsvættir, Norse Jack o' the bowl in Swiss folklore Kabouter in Dutch folklore Kikimora in the Slavic religion Klabautermann, a household sprite in German folklore found on ships instead of houses Kobold (including Gütel, Hinzelmann, Hödekin and Petermännchen) in German folklore Lares in Ancient Roman religion Lutin in French folklore Matka Gabia, a goddess in the Slavic religion Monaciello, Monachiccio, Mamucca, Lu Laùru, Aguriellu, or Mazapegol in Italian folklore Moss people, wood sprites in German folklore that also appear as domestic sprites Nis Puk in Danish, Frisian, and German folklore Penates, in Ancient Roman religion Safa, in Ossetian mythology Schrat in German and Ashkenazi Jewish folklore Tomte, or Nisse in Scandinavian folklore Trasgu in Spanish folklore and Portuguese folklore Vesta, a goddess of Traditional Roman religion, both state and domestic
West Asian Ev iyesi in Turkic mythology Ḫašamili, god of smithing and the household in Hittite, Hattian, and Palaic mythology I Gudli Saibia, a female guardian angel in Romani mythology Kamrušepa or Kataḫzipuri, goddess of healing, the hearth and family life in Hittite, Luwian, Hattian, and Palaic mythology Lamassu, house guardians in Mesopotamian mythology Zilipuri, god of the house and the hearth in Hittite and Hattian mythology
East Asian
Anito in prehispanic Filipino culture. All gashin, the most prominent being Teoju, Seongju, Jowang, or Samshin in Korean folk religion Imoinu (Emoinu), a household hearth goddess in Meitei mythology and Sanamahism of Manipur Kamui Fuchi, a goddess in the Ainu folklore in Japan Leimarel Sidabi, a household mother goddess in Meitei mythology and Sanamahism of Manipur Menshen, divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religion Ông Táo, kitchen god in Vietnamese folk religion Ông Địa, is the god of the earth and patron of the land on which the houses are built in Vietnamese folk religion Sanamahi, the most predominant god in Meitei mythology and Sanamahism of Manipur Tu Di Gong (earth deity), in Chinese folk religion Yumjao Leima (Yumjao Lairembi), a household mother goddess in Meitei mythology and Sanamahism of Manipur Zao Jun (kitchen god), in Chinese folk religion Zashiki-warashi, in Japanese folklore
North American Chantico, a goddess in Aztec mythology
See also Ancestral shrine and Ancestral tablets Chinese ancestral worship Dharmapala Kitchen God Teraphim
References
Bibliography Freud, Sigmund. Totem und Tabu: Einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenleben der Wilden und der Neurotiker. 1913. (English translation Totem and Taboo: Resemblances Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics, 1918.) Third essay, "Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thought". Grimm, Jacob. Deutsche Mythologie (Teutonic Mythology). Göttingen, 1835, 3rd ed., 1854, 2 vols. English translation available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/017_12.php Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Deutsches Wörterbuch (German Dictionary). Available online in German at http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/DWB . Hearn, William Edward. 1878. London: Longman, Green & Co. The Aryan Household, Its Structure and Its Development: An Introduction to Comparative Jurisprudence. "Chapter II: The House Spirit". Available online at https://books.google.com/books?name=9663WttGfbUC&pg=PA39. Hearn,Lafcadio. Japan, an Attempt at Interpretation. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1904. Available online at Henderson, George. "The Finding of the Soul", in Survivals in Belief Among the Celts, I.2. . Available online at Survivals in Belief Among the Celts: I. The Finding of the Soul (part 2). Heine, Heinrich. Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland ("Concerning the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany".) Available online at . Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries. 1870. Available online at The Fairy Mythology: Germany: Kobolds.