The personification of Russia is traditionally feminine and most commonly maternal since medieval times. Thecristisrizenoldrussiancivilwarposter

Most common terms for

national personification A national personification is an anthropomorphic personification of a state or the people(s) it inhabits. It may appear in political cartoons and propaganda. Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestation ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

are: *Mother Russia (russian: Матушка Россия, tr. ''Matushka Rossiya'', "Mother Russia"; also, , tr. ''Rossiya-matushka'', "Russia the Mother", , tr. ''Mat'-Rossiya'', , tr. ''Matushka Rus' '', "Mother Rus' "), *Homeland the Mother (russian: Родина-мать, tr. ''Rodina-mat' ''). In the Russian language, the concept of

motherland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...

is rendered by two terms: "" ( tr. ''rodina''), literally, "place of birth" and "" ( tr. ''otchizna''), literally "fatherland".

Harald Haarmann Harald Haarmann (born 1946) is a German linguist and cultural scientist who lives and works in Finland. Haarmann studied general linguistics, various philological disciplines and prehistory at the universities of Hamburg, Bonn, Coimbra and Ban ...

and

Orlando Figes Orlando Guy Figes () is a British historian and writer. Until his retirement, he was Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. Figes is known for his works on Russian history, such as '' A People's Tragedy'' (1996), ''Nata ...

see the goddess

Mokosh Mokosh ( orv, Мóкошь) is a Slavic goddess mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, protector of women's work and women's destiny. She watches over spinning and weaving, shearing of sheep, and protects women in childbirth. Mokosh is the Mother G ...

a source of the "Mother Russia" concept.

Usage

During the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

and the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, the image was in the propaganda of the supporters of the White movement, which interpreted the struggle against the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

as a battle with "aliens" who were "oppressors of Mother Russia". The

also used the image of "Motherland", including during the fight against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Statues

During the Soviet era, many statues of Mother Motherland were built, most to commemorate the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), an ...

. These include: *''

The Motherland Calls ''The Motherland Calls'' ( rus, Родина-мать зовёт!, Rodina-mat' zovyot!, t=Homeland-Mother Is Calling!) is the compositional centre of the monument-ensemble "Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd, R ...

'' (russian: Родина-мать зовёт, tr. ''Rodina-mat' zovot'') a colossal statue in Volgograd, Russia, commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad * ''Mother Motherland'', Kyiv ( uk, Батьківщина-Мати, tr. ''Batʹkivshchyna-Maty'', "Mother Fatherland") or, and more commonly referred to as, Rodina-Mat (russian: Родина-мать, tr. ''Rodina-mat' '') is a monumental statue that is a part of the

Museum of The History of Ukraine in World War II The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War ( uk, Музей історії України у Другій світовій війні) is a memorial complex commemorating the German-Soviet War located in the southern out ...

* Mother Motherland (Saint Petersburg), a statue at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, St. Petersburg, Russia * Mother Russia (Kaliningrad), a monument in Kaliningrad, Russia * Mother Motherland Mourning over Her Perished Sons (russian: Родина-мать, скорбящая о погибших сыновьях, tr. ''Rodina-mat', skorbyashchaya o pogibshikh synov'yakh''),

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

, Belarus commemorating the dead in Afghanistan * Mother Motherland (Naberezhnye Chelny), a monument in

Naberezhnye Chelny Naberezhnye Chelny ( rus, На́бережные Челны́, p=ˈnabʲɪrʲɪʐnɨjə tɕɪlˈnɨ; tt-Cyrl, Яр Чаллы, ''Yar Çallı'', IPA: �jar ɕɑlːɤ̆ is the second largest city in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. A major indus ...

, Russia * Mother Motherland (Pavlovsk), a memorial complex, Pavlovsk, Russia * Motherland Monument (Matveev Kurgan)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Personifications Of Russia

National symbols of Russia

Usage

Statues

See also

References

Further reading

External links