Mokosh (Old East Slavic: Мóкошь, romanized: Mókošʹ) is a Slavic goddess mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, protector of women's work and women's destiny.[1] She watches over spinning and weaving, shearing of sheep,[2] and protects women in childbirth. Mokosh is the Mother Goddess.[3]
The etymology is uncertain. Max Vasmer suggests that her name is derived from the same root as Slavic words mokry, 'wet', and moknut(i), 'get wet', or 'to dive deeply into something'. She may have originated among the northern Finno-Ugric peoples who worship the divinity Moksha.[citation needed]
According to ancient Slav belief, this deity had some connection to thunder god Perun.[4]
Her consorts are probably both the god of thunder Perun and his opponent Veles. In saying, the former Katičić follows Ivanov and Toporov (1983) without further corroborating their claim.[5] Katičić also points to the possibility that as goddess Vela she is the consort of Veles, and might even be interpreted as another form of the polymorph god Veles himself.[5]: 167–198 Mokosh is also the mother of the twin siblings Jarilo and Morana.[citation needed]
A key myth in Slavic mythology is the divine battle between Perun and Veles. Some authors including Ivanov and Toporov believe the abduction of Mokosh causes the struggle.[a][6]
As late as the 19th century, she was worshipped as a force of fertility and the ruler of death. Worshipers prayed to Mokosh-stones or breast-shaped boulders that held power over the land and its people.[7]
InEastern Europe, Mokosh is still popular as a powerful life-giving force and protector of women. Villages are named after her. She shows up in embroidery, represented as a woman with uplifted hands and flanked by two plow horses.[8] She has been claimed to be shown with male sexual organs, as the deity in charge of male potency, however no visual proof has been provided.[9]
^Евдокимова, Светлана; Evdokimova, Professor of Slavic Studies and Comparative Literature Chair Department of Slavic Studies Svetlana (July 26, 1999). Pushkin's Historical Imagination. Yale University Press. ISBN0300070233 – via Google Books.
^Patricia Monaghan (2010). "[1]". Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines p. 516
^Katičić, Radoslav.『Gospa Međugorska i mokra Mokoš』[Unsere liebe Frau von Međugorje und die nasse Mokoš]. In: Ethnologica Dalmatica br. 19 (2012): 10-11. https://hrcak.srce.hr/107497
