The Micro-Managing World of Ancient Garden Gods

                                                                   

     

St. Francis, my mother's patron saint, always had a vantage spot to watch over our garden.

       The Incas kept it pretty simple, with just one garden deity to worship… Pachamama, who presides over planting and harvesting.  The Japanese had Konohanasakuya-hime, who watched over all earthly life.  Mayan god Yum Caax, covered agriculture, wild plants and animals…one go to guy for the farmer…very practical.  Some of the other cultures start to specialize a little more…Aztec God Xochipilli, took care of art, flowers, maize and song, I guess no one else wanted song.    Luckily, he was able to partner on flowers with his sister Xochiquetzal, goddess of vegetation, flowers and crafts of women.

      The Celts started to complicate things… Abnoba, took care of forests and rivers, except for the Ardennes forest, that was handled by Arduinna.  Cernunnos, well known as the horned god…handled produce and horned male animals on the side.   Druantia, trees…Nantosuelta, nature, the earth, fire, and fertility and Sucellus, god of agriculture, forests and alcoholic drinks…the last one sounds like a sweet seniority bonus thing. 

       

     The Romans had some major cross over issues…Ceres, goddess of growing plants …Faunus, horned god of the forest, plains and fields…Flora, goddess of flowers and the spring…Fufluns, god of plant life, happiness and health and growth in all things…Nemestrinus, god of the forests and woods…Ops, goddess of fertility and the earth…Pomona, goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchard and Silvanus, woods and fields and protector of forests… all managed by Terra, primeval goddess of the earth.

     

     The Greeks were a micro-managing nightmare…Antheia, goddess of flowers and flowery wreaths …Artemis, goddess of wild animals, wilderness…Chloris, goddess of flowers and the spring…Cybele, goddess of the fertile earth, nature and wild animals…Demeter, goddess of the harvest, earth fertility, grains and the seasons.  She was a biggie.  Dionysus, god of wine, vegetation, pleasure and festivity, he obviously had the same agent as Sucellus…Epimeliades, protectors of apple trees and sheep flocks…?...Hamadryades, a committee of eight sisters each responsible for a specific kind of tree… Hegemone, goddess of plants, specifically in charge of them blooming and bearing fruit…Meliae, honey …Pan, god of shepherds, flocks, mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music.  I guess that means acoustical.   

     All of this was supervised by Gaia, goddess of earth.   I don’t know, maybe it was just cross training and everyone got along beautifully.  The manager in me sees a lot of redundancy and places where important projects could get lost in the cracks due to assuming someone else had it covered.