The Sky Father and Earth Mother: the Basis of All Indo-European Religions, Part Twelve, the Italic Earth Mother

 The Proto-Italic Earth Mother

The reconstructed Proto-Italic Earth Mother, *Dʰegʰōm‑mātēr  derives from the PIE *Dʰéǵʰōm / Dʰǵʰem. The Proto-Italic reflex translates as 'earth, ground, soil' (*Dʰegʰōm) 'mother' (mātēr). This compound is not directly attested and this should be kept in mind; it is a linguistic construction only. 

Features

. Primordial Earth-She is the earth itself, a cosmic foundation, not a personified and mythic goddess.

. Chthonic Power- The underworld is Her domain and so She presides over burial and the ancestors, including wealth hidden within it, whether they be minerals, seeds or roots. Serpents are part of her domain and She shares this aspect with the Greek Earth Mother, Gaia. Healing magic is also one of her functions.

. Fertility and Agricultural Cycles- She governs the fertility of the soil and seasonal renewal.

. Oath-Bearing Earth-In common with other Indo-European Earth Mothers, She is invoked in oaths as She cannot lie. This archaic function is preserved in Roman legal texts.

. Consort of the Sky Father-In union with *Djous‑pətēr (Iupiter), She maintains cosmic order and generates life.

The Italic Earth Mother does not appear under a single appellation but has many reflexes, which are:

Tellus

She is the most direct linguistic descendant of *Dʰéǵʰōm and She is paired with Iupiter in agricultural rites. A state festival, the fordicidia sacrifice was held every 15th April, on which day a pregnant cow (forda) was sacrificed to Tellus. The cow's unborn calf was removed from her womb and burned by the vestal virgins, with its ashes preserved and used for the feast of Parilia on 21st April, when they are used as a purifying mixture. The womb of the cow symbolises the womb of the Earth Mother. The ashes are the product of the purifying fire and symbolise rebirth. This marks the beginning of Spring, the  opening of the pastures and the start of the grazing season.

Terra Mater

The name literally means 'Earth Mother' and is the formalised Roman reflex of the Earth Mother. She is not a separate goddess from Tellus, but a later and more abstract version of Her. Compared to Tellus, She is universal, more of a philosophical conception, imperial and more explicitly maternal. Terra Mater retains the following aspects of Tellus:

. the womb of all life

. the source of fertility

. the granter of stability

. the receiver of the dead

During the imperial period, She was sometimes associated with the goddesses Gaia, Demeter and Cybele (the Magna Mater, 'the Great Mother'. This syncretism with local goddess cults demonstrates that the Romans saw Her as the cosmic Earth Mother archetype.

Symbols

. cornucopia, a symbol of abundance

. fruits and grain, symbols of fertility

. earthly animals

. snakes which symbolise the chthonic nature of the Earth Mother

In comparison to Tellus, who is the ritual earth, Terra Mater is the conceptual earth.

Ops

Ops is the richness stored within the earth. She represents the abundance and wealth buried within the earth. Her name can be traced to the PIE root * h₃ep‑ /*op which has the following meanings:

. abundance

. plenty

. riches

. resources

She represents the earth as the source of all goods and as a provider. She is the female Italic counterpart of:

. the Greek Plouto/Ploutos (wealth)

. the Vedic Bhūmi (giver of riches)

. Hittite Earth-Wealth deities, such as Erezkigal, Hannahanna, Kamrušepa, Allani, Telipinu, and the Sun Goddess of Arinna

Ops was worshipped either sitting or kneeling, the body touching the ground, with offerings placed on the earth, not on an altar. This is a fossil of Proto-Italic earth worship. She is paired with Saturn as His consort and together they represent the buried seed (Saturn) and the earth that holds it (Ops). There are two festivals associated with Her:

. the Opalia-festival held on the 19th December, honouring Ops as the goddess of abundance, wealth and earth's hidden bounty. The date of the festival should be noted as this coincides with the feast of Saturnalia, in honour of Saturn, demonstrating that the two deities formed a primordial agricultural pair. It was celebrated by earth-touching rites.

. the Opiconsivia-festival held on 25th August, which marked the end of harvesting and the filling of the granaries. The festival honoured Ops Consiva as the Earth who stores; She is the womb who preserves life and as in the Opalia, she is worshipped with earth-touching rites. Opiconsivia was administered by the Vestal Virgins and presided over by the Pontifex Maximus, which illustrates the importance of the goddess, and that she was foundational. 

Ceres

Firstly, I must point out that  Ceres is the Proto-Italic Grain Mother. Her name descends from the Proto-Italic *kerh₂‑es ('the nourisher/grower')  which in turn is the reflex of the PIE root *kerh₂‑ ('to grow, nourish'). She is not the earth itself, but what the earth produces; she is the growth-mother, who causes plants to sprout and preserves human life through agriculture. From these roots we have the Latin verbs, creāre ('to cause to grow', 'to bring forth', 'to produce') and crēscere ('to grow', 'to increase', 'to come into being'). The literal interpretation of Her name is thus She-Who-Makes-Things-Grow. Ceres has the following functions:

. the sprouting of grain

. agricultural cycles

. human nourishment

. the continuity of the community

She represents the Earth Mother in the aspect of agriculture, not as soil, the womb, or the cosmic principle, but as the productive force in the Earth Mother complex. Ceres is worshipped alongside Liber (male fertility) and Libera (female fertility): the Aventine Triad; within this triad, She is the mature, sustaining Earth Mother, while Liber is the young male vegetation god, and Libera, the young vegetation goddess. This triad of deities were worshipped in a major temple on the Aventine Hill in Rome, which according to tradition was founded in 493 BCE.

The Aventine Triad preserves an ancient Indo-European structure, which also appears in the following cultures:

. Greek-Demeter + Dionysus + Persephone

. Germanic-Nerthus + Freyr + Freyja

. Vedic-Aditi + the  Aśvins

. Balto-Slavic-Earth Mother + vegetation twins

The reason for the location of the temple of this cult on the Aventine Hill is because it was the centre of the plebeian population, a district of famers, traders and freedmen. It was politically opposed to Capitoline cults and was the religious heart of the plebs. The triad symbolised the protector of the supply of grain and plebeian rights and identity. There were three rites attached to the triad:

The Cerelia

A seven day festival. possibly beginning on 19th April, featuring the ludi Ceriales, circus games held in the circus maximus, nighttime rituals and field-purification rites.

The Ambarvalia

A very ancient Roman rite, carried out in late May, involving walking around the fields, which is the literal meaning of ambervalia-amb-'around' and arvalia, plural for 'fields'. The literal meaning of this term is 'the-going-around-the-fields'. The purpose of the rite was to ensure the lustration of the fields and it involved a triple circumambulation of the boundaries of the fields including a sacrificial procession of a pig, a sheep and a bull. This is an ancient Indo-European ritual which is also found in Greek, Vedic and Hittite traditions.

There were two versions of the rites, a public one, led by the Fratres Avales, the Arval Brothers, one of the most ancient of Roman priestly colleges, consisting of twelve priests, and a private one carried out by individual landowners on their estates. While the cult of Ceres was plebeian, Her festivals were celebrated by all Roman social classes.

The aforementioned rites are specific to Ceres, but the following belong to Liber and Libera:

The Liberalia

This festival is specific to both Liber and Libera and was held on 17 March, marking the beginning of fertility in both nature and mankind. The sacerdotes Liberi were elderly wandering priestesses of Liber and Libera, who sold honey cakes (liba) in the streets and offered them as sacrifices to Liber and Libera on portable altars on behalf of their buyers. They did not belong to any priestly college or were tied to any temple, but were rural, non-elite street-level priestesses. They performed bawdy, ecstatic rites involving chanting, fertility invocations, libations of wine and engaged in vulgar humour.

Liber presides over the coming of age of boys, and during the festival the boys removed their bulla (protective childhood amulet) and put on the toga virilis, which translates as the 'toga of manhood'. It must be borne in mind, however, that only freeborn Roman boys were permitted to wear the toga. An exception to this was when a servus ('slave') was freed by his master and became a libertus ('freedman').  

As a counterpart, but not the equivalent of the Greek Dionysus, Liber was worshipped through ritual drinking and ecstatic rites. The first-fruits of wine were offered to Him and vineyards were blessed in His name. During the Liberalia, normal social boundaries were suspended and there was absolute freedom of speech; this symbolised the unrestrained and overflowing force of nature.

As a vegetation god, He was responsible for male fertility in livestock, the protection of vines and orchards, and for the sap rising in Spring. The fascinus, a large phallus was carried in processions through the fields, to ward off evil, protect crops and ensure fertility. At the end of the procession it was crowned with a wreath by women: the symbolism here should be obvious. This rite is a direct survival of Indo-European phallic fertility cults. The noun relates to the verb fascinare (to cast a spell or charm), the English verb 'to fascinate' being derived from this. Related Indo-European cults:

. Greek-Dionysus and the phallophoria

. Vedic- śiśna‑devāḥ ('phallus gods') and fertility rites

. Slavic-Yarilo and spring fertility rites (involving boundary walking as in the Roman)

. Germanic-Freyr and the sacred phallus

. Celtic-Cernunnos and phallic stones

While Liber is associated with male sexual maturity, Libera is associated with the female and with reproductive cycles. Unlike boys, girls were not granted the toga as this was a male only garment, but their hairstyles were changed and they were prepared for the onset of puberty and the first menstruation. They also dedicated their toys to the household gods as a sign that they were transitioning from childhood to adulthood.

While Liber was responsible for the rising of the sap, Libera oversaw the maturation of fruit, ensuring the fertility of women and female livestock and participating in field purification. Her cult included fertility invocations for conception, the protection of pregnant women and rituals for safe childbirth.  

Bona Dea

Bona Dea translates as the 'good goddess', but Her actual name is not known. Her true name was known only to Her priestesses. She was a chthonic Earth Mother, a patron of women's health, childbirth, fertility and was worshipped in women-only rites. She was a goddess of healing herbs and associated with snakes. In contrast to Ceres, She was the hidden, nocturnal face of the Roman Earth Mother. Her most important rite was the December Nocturnal Festival, presided over by the Vestal Virgins in a house provided by the Pontifex Maximus. Only elite Roman women attended the rites, which involved the use of wine, herbs and healing plants. The room in which it was performed had a cave-like structure with decorations of serpents and vines; all of these things are indicative of the chthonic nature of the goddess. Within Her temple resided a sacred snake. She was thus the earth as a healer.

Reasons for Her Name Being Hidden

1. As the cult was hidden from men, so it was not permitted for them to know Her name. 

2. Her name was too sacred to be spoken aloud.

3. Hers was a mystery cult and so only initiates were allowed to know Her name and were required to keep it secret.

4. Her cult involved the transmission of secrets in the domain of women, which men were not permitted to know.

5. Her cult may have been pre-patriarchal and possibly pre-Indo-European in origin.

6. According to Macrobius, She was originally called Fauna, the wife or daughter of Faunus, an ancient forest and fertility god. She secretly drank wine and consequently was beaten to death by Faunus with myrtle. She was later deified, and Her death was the reason for Her cult being exclusively dominated by women.