For this lesson I chose to write about the Great Mother Goddess. During the Middle Eastern religions, mother goddess, was the symbol of the earth's fertility. Great Mother Goddess was adored under many names. There has been many similar figures in every part of the world representing Great Mother. At heart of others, she was represented as the mother of all things, the giver of life to the gods, human beings, and even beasts. There has been many legends stating that the forms of her cult involved the worship of a male deity, variously considered her son, lover, or both (e.g., Adonis, Attis, and Osiris), whose death and resurrection symbolizes the nurturing powers of the earth. Although the Great Mother was the main figure in ancient Middle …show more content…
For the same reason that her son, who is God and dies and was resurrected. But for Mexicans she was known as the Virgin of Guadaloupe. Our story starts back in the year 1531, a Christianized Indian peasant of the Mexican village of Tolpetlac heard a beautiful voice singing. That peasant looked up and saw a golden cloud on a hill in Guadaloupe. This voice coming from the cloud called the peasants name Juan Diego. As he heard his name being called he too climbed the hill to find who was calling his name. To his surprise the voice was coming from a beautiful dark-skinned woman who announced that she was in fact the Virgin Mary. She promised him that she was going to help the Indian people if Juan Diego could persuade the local bishop to build a shrine in her honor on the hill. So Juan Diego returned to the city. He explained to the bishop the wonderful thing that has manifested. But the bishop didn't believe Juan Diego. Juan Diego returned to the hill the next day. The Lady was there waiting for him. She insisted that he try again the next day. Juan Diego was ecstatic to do whatever she asked. He went back to the bishop, but of course the bishop was skeptical. Next Juan Diego had to take care of his sick uncle and he avoided the hill. The Lady of Guadaloupe appeared to him along the path and told him his uncle was cured and he should climb the hill, where he would find roses, and bring them back to her. Juan Diego did
Witcombe further speculates that these statuettes may have served as a representation of the Mother Goddess, also referred to as Earth Mother and that the deity may have been represented in the form of a leader or matriarch.
In Hesiod’s Theogony and the Homeric hymns, we see various mothers many of which are gods. Throughout these texts there is a repeated behavior displayed by mothers; by analyzing them and their behavior one can determine what the role of a mother consists of in these texts. The actions of Gaia, the earth, her daughter Rhea, and the goddess Demeter display some of the key characteristics that make up the role of a mother in these ancient texts.
Feasts and rituals are held in the Virgin’s honor on December 12 of each year, the day she is believed to have appeared to Juan Diego. These feasts and rituals are held throughout Mexico, as well as in cities within the United States cities with large Mexican-American populations. Included in the rituals are imagery and practices native to the Indigenous population Mexico, reinforcing the Virgin’s importance as a deity of to the Indigenous.
Many Mexicans have known and put their whole trust in Our Lady of Guadalupe for the past five hundred years. She has influenced the lives of many Mexicans in their homeland, Mexico, and also affected the lives of Mexicans abroad. Our Lady of Guadalupe has become an icon for many, she has received many honorary name such La Morenita (Spanish for the dark one), Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas (Who gave her the name) and La Virgen de Guadalupe (Direct Spanish translation of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Although these are only a few names she has been given it has shown that she has been interchangeable person in history that has helped many adapt to a certain life situation. Hdjlsfhjkdashjsdak
Our lady of Guadalupe is the most venerated and respected by the Catholics. The appearance of the Virgin caused a great commotion in the Catholic Church. Ever since the Virgin's first appearance, Catholics have respected and acquired so much faith to the Virgin. The lady of Guadalupe has so many faithful followers that believe in her without any hesitation because of the miracles that she has made for the people that were once suffering and were miraculously helped by her. Because of the help that she has provided for those who were suffering people never forget her and they celebrate the day of her appearance every year by doing parties in her honor. The Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance certainly changed the belief of Catholics and, I believe
Juan Diego immediately journeyed to the palace of the bishop to present the Lady’s request, but was unable to speak with him. Upon returning to the hill the next day, the Blessed Mother appeared again to Juan, and instructed him to return to the bishop. This time the bishop instructed Juan Diego...
After Teofilo missing for a few days, Leon and Ken come looking for him and find that he "had been dead for a day or more, and the sheep had wandered and scattered up and down the arroyo."
The Goddess, whether Gentle Lady-Mother or thundering and Powerful Seductress has never really been broadly attached specifically to an animal form as much as the God was."
From the beginning of the Toltec reign in Central Mexico, the deity Quetzalcoatl has been a central figure in the religion and culture of Mexico. This is undisputed. What can be disputed, however, is Quetzalcoatl’s legitimacy as an historical figure. The deity Quetzalcoatl, or the “plumed serpent” is inseparable from the man Ce Acatl Topitlzin Quetzalcoatl, known to be a famous leader in pre-historical Mexican myth. The dissection becomes more difficult still as the Spanish friars introduced Christianity and in an attempt to assimilate the Indians, created a parallel between Indian deity Quetzalcoatl and the Catholic figure St. Thomas. In doing so, the priests hoped to incorporate Indian culture and religion into Christianity. In the process, however, they changed and damaged the pre-Christian notions of the god. What information we have now of Quetzalcoatl must be recognized as flawed over the centuries, and we must take this into account when trying to examine the historical origins of one of the three figures. However, with cautious examination, we can separate these three figures and determine each one’s traits independent of the others’.
In 1531, ten years after the capture of Mexico City, a poor Indian named Juan Diego left his house to attend divine service in the beginning of December. On his way he passed the hill of Tepeyacac ("Hill of the Nose", in Nahuatl) and he heard beautiful music from the top of the hill. The music was heavenly; he heard the most beautiful songbirds singing soft and pleasant. He wondered if he was worthy of hearing such beautiful music, and if maybe it was a dream. He thought he might have died and gone to heaven. Over the sounds of birds Juan heard a voice from the hilltop; however, it did not frighten him. In fact he was strangely set at ease by the voice. He climbed the hill in search of the mysterious voice. When he reached the top of the hill he saw a magnificent woman who appeared to glow like nothing he had ever seen before. She radiated like the sun, and the stones that she was standing on were like gems beneath her feet. The foliage surrounding the magnificent woman was full of translucent colors that glimmered in the radiating light.
Every culture has some form of higher being, to be a model for their behaviour, as well as to look up to. In Greek times, these were the gods and goddesses who made their home on Mount Olympus. Women identified with the goddesses because they shared some feminine attributes. Goddesses were a “symbol of motherhood and fertility, but also of strength, wisdom, caring, nuturing, temperance, chastity, cunning, trickery, jealousy, and lasciviousness” (Clarke, 1999). However, not all of the goddesses possessed all of these attributes. The goddess Aphrodite, for instance, was not nurturing, nor was she very caring.
In the documentary, Conquistadors and The Fall of the Aztecs, narrated by Michael Wood. It follows Michael Wood, who embarks the journey of Hernan Cortes, a poor boy who studied law, whom eventually led by his dreams became known as a Spanish Conquistador. In seek of wealth, he lead soldiers to the west to their surprise they discover a whole new civilization. In order to communicate with the unknowns, Mayans and Aztecs, he acquired a slave-girl by the name of Molly Molly. Molly spoke both mine and nawafill, with her help he was able to fulfill his destiny.
The introduction of Christianity to native Mesoamericans, however, expressed itself in ways unexpected to the Catholic missionaries. For example, the concept of Jesus Christ—both in colonial Mesoamerica and today in thousands of Indian communities—became one of the several manifestations of the sun god (Carmack 304). The Virgin of Guadalupe, today the patron saint of Mexico, was and is embraced by Indians who interpreted her and the myth surrounding her 1531 appearance to Juan Diego in traditional spiritual custom: she is depicted as a d...
also the goddess of war and the patroness of arts and crafts. Which led her to be a great leader
The role of women in religious scripture dictates an inferior position in society. Beginning with the creation of Adam and then Eve, as his helpmate. Her purpose was that Adam would not be lonely. This origin provides the ground work for inequality of genders on the basis of religious scripture. The roles prescribed determined that women should be in a subordinate position to man. The female role and relationship with God is defined by the various books of the Old and New Testaments, the reported actions of Jesus Christ, and finally the Qur'an.