Litha falls on the summer solstice, between June 19 and 23 each year. This year, the pagan holiday falls on June 20, 2021 in the Northern hemisphere and December 21, 2021 in the Southern hemisphere. Prema, goddess who made the bride submissive, allowing penetration; also an epithet of Juno, who has the same function [17] Like in Egypt, her image was featured most prominently on protective amulets. However, this image was altered slightly from the Egyptian one, as she was folded into the corpus of Minoan iconography in an artistic style that was congruent with other Minoan images. From Crete, this image spread to mainland Greece, where the goddess was featured in palatine art in Mycenae. [10] In Nubia [ edit ] This clay statuette of Taweret was found in a foundation deposit under the enclosure wall of the pyramid of the Nubian King Anlamani (c. 623–595 BCE). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Xochiquetzal, also known as Ichpōchtli ( “maiden”), was one of the major goddesses of the Aztec mythology and connected to fertility, beauty, childbirth, and female sexual power. She was a protector of women, prostitutes, young mothers, and pregnant women.

A fertility deity is a god or goddess associated with fertility, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, and crops. In some cases these deities are directly associated with these experiences; in others they are more abstract symbols. Fertility rites may accompany their worship. The following is a list of fertility deities. The exact role in cult and the purpose of the votive figures is unclear. It has been suggested that the figures represent a mother/fertility goddess, sacred prostitutes, or were charms to protect women during pregnancy. [3] Dea Gravida figures have occasionally been found together with a statue of a bearded male wearing an Atef crown. [4] They may have together formed a divine couple, however, it is unclear exactly why they were together or who they are supposed to represent. [4] Mokoš, Old Russian goddess of fertility, the Mother Goddess, protector of women's work and women's destiny

James Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005), 49. The hippopotamus goddess could be thought of as giving birth to the creator Sun god. In the secret crypts of the Temple of Ipet at Karnak, the hippopotamus goddess was said to give birth to the solar form of Osiris who rose again as Amun-Ra. In the Pyramid texts, the reborn king is nourished by the sweet milk of Ipy; Ipet (Pinch 142). Miroslav Verner, "A Statue of Twert (Cairo Museum no. 39145) Dedicated by Pabesi and Several Remarks on the Role of the Hippopotamus Goddess". Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Alterumskunde 96 (1969): 53. The votive figures typically show a pregnant female goddesses or woman either seated or standing, often with a hand resting on her abdomen. [5] These figures were made exclusively from terracotta and are typically small. [6] Figures were often depicted as veiled with braided coiled hair pinned to either side of the head, which has led to misleading descriptions as the figures having a "cobra-hood" or "horns". [6] [3] A variant was found in Tripoli, showing the figure holding a cake offering. [3]

Photo poses in different angles

This year’s celebrations were held at the capital’s famous Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the West End. a b c Wise, Susan (2007). Childbirth Votives and Rituals in Ancient Greece (PhD). University of Cincinnati. Budin, Stephanie Lynn (2014). Images of Woman and Child from the Bronze Age: Reconsidering Fertility, Maternity, and Gender in the Ancient World. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. p.221. ISBN 9781107660328.

Leto was one of the many mistresses of Zeus. The jealous goddess Hera was informed regarding Leto's pregnancy and full of anger she asked Python (a monster with the form of a big snake) to chase Leto all over the known world and prevent her from finding a safe place to deliver her babies. Leto travelled from Athens to the island of Egina, to the Kingdom of Theva, to Mount Pelion, to the Kingdom of Argos in the Peloponnese and to Thessaly, but she could find no safe place to give birth. After all those difficult moments, Leto was begging for help. At this moment, Eileithyia disobeyed her mother Hera and decided to assist Leto. Holding a pine tree, Leto managed to deliver the twins, Apollo and Artemis, in the island of Delos after nine days of travelling around Ancient Greece (16). The Roman counterpart of the Greek Aphrodite, Venus was worshipped around 400 BCE to 400 CE, especially at Eryx (Sicily) as Venus Erycina. By the 2nd century CE, Emperor Hadrian had dedicated a temple to her on the Via Sacra in Rome. She had several festivals including the Veneralia and the Vinalia Urbana. As the embodiment of love and sexuality, Venus was naturally connected with fertility. 9- Epona Epona and her horses, from Köngen, Germany, about 200 AD. By Rosemania– , CC BY 2.0,Votive figures [ edit ] A seated Cypriot example circa 600–480 B.C.E. ( Metropolitan Museum of Art) Eileithyia was the goddess of birth, but in the Ancient Greek world she was initially considered to have two characteristics/functions, depending on the difficulty of each individual labour. These two functions were originally assigned to two different Eileithyiai (“Ειλέθνιαι”, in Greek): the first one, the divinity who furthered childbirth (as assistance to women in labour) and the other as the divinity who protracted and delayed the labour (12, 13). Nevertheless, later on both functions were attributed to the same divinity and for this reason, only one Eileithyia was mentioned in Homer’s Iliad (13). Such examples include birth of Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hercules and Eurystheas (14). Be responsible if you are wildcrafting, and only take herbs from nature if you are sure you will not harm the plants future growth. Lakapati: the hermaphrodite Tagalog deity and protector of sown fields, sufficient field waters, and abundant fish catch; [3] a major fertility deity; [4] deity of vagrants and waifs; [5] a patron of cultivated lands and husbandry [6]

In another fornication of Zeus with Alkmene (mother of Hercules), the powerful god promised that from the family of Perseas (grandfather of Alkmene) an offspring would be born, and his fate would be to become king of the city of Argos. The jealous Hera persuaded Zeus to say that the king of Argos was going to become the first-born offspring from the family of Perseas. Therefore, Eilytheia helped Hera and with her two functions, initially protracted and delayed Alkmene’s labour of Hercules and at the same moment, she furthered the preterm labour of Nikippi (cousin of Alkmene) to Eurystheas (17). Based on Zeus’s promise, Eurystheas became king of Argos and he was the one to challenge Hercules on performing his twelve labours. They would keep the amulets in their homes which would create their living surroundings into domestic shrines. The popular household deities that represent fertility are Bes, Hathor and Taweret, and their placement in homes were prominent due to the danger pregnancy and childbirth had on women in ancient Egypt (Robins 87-90). The dead used the amulet in the tomb for the purpose of gaining one preferential notice with a particular deity and protection in the afterlife. “These objects were endowed with magic powers and that where magic is concerned mystery and obscurity of meaning only add to the occult efficacy desired” (D.D. 122). The magic behind the Taweret amulet is clear. Fufluns, god of plant life, happiness, health, and growth in all things, equivalent to the Greek Dionysus I know, most days you feel exhausted, your body is swelling in places you never thought could swell. Some days you just want to hide in an enormous t-shirt. I get it. I’ve been there. And it’s ok to not feel sexy. It’s ok not to like the way pregnancy has treated your body. I’m still going to tell you how sexy you are, and I hope your partner if you have one, tells you the same. Even if you don’t have anyone telling you this, then let it be me. I hope, eventually, it will come from you. a b c d e Ulbrich, Anja (2016). "Near Eastern and Egyptian Iconography for the Anthropomorphic Representation of Female Deities in Cypriote Iron Age Sanctuaries". In Thuesen, Ingolf (ed.). Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Copenhagen, Denmark: University of Bologna & Eisenbrauns. pp.289–304. ISBN 978-88-6113-007-4.

The Ancient Origins of Fertility Goddesses

Wengrow, David (2011). "Cognition, Materiality, and Monsters: the cultural transmission of counter-intuitive forms in Bronze Age societies". Journal of Material Culture 16:2 (2011), 137. Ungud, snake god or goddess associated with rainbows and the fertility and erections of the tribe's shaman In the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (c. 332 BCE – 390 CE), Taweret maintained a central role in daily Egyptian life. In either the latter half of the Late Period (c. 664–332 BCE) or the early Ptolemaic period, a temple dedicated to Ipet was built at Karnak. This enigmatic temple was thought to witness the daily birth of the sun god from the hippopotamus goddesses that dwelled there. The sun god ( Amun-Re) was conceived of as having multiple divine mothers, and by this later period in Egyptian history, Taweret and the other hippopotamus goddesses were included in this body of solar mothers. [8] Taweret's image also appeared on the outside of temples dedicated to other deities due to her apotropaic ability to ward off malevolent forces. [9] Outside of temple settings, the household cult of the goddesses remained strong, and amulets bearing their likenesses peaked in popularity during these years. Ostara) is one of the oldest and widely attested Germanic goddesses, associated with the coming spring and fertility. She is found in almost all Germanic nations, with the largely unchanged versions of her name found in Old German, Anglo Saxon, and other Germanic languages. She is most popularly mentioned in the work of an 8th century Benedictine monk, Bede, who tells us that in Anglo Saxon pagan belief, Ostara had her own month - seemingly April - known as Ēastermōnaþ, in which feasts were held in her honor signifying the fertility of the coming spring. The songs of Dodola are some of the most well-preserved and offer an important insight into the staunch survival of Slavic paganism to this very day, which mostly survived among the South Slavs. Inanna