#anahit

[majestativa]

Anahid [...] delicate ghostly beauty. [...] Your thick black curls dance tightly between alizarin crimson roses given to you as an offering.

MIA BARKAN CLARKE — Tea with Nana: Paintings & Poems, (2009)

[babylon-crashing]

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ARMENIAN Արևի և Ստեփանակերտի զավակներ, անձրևի տակ։ Սա ծնունդ է և ցավ։ Իմ տունը հավերժ կանգուն կլինի։ Այս լեռները՝ նույնպես։ Իմ տունը... Սա իրերի աճն է՝ մաշկից ու ոսկորից, ցողունից ու տերևից՝ գիտության և հավատքի հրաշքը։ Սա Երկիր մոլորակն է։ Ես այն Երկիր մոլորակ եմ անվանում։ Ձյան տեղումների և լեռնային ժայռերի տակ՝ սա այն վայրն է, որտեղ կարող ես գտնել մարդկանց։ Նրանց ԴՆԹ-ն քայլում է փողոցներով, նրանց հոգիները՝ լողում իրենց հետ։ «Քանի որ նրանք երբեք չեն կարող բողոքել ճակատագրից, Տուր նրանց քո քնքուշ մատները, անգին, և քո շուրթերը՝ ինձ»։ Նա այցելելու էր եկել Երևանից՝ վարդագույն մազերով և պատռված ջինսերով, մոտոցիկլետային բաճկոնով և «Bikini Kill»-ի շապիկով։ Փողոցում տղամարդիկ գոռում էին՝ dyke (dyke?) dyke: Երբեմն ես ատում եմ այս փոքրիկ քաղաքը։ Փոքր մտքեր։ Փոքր հոգիներ։ Երբեմն ես ատում եմ այս փոքրիկ քաղաքը։ «Քանի որ նրանք կարող են բողոքել, Տուր նրանց քո մատը»։ Ամեն դեպքում՝ այստեղ դուք կգտնեք մարմնավորվածներին և անջատվածներին, կենդանիներին և մեռածներին։ Ինչպես նաև՝ Անահիտը, Վահագնը, Միհրը, Աստղիկը, Տիրը և Ծովինարը։ Ինչպես սրտի բաբախյունը, ինչպես եղունգները, որոնք քաշում և ազատում են մեր մտքի հին հիշողությունները, որոնք օրը մեկ անգամ պտտվում են մեր խոռոչներում— այսինքն՝ մեր գանգերում, այսինքն՝ մեր փտած խոռոչներում։ Այստեղ է, որ հետծննդյան և դեղնուցի հետ միասին նրանք երկուսն էլ երգում են երկնքին։ Որտեղ յուրաքանչյուր հոգի ծնվում է իր հոգևոր չափումներին։ Որտեղ Աստված և Աստծո բացակայությունը՝ փոխարինելի են։ Աղոթքներով շուրթերին, փաստերով՝ գլխում։ Որտեղ արյունը զարկերակի մեջ նույն ուղերձն է ուղարկում աստղերին։ «Քանի որ նրանք կարող են բողոքել, տուր նրանց քո մատը—այն մեկը, հա՛, հենց այդ մատը»։ ENGLISH Children of the sun and Stepanakert, under the rain. This is birth and pain. My house will stand forever. These mountains too. My house... This is the growth of things, from skin and bone, stem and leaf, the miracle of science and faith. This is planet Earth. I call it planet Earth. Beneath the snowfall and the mountain rocks, this is where you can find people. Their DNA walks the streets, their souls swim with them. “Since they can never complain about fate, Give them your tender fingers, priceless, and your lips to me.” She had come to visit from Yerevan, with pink hair and torn jeans, a motorcycle jacket and a “Bikini Kill” T-shirt. The men on the street were shouting, dyke (dyke?) dyke. Sometimes I hate this little town. Small minds. Small souls. Sometimes I hate this little town. “Since they can complain, Give them your finger.” In any case, here you will find the embodied and the disembodied, the living and the dead. As well as Anahit, Vahagn, Mihr, Astghik, Tir and Tsovinar. Like the heartbeat, like the nails that pull and release the old memories of our mind, which rotate once a day in our cavities— that is, in our skulls, that is, in our rotten cavities. It is here that together with the afterbirth and the yolk they both sing to the sky. Where each soul is born to its spiritual dimensions. Where God and the absence of God are interchangeable. With prayers on the lips, facts in the head. Where the blood in the artery sends the same message to the stars. “Since they may complain, give them your finger—that one, ah, that very finger.”

[parafrazerofhistory]

Sex in Service of the Goddess

“In Cyprus it appears that before marriage all women were formerly obliged by custom to prostitute themselves to strangers at the sanctuary of the goddess... Similar customs prevailed in many parts of Western Asia. Whatever its motive, the practice was clearly regarded, not as an orgy of lust, but as a solemn religious duty performed in the service of that great Mother Goddess of Western Asia whose name varied, while her type remained constant, from place to place....

Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos (now Kouklia, Cyprus).

(Source: Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“...at Babylon every woman, whether rich or poor, had once in her life to submit to the embraces of a stranger at the temple of Mylitta, that is, of Ishtar or Astarte, and to dedicate to the goddess the wages earned by this sanctified harlotry. The sacred precinct was crowded with women waiting to observe the custom. Some of them had to wait there for years. 

An engraving of the goddess Mylitta, by Daniël met de Penningen (1690).

(Source: Rijksmuseum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“At Heliopolis or Baalbec in Syria [i.e., Lebanon], famous for the imposing grandeur of its ruined temples, the custom of the country required that every maiden should prostitute herself to a stranger at the temple of Astarte, and matrons as well as maids testified their devotion to the goddess in the same manner. The emperor Constantine abolished the custom, destroyed the temple, and built a church in its stead.

Panoramic shot of a Baalbek temple complex in modern-day Lebanon.

(Source: © Guillaume Piolle / CC BY 3.0 / Wikimedia)

“In Phoenician temples women prostituted themselves for hire in the service of religion, believing that by this conduct they propitiated the goddess and won her favour. ‘It was a law of the Amorites, that she who was about to marry should sit in fornication seven days by the gate.’ 

An Amorite penitent.

(Source: Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“At Byblus the people shaved their heads in the annual mourning for Adonis. Women who refused to sacrifice their hair had to give themselves up to strangers on a certain day of the festival, and the money which they thus earned was devoted to the goddess….

A Roman-era Astarte statuette from Byblos.

(Source: taller romano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

“We are told that in Lydia all girls were obliged to prostitute themselves in order to earn a dowry; but we may suspect that the real motive of the custom was devotion rather than economy. The suspicion is confirmed by a Greek inscription found at Tralles in Lydia, which proves that the practice of religious prostitution survived in that country as late as the second century of our era. It records of a certain woman, Aurelia Aemilia by name, not only that she herself served the god in the capacity of a harlot at his express command, but that her mother and other female ancestors had done the same before her; and the publicity of the record, engraved on a marble column which supported a votive offering, shows that no stain attached to such a life and such a parentage. 

Greek inscription found in Tralles, Lydia (part of modern-day Republic of Türkiye), telling of Aurelia Aemilia's life as a hierodule.

(Source: W. M. Ramsay, "Unedited Inscriptions of Asia Minor," Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, vii. [1883] p. 276.)

“In Armenia the noblest families dedicated their daughters to the service of the goddess Anaitis in her temple at Acilisena, where the damsels acted as prostitutes for a long time before they were given in marriage. Nobody scrupled to take one of these girls to wife when her period of service was over. 

Modern-day depiction of the goddess Anahit (Anaitis), sculpted by Hagop Ishkanian (1964).

(Source: Hagop Ishkanian, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“Again, the goddess Ma was served by a multitude of sacred harlots at Comana in Pontus, and crowds of men and women flocked to her sanctuary from the neighbouring cities and country to attend the biennial festivals or to pay their vows to the goddess."

A dedication to the goddess Ma, imprinted by one of the faithful, c. 1st cent. BCE.

(Source: National Museum in Warsaw, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

—J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, part 1 (The Golden Bough, vol. V, 1914, pp. 36-39)

[valkyries-things]

ANAHIT // ARMENIAN GODDESS OF FERTILITY & HEALING

“She was the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and water in Armenian mythology. In early periods she was the goddess of war. By the 5th century BCE she was the main deity in Armenia along with Aramazd. The Armenian goddess Anahit is related to the similar Iranian goddess Anahita. Anahit's worship, most likely borrowed from the Iranians during the Median invasion or the early Achaemenid period, was of paramount significance in Armenia. Artaxias I erected statues of Anahit, and promulgated orders to worship them.”

[artaxata]

Ok so… I have this little altar to Anahit. I’m still grappling with my feelings about posting this, but I need to get it out somewhere (it’s not like anyone will notice or read a long post like this anyway lol). It’s not much, as I’m disguising it as a Knick-knack situation. I don’t even know how to go about any of this. I’m in my 30s, should I be praying to a goddess? I need hope and she gives me that, even if I have to do it in private. Thankfully my family is used to incense bc my mother burns it a lot for her Christian prayer, so I can just say I like the smell of it.

The description of it makes it sound nicer than it is imo: Armenian doll, obsidian from Armenia, a wooden pomegranate from Armenia, and a silver arevakhatch for the benefactress of all Armenians. Gold colored brass incense burners (one shaped like a peacock, which is one of Anahita’s sacred animals, so I associate it with Anahit as well), a gold colored bowl, a gold colored diadem, and my gold chain and pendant for the voskemayr. The two gold-ish glass votives: one contains coins and the other contains pebbles from the beach and evil eye jewelry. For a representation of her, I found a little print/sticker of John William Godward’s “Head of a girl (priestess)” and have put it in the center. I also have 2 pins I got from the Louvre when I went, I’ve decided to have Winged Victory (Nike) as a representation of Nane, and Venus de Milo as a representation of Astkhig. After all, if I had an alter I’d think it would be nice to give a little space for my sister who I love too. And for the wooden shelf, I just thought it was neat so I put pretty things that I’ve collected on it.

I sorta want a community of people to share all this with. I dunno.

[10000dreams]

Festival of Light - making wishes and new friends 🎋

[meryachkins]

this is me again and my besties nane and anahit aka armenian goddesses of motherhood ( i have other arts of anahit and nane but these ones are for my project so i want to show them )

nane while being the goddess of motherhood is also goddess of war and wisdom. yes she is versatile ... and also she kinda look like athena

and anahit is basically The Golden Mother. she was one of the most revered deity in great armenia. and also the statue of her head is in the british museum in london. but it's too similar to aphrodite so i drew anahit differently

some historians say that nane and anahit ( and astghik but i would like to tell you about her later ) are one goddess but who knows ?

tbh i prefer to think that they are very different goddesses with very different characters

[thewinedarksea]

goddesses: anahit

anahit was the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and water in armenian mythology. in early periods she was the goddess of war. by the 5th century bc she was the main deity in armenia along with aramazd.