EARTH: 2009

Dewi Shri

Dewi Shri also seen as Dewi Sri is the goddess of rice on the island of Bali and Java. She has the power of the underworld and the moon. She controls the foodstuffs of the earth and death. She has the power of Gaia and Terra. She is the mother of life because she symbolises rice (the primary food of Indonesia). Highly revered especially by the Javanese, Balinese, and Sundanese people of Indonesia, there are a lot of versions of her legend in Indonesia, most of them involve Dewi Sri (also known as Dewi Asri, Nyi Pohaci, etc) and her brother Sedana (also known as Sadhana, Sadono, etc), set either in the kingdom of Medang Kamulan, or in the heaven (involving gods such as Batara Guru), or both. In all the versions in which Sedana appears along with Dewi Sri, they end up separated from each other, through either death, wandering, or a refusal to be married. Some versions made correlation between Sri and large snake of the rice field (ular sawah) and Sadhana with swallow (sriti). The traditional Javanese people in particular have a special place in their house dedicated for Dewi Sri, decorated with intricate carvings of snake, so that she will give prosperity for them. In the agricultural Javanese, a snake who entered a house won't be chased away as it is a sign for a success in harvest, and they will give it offerings instead. The Balinese provide special shrines in the rice fields for her. The Sundanese have a special festival dedicated to her.

She corresponds to the Hindu goddesses Devi and Shri.

Other countries in SE Asia

In Thailand the Rice Goddess is known as Pō-sop. Often the prefix 'Mae' (mother) is added (แม่โพสพ). ^[1] Paying homage to Pō-sop by rice farmers had been declining in recent times, but Queen Sirikit gave royal patronage to this ancient custom in August 2008.^[2] Ritual offerings (Cha-laew) are made to propitiate the Rice Goddess during the different steps of rice production. Villagers believe that she ensures that everyone has enough to eat.

Terra (mythology)

Terra Mater or Tellus was a goddess personifying the Earth in Roman mythology. The names Terra Mater and Tellus Mater both mean "Mother Earth" in Latin; Mater is an honorific title also bestowed on other goddesses. Romans appealed to her over earthquakes, and along with the grain goddess Ceres, she was responsible for the productivity of farmland. She was also associated with marriage, motherhood, pregnant women, and pregnant animals. Terra's Greek counterpart is Gaia, and as such, she was said to be the mother of Fama, the goddess of fame and rumor.^{[clarification needed]}

Some linguists studying the Indo-European languages believe that the two words Terra and Tellus derive from the formulaic phrase tersa tellus, meaning "dry land".^{[citation needed]} If this is true, Tellus might be the more ancient version of the name. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, Terra refers to the element earth (one of the four basic elements of earth, air, water, and fire) and Tellus refers to the guardian deity of Earth and by extension the globe itself.^[1] Actual classical Latin usage does not necessarily appear to respect this distinction.^[2]

A festival for Tellus called the Fordicia or Hordicidia was held every year on April 15; it involved the sacrifice of pregnant cows and was managed by the pontifex maximus and the Vestal Virgins. The Virgins kept the ashes of the fetal calves until they were used for purification at Parilia. Two festivals were held in January to mark the end of the winter sowing season, the Sementivae, celebrated in the city, and the Paganalia, celebrated mostly in rural areas. The first part of the Sementivae was held January 24–26 in honor of Tellus, the second part honored Ceres and was held a week later.

Tellus and Terra in science fiction

Many science fiction authors have used the term Terra to refer to Earth. Authors that have used Tellus include C. S. Lewis in his Space Trilogy, E. E. Smith in his Lensman series, and Robert A. Heinlein in several of the stories in his Future History sequence. The Greek "Gaia" is used by Isaac Asimov in the Foundation Series, but does not refer to Earth.