Personification of Russia

The personification of Russia is traditionally feminine and most commonly maternal since medieval times.[1]

A cover of Sentry magazine, approx. 1932, depicting Russia as a woman in a traditional costume liberated by a warrior in medieval armor with a shield depicting the Tsarist flag, trampling the Bolshevik flag.
"Mother Russia" redirects here. For other uses, see Mother Russia (disambiguation).

Most common terms for national personification of Russia are:

  • Mother Russia (Russian: Матушка Россия, tr. Matushka Rossiya, "Mother Russia"; also, Россия-матушка, tr. Rossiya-matushka, "Russian Mother", Мать-Россия, tr. Mat'-Rossiya, Матушка Русь, tr. Matushka Rus' , "Mother Rus' "),
  • Mother Motherland (Russian: Родина-мать, tr. Rodina-mat' ).

In the Russian language, the concept of motherland is rendered by two terms: "родина" (tr. rodina), literally, "place of birth" and "отчизна" (tr. otchizna), literally "fatherland".

Harald Haarmann and Orlando Figes see the goddess Mokosh a source of the "Mother Russia" concept.[2][3]

Usage
1914 Russian poster depicting the Triple Entente – Britannia (right) and Marianne (left) in the company of Mother Russia.

During the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War, the image was in the propaganda of the supporters of the White movement, which interpreted the struggle against the Bolsheviks as a battle with "aliens" who were "oppressors of Mother Russia".

Statues

During the Soviet era, many statues of Mother Motherland were built, most to commemorate the Great Patriotic War. These include:

  • The Motherland Calls (Russian: Родина-мать зовёт, tr. Rodina-mat' zovot) a colossal statue in Volgograd, Russia, commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad
  • Mother Motherland, Kyiv (Ukrainian: Батьківщина-Мати, tr. Batʹkivshchyna-Maty, "Mother Fatherland") or, and more commonly referred to as, Rodina-Mat (Russian: Родина-мать, tr. Rodina-mat' ) is a monumental statue that is a part of the Museum of The History of Ukraine in World War II
  • Mother Motherland (Saint Petersburg), a statue at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, St. Petersburg, Russia
  • Mother Russia (Kaliningrad), a monument in Kaliningrad, Russia
  • Mother Motherland Mourning over Her Perished Sons (Russian: Родина-мать, скорбящая о погибших сыновьях, tr. Rodina-mat', skorbyashchaya o pogibshikh synov'yakh), Minsk, Belarus commemorating the dead in Afghanistan
  • Mother Motherland (Naberezhnye Chelny), a monument in Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia[4]
  • Mother Motherland (Pavlovsk), a memorial complex, Pavlovsk, Russia[5]
  • Motherland Monument (Matveev Kurgan)

See also

References
  1. Рябов О. В. (1999). Русская философия женственности (XI—XX века). Иваново. pp. 35–46.
  2. Harald Haarmann, The soul of Mother Russia: Russian Symbols and Pre-Russian Cultural Identity, ReVision Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine, June 22, 2000 (retrieved May 2, 2016)
  3. Figes, Orlando (2002). Natasha's Dance: a cultural history of Russia. New York: Metropolitan Books. p. 321. ISBN 9780805057836. [...] the goddess known as Mokosh, from whom the myth of 'Mother Russia' was conceived.
  4. Казань. Храм на шести сотках — Ольга Юхновская."Не йог, не маг и не святой" — Российская Газета — Этот объект не включен в программу подготовки к казанскому миллениуму. Но его, без сомнений, будут показывать гостям города как редкую достопримечательность. Создатель множества памятников, художник из пригорода Казани Ильдар Ханов к тысячелетию столицы Татарстана строит на своем участке храм всех религий. В свое время творчество Ханова высоко оценил Святослав Рерих
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-01-24. Retrieved 2012-11-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Further reading
  • Ellen Rutten, Unattainable Bride Russia: Gendering Nation, State, and Intelligentsia in Russian Intellectual Culture, 2010, ISBN 0810126567. The book discusses personifications of Russia as a bride in 20th century Russian literature and art.


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