Berehynia
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The word Berehynia or Bereginia (Russian and Ukrainian: Берегиня) originates in the Slavic mythology but in the modern usage it has two meanings. The confusion in the name's etymology owes to the fact that a Slavic word bereg (берег) may mean either a river bank or to protect.
Originally, obscure shadowy ghost-like fairies similar to Rusalkas, Berehynias lived along the rivers, lakes and ponds and were considered ill-tempered and dangerous. A water-bank where they thought to be found were to be avoided by young men and women, especially in the dark.
Berehynia in the original meaning is by far less remembered now, than in the new meaning of matriarchic goddess-protectors. This rebirth of the Berehynia started only in the late 1980s by several Ukrainian writers who sought to personify their vision of an ideal Ukrainian woman.
A column with a monument to Berehynia on top, as a protector of Kiev (pictured), has recently been constructed at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in the center of the city, despite the fact that Kiev has a historic protector Archangel Michael pictured at the Coat of Arms of Kiev and whose older monument is located just across at the same square.
[edit] External references
- Oksana Kis' "Who is protected by Berehynia, or Matriarchy as a men's invention", Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), April 26 - May 6, 2005. (Russian), (Ukrainian)
