Baba Tomor or Baba Tomorr ('Father Tomorr') is the name of the father god, used in central Albanian mythology and folklore to refer to the father of gods and humans. Baba Tomor is related to the cult practiced on

Mount Tomorr Tomorr is a mountain chain in the region of Berat and Skrapar, in Albania. It reaches an elevation of above sea level at the Çuka e Partizanit, which is the highest peak in central Albania. Mount Tomorr is one of Albania's biggest water-col ...

. According to the local tradition his consort is

e Bukura e Dheut E Bukura e Dheut (the "Beauty of the Earth" or "Earthly Beauty") is an epithet in Albanian mythology and folklore, used in some traditions for a crafty fairy, and in other traditions for a chthonic/earth goddess, the counterpart of e Bukura e Deti ...

, a

chthonic In Greek mythology, deities referred to as chthonic () or chthonian () were gods or spirits who inhabited the underworld or existed in or under the earth, and were typically associated with death or fertility. The terms "chthonic" and "chthonian" ...

earth goddess Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

Name

''Baba Tomor'' means "Father Tomor" in

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

, and is related to the cult practiced on

. The Albanian oronym ''Tomor(r)'' derives from the Illyrian name of mountain ''Tómaros'', from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

''*tómh_xes-'', 'dark' (cf.

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''temere'' 'blindly, by chance',

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

''temel'' 'darkness',

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

''demar'' 'darkness',

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

''tǐma'' 'darkness').

Cult

The cult of Tomor may go back to

Illyrians The Illyrians (, ; ) were a group of Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking people who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan populations, alon ...

times, and Baba Tomor could be the remnant of an ancient Illyrian god. Mount Tomorr certainly seems to have been the site of a pre-Christian cult and to have been worshiped by the locals, both Christians and Muslims, as a mountain with a supernatural force—swearing solemn oaths "By Him of Tomorr" and "By the Holy One of Tomorr", and practicing

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

sacrifices Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks ...

of animals—long before the shrine of Abbas Ali was correlated with the sacred site. The name of the village Mbrakull/Vrakull at the foot of Mount Tomorr, which evolved through Albanian sound changes from , suggests the existence of an oracle in the area during antiquity. The enduring sanctity of the mountain, the annual pilgrimage to its summit, and the solemn sacrifice of a white bull by the local people provide abundant evidence that the ancient cult of the Sky-God on Mount Tomorr continues through the generations almost untouched by the course of political events and religious changes. The ancestors of the Albanians presumably had in common with the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...

the tripartite division of the administration of the world into heaven, sea, and underworld, and in the same functions as the Greek deities

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

, and

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

, they would have worshiped the deities referred to as the Beauty of the Sky (''

i Bukuri i Qiellit I Bukuri i Qiellit ("The Beauty of the Sky", "The Beautiful one in Heaven") is used in Albanian language, Albanian to refer to the deity who rules the sky: * Dielli (Albanian paganism), the Sun * God in Abrahamic religions {{disambiguation ...

''), the Beauty of the Sea ('' e Bukura e Detit''), and the Beauty of the Earth (''

''). According to the local folk tradition, the Beauty of the Earth (''e Bukura e Dheut'') is the consort of Baba Tomor. Baba Tomor is seen as an old man with a long white beard flowing down to his belt. He is accompanied by two female eagles and the winds are his servants.

Legacy

The cult of Tomor has been linked to

romantic nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

by many ''

rilindas The Albanian National Awakening ( or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political, and social movement in the Albanian history where the Albanian ...

''. In 1902,

Andon Zako Çajupi Andon Zako Çajupi (27 March 186611 July 1930) was an Albanian lawyer, playwright, poet and rilindas. Biography He was born in the village of Sheper, Upper Zagoria, Albania, then Ottoman Empire, on 27 March 1866. Çajupi's father, Harito Z ...

, a notable Albanian rilindas, published in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

an anthology called ''Baba-Tomorri'' ('Father Tomorr'). Even today,

Albanian people The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

swear by him.

References

Bibliography

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External links