Matrem Deum Venerantur – Signs of Lada

Tacitus’ Germania has an interesting passage in Chapter 45 regarding the so-called Aestii who are sometimes viewed as the ancestors of the Balts.

“…At this point the Suevic sea, on its eastern shore, washes the tribes of the Æstii, whose rites and fashions and style of dress are those of the Suevi, while their language is more. like the British. They worship the mother of the gods, and wear as a religious symbol the device of a wild boar. This serves as armour, and as a universal defence, rendering the votary of the goddess safe even amidst enemies. They often use clubs, iron weapons but seldom. They are more patient in cultivating corn and other produce than might be expected from the general indolence of the Germans. But they also search the deep, and are the only people who gather amber (which they call “glesum”), in the shallows, and also on the shore itself…” 

Or in Latin:

“…Trans Suionas aliud mare, pigrum ac prope inmotum, quo cingi cludique terrarum orbem hinc fides, quod extremus cadentis iam solis fulgor in ortus edurat adeo clarus, ut sidera hebetet; sonum insuper emergentis audiri formasque equorum et radios capitis adspici persuasio adicit. Illuc usque (et fama vera) tantum natura. Ergo iam dextro Suevici maris litore Aestiorum gentes adluuntur, quibus ritus habitusque Suevorum, lingua Britannicae propior. Matrem deum venerantur. Insigne superstitionis formas aprorum gestant: id pro armis omniumque tutela securum deae cultorem etiam inter hostis praestat. Rarus ferri, frequens fustium usus. Frumenta ceterosque fructus patientius quam pro solita Germanorum inertia laborant. Sed et mare scrutantur, ac soli omnium sucinum, quod ipsi glesum vocant, inter vada atque in ipso litore legunt...”

So who was this “mother of the Gods”? Rheia (Rhaetia?)? Cybele? Gaia?

Of course, no one knows the name of this Goddess but… there is a hint in Germania.

In Chapter 43 we have the following:

“…It will be enough to mention the most powerful, which are the Harii, the Helvecones, the Manimi, the Helisii and the Nahanarvali. Among these last is shown a grove of immemorial sanctity. A priest in female attire has the charge of it. But the deities are described in Roman language as Castor and Pollux. Such, indeed, are the attributes of the divinity, the name being Alcis. They have no images, or, indeed, any vestige of foreign superstition, but it is as brothers and as youths that the deities are worshipped…”   

or in Latin:

“…valentissimas nominassesufficiet, Harios, Helveconas, Manimos, Helisios, Naharvalos. apud Naharvalos  antiquae religionis lucus ostenditur. praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu, seddeos interpretatione Romana Castorem Pollucemque memorant. ea vis numini, nomen Alcis. nullasimulacra, nullum peregrinae superstitionis vestigium; ut fratres tamen, ut iuvenes venerantur…”