Personifications of Russia

"Mother Russia" redirects here. For other uses, see Mother Russia (disambiguation).

Since medieval times to personifications of Russia is traditionally the feminine, most commonly maternal, imagery.

Most common terms for national personification of Russia are:

• Mother Russia (Russian: Россия-Матушка, transliterated as Rossiya-Matushka, also, Мать-Россия, Матушка Русь, Матушка Россия).
• Mother Motherland (Russian: Родина-мать).

Notice that in Russian language, the concept of motherland is rendered by two terms: "родина", literally, "place of birth" and "отчизна", literally "fatherland".

Harald Haarmann and Orlando Figes see the goddess Mokosh a source of the "Mother Russia" concept.

Usage

A cover of ru magazine, approx. 1932, depicting Russia as a woman in a traditional costume liberated by a warrior in medieval armor, trampling the Bolshevik flag.

During The October Revolution and The Civil War, the image was in in the propaganda of the supporters of the White movement, interpreting the struggle against the Bolsheviks as a battle with "aliens" as "oppressors of Mother Russia".

Statues

During the Soviet times many statues of Mother Motherland have been constructed, most to commemorate the Great Patriotic War. These include:

• The Motherland Calls (Russian: Родина-мать зовёт, Rodina Mat' Zovyot!) a colossal statue in Volgograd, Russia, commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad
• Mother Motherland, Kiev (Ukrainian: Батьківщина-Мати) or, and more commonly referred to as, Rodina-Mat (Russian: Родина-мать) is a monumental statue that is a part of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev.
• 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), Minsk, Belarus commemorating the dead in Afghanistan
• Mother Motherland (Naberezhnye Chelny), a monument in Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia
• Mother Motherland (Pavlovsk), a memorial complex, Pavlovsk, Russia

See also

• Mat Zemlya

Further reading

• Ellen Rutten, Unattainable Bride Russia: Gendering Nation, State, and Intelligentsia in Russian Intellectual Culture, 2010, ISBN 0810126567. The book discusses personifications of Russia as a bride in 20th century Russian literature and art.