Matrena/Matrona/matreshka

Fri Nov 23 16:26:26 UTC 2001

Dear Seelangers,
        I encountered the name Matrena/Matrona used in ritual.
In an Ivan Kupalo ritual I attended, the decorated and
be-ribboned tree around which young girls in wreaths danced was
called Matrona.  In another Ivan Kupalo celebration, a young
woman dressed in leaves and little else came in on a boat.  She
was called Matrona also.  It seems, therefore, that Matrona is
some sort of mythical being associated with sexuality and
vegetation.  How would all of this fit with matreshki and matki
and eternal wombs, if not the eternal feminine?

Natalie Kononenko

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