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Hey guys, I am presently engaged in some rather heavy-duty research for a book I'm writing--a chapter about hearth-deities and their Indo-European expression of belief. Now, of those IE expressions, I have heard about the following, and would love to locate any substantive sources, if anyone could help me):
* The senior woman of a home tends the hearth.
* When establishing a new home for one'self, it is customary to take coals or a token flame from their family's hearth to kindle or establish the hearth in their new dwelling. And...
* The bride circles the eharth three times.
Of course, in the course of my research, I have found the following themes, too, which are prevailent not only in IE societies, but throughout Asia and even Mongolia! So, if I can find further substanmtive evidence for the following throughout India and it's Hindu faiths, all the better for my argument and thesis! *G*
The rites of the hearth-deity are frequently attended to by the senior female of the home, or otherwise attended to by a virginal young woman; when one moves to a new home, or founds a new settlement, embers or a token flame from their family's (or tribal civil-hearth) hearth is taken to establish and re-kindle a new hearth; the hearth is often doused one a year (usually for more than 1 day), and then ritually re-kindled during might be considered early Spring or the month of February (often with two sticks of an especially chosen type of wood that form a solar-cross or swastika motif, both of which symbolize the fire drill); water is often associated with hearth-deities; the flame of the hearth is often associated primarily with purity (which seems a near-universal theme!), fertility, marriage ceremonies, family, one's ancestors and geneological continuity/progeny; the hearth-deity routinely guards the family, the hearth, and protects the home; salt is frequently used as an offering to the deity, as well as the first portion of each meal; the hearth-deity is often the premiere deity invoked; and, the hearth is frequently, functionally, an axis mundi where the deity delivers messages from the parishioners to the other gods, or that the hearth flame is somehow associated with the underworld, or even the ancestral-dead (in both Mongolia and Greece the hearth was deemed as the very center of the universe), etc.
So, I am becoming more and more convinced that there exists a common hearth-deity/hearth-worship-type of antecedant, perhaps in the Indo-European expansion of the kurgon cultural onslaught of Neolithic "Old Europe"; the latter being very near to Mongolia, and other Asiatic nations. Heck, I think (if I remember correctly) that the Indo-Europeans of India were "created" from invaders from Asia.
More importantly, many cultures have virginal attendees of the hearth, including Asiatic areas! So, this got me thinking... Now, the simplest explanation might be, according to certain IE goddesses (such as Hestia and Vesta), to claim that it's a ritualized instituion ment to reflect her self-imposed chastity. But, it occurs to me that in the pretty much ALL of these cultures, the hearth-flame is associated with purity, the family, fecundity, the establishment of society, and even tribal geneology (as well as its continuation). So, I now wonder if the real origins of this belief and practice might ultimately stem from a belief in geneological continuation and tribal homogeneity? After all, virginal young women are, by their very nature, the as-of-yet untapped potential womb that would ensure the future generations of tribal life.
However, if I can find similar establishment of beliefs throughout North America, and even Africa, (which is thought to be the "home-land" of the first modern humans, according to the "Out of Africa" theory, perhaps these similarities are a surviving expression of those remotely ancient times from deep in the human past and consciousness--the tribes from Africa were thought to migrate into Europe, then Asia, and across the land-bridge into N. America). But, until I can prove that, it will remain a personal hypothesis. :o)
Take Care,
Wade
* The senior woman of a home tends the hearth.
* When establishing a new home for one'self, it is customary to take coals or a token flame from their family's hearth to kindle or establish the hearth in their new dwelling. And...
* The bride circles the eharth three times.
Of course, in the course of my research, I have found the following themes, too, which are prevailent not only in IE societies, but throughout Asia and even Mongolia! So, if I can find further substanmtive evidence for the following throughout India and it's Hindu faiths, all the better for my argument and thesis! *G*
The rites of the hearth-deity are frequently attended to by the senior female of the home, or otherwise attended to by a virginal young woman; when one moves to a new home, or founds a new settlement, embers or a token flame from their family's (or tribal civil-hearth) hearth is taken to establish and re-kindle a new hearth; the hearth is often doused one a year (usually for more than 1 day), and then ritually re-kindled during might be considered early Spring or the month of February (often with two sticks of an especially chosen type of wood that form a solar-cross or swastika motif, both of which symbolize the fire drill); water is often associated with hearth-deities; the flame of the hearth is often associated primarily with purity (which seems a near-universal theme!), fertility, marriage ceremonies, family, one's ancestors and geneological continuity/progeny; the hearth-deity routinely guards the family, the hearth, and protects the home; salt is frequently used as an offering to the deity, as well as the first portion of each meal; the hearth-deity is often the premiere deity invoked; and, the hearth is frequently, functionally, an axis mundi where the deity delivers messages from the parishioners to the other gods, or that the hearth flame is somehow associated with the underworld, or even the ancestral-dead (in both Mongolia and Greece the hearth was deemed as the very center of the universe), etc.
So, I am becoming more and more convinced that there exists a common hearth-deity/hearth-worship-type of antecedant, perhaps in the Indo-European expansion of the kurgon cultural onslaught of Neolithic "Old Europe"; the latter being very near to Mongolia, and other Asiatic nations. Heck, I think (if I remember correctly) that the Indo-Europeans of India were "created" from invaders from Asia.
More importantly, many cultures have virginal attendees of the hearth, including Asiatic areas! So, this got me thinking... Now, the simplest explanation might be, according to certain IE goddesses (such as Hestia and Vesta), to claim that it's a ritualized instituion ment to reflect her self-imposed chastity. But, it occurs to me that in the pretty much ALL of these cultures, the hearth-flame is associated with purity, the family, fecundity, the establishment of society, and even tribal geneology (as well as its continuation). So, I now wonder if the real origins of this belief and practice might ultimately stem from a belief in geneological continuation and tribal homogeneity? After all, virginal young women are, by their very nature, the as-of-yet untapped potential womb that would ensure the future generations of tribal life.
However, if I can find similar establishment of beliefs throughout North America, and even Africa, (which is thought to be the "home-land" of the first modern humans, according to the "Out of Africa" theory, perhaps these similarities are a surviving expression of those remotely ancient times from deep in the human past and consciousness--the tribes from Africa were thought to migrate into Europe, then Asia, and across the land-bridge into N. America). But, until I can prove that, it will remain a personal hypothesis. :o)
Take Care,
Wade
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