Brown Bear importance in European cultures

[Montezuma]

Some years ago, archelogists would celebrate that they had found a statue of 12 inch in Germany which dates back to prehistory, reveal a lion-man.

www.theartnewspaper.com/2017/11/01/prehistoric-lion-man-points-towards-earliest-notions-of-religion-in-new-british-museum-show




It is even said that this might be the oldest evidence of human shamanism or religious featuring in mankind's history dating back to almost 380,000 b.c.

However, some archeologists down here are going to scrutinize and critisize this false intereption of the figure and would tell us it is rather a bear than a lion.

Here is the Article:

www.world-archaeology.com/features/the-bear-necessities/

This figure has been feted as the earliest representation of a god, and a representation of shamanic beliefs, but how secure are these interpretations? Elle Clifford and Paul Bahn investigate the true identity of the Lion Man.

I wouldn't post all it here. I have skipped the portion where they tell that defect when thinking or composing the figure. I would only show the evidence that its a bear, not lion.

In summer 2019, the BBC broadcast a TV series that looked at three major archaeological discoveries of 1939. The second show concerned the Ice Age figurine from south-west Germany known as the ‘Lion Man’. In the programme, the figure was described as the ‘oldest known representational work of art in human history’ and ‘clearly a shamanistic object [representing] the transformation from the human to the animal’ and possibly ‘the very first representation of a god’.


Löwenmensch – lion or bear?

Does the ‘Lion Man’ figurine look like a lion-man, a lion, a bear or a bear-man? The orthodox, official view of this figurine is that it is a lion head on a human body. But Ice Age images are not photographs – they are stylised artistic depictions – and we argue that the body has a far closer resemblance to a bear than to a human. The ‘Lion Man’ is often described as having the knees and ankles of a human, but bear anatomy is so similar to human that it can be difficult to differentiate their bones.

Why should a human have a lion head? We cannot help but wonder if the original reconstructors of the figurine were influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by the image of Sekhmet, the Ancient Egyptian goddess who has the head of a lioness.

Schmid saw a striking similarity between the Hohlenstein-Stadel figure’s head and a small ivory carving of a lion head from Vogelherd, though she did admit some differences such as the position of the ears. To our eyes, the Vogelherd head looks nothing like the Hohlenstein-Stadel example, and nor do further stone lion-heads from Kostenki. In fact, no certain Ice Age depictions of big cats bear any real resemblance to the Hohlenstein- Stadel figure – most of them appear incredibly different. Moreover, in the most recent reconstruction, the snout was completed, and proved to be broader and more pronounced – in our view, making it even more bear-like. In fact, it now reminds us somewhat of the head of Baloo the bear in the Disney cartoon of The Jungle Book.





The ‘Adorant’, and Ice Age ivory from Geissenklösterle, which shows a figure with raised arms and either a generous phallus or an animal tail. (Photo: Don Hitchcock, donmaps.com)


The most characteristic features of a lion, other than its mane (which either Ice Age cave lions did not have, or Ice Age artists never depicted) are its whiskers, its teeth, and its tail. The ‘Lion Man’ has no whiskers (unlike the lion engraving from La Vache and some paintings in Chauvet, which have whisker pads – vibrissal follicles – clearly depicted); and even though the figure is said to be ‘smiling’, there are no fangs showing. Furthermore, it has no tail – unless its tail is in the several hundred remaining bits of ivory still looking for a home on the figure. Of course, the body is claimed to be human and so may not have needed a tail, but it is instructive to consider the ‘Adorant’ – an ivory bas-relief from Geissenklösterle – which has recently been reinterpreted by Nicholas Conard as another ‘lion man’.

This bas-relief is so damaged that its subject is impossible to identify with any confidence. Hahn – the man who launched the ‘Lion Man’ on the world – saw the heavily weathered Geissenklösterle relief as a human figure. He was uncertain whether it had a long phallus or an animal tail. And virtually every other account agreed with him, seeing it as a human signalling, or dancing, or as a ‘worshipper’. Whatever the subject is, its raised arms and possible tail make it completely different from the Hohlenstein-Stadel figure.





A standing brown bear. Is this what the creator of the ‘Lion Man’ had in mind? (Photo: Volodymyr Byrdyak / Dreamstime)


Lions don’t stand up. So why would a lion be depicted standing up? Bears, however, often stand up. Ice Age humans were certainly very familiar with bear anatomy and bear behaviour, so we think it infinitely more plausible that the 31cm figure represents a standing bear. A third figurine that Conard has called a ‘lion man’, a tiny (only 2.5cm high) and incomplete figure from Hohle Fels, is so vague that it could easily be a standing bear rather than a therianthrope (part animal, part human).

There are several persuasive arguments that suggest a connection between bears and humans, and make it more likely that the ‘Lion Man’ figure is that of a bear. Bears are more like humans than any other species, particularly in their skeleton and their footprints. Bears are adept swimmers, climbers, and runners. The gestation period for bears is 6-9 months, and they breastfeed their young in much the same way as human mothers. They have a wide variety of dietary preferences, although cave bears are thought to have been omnivorous, like humans. Bears used shelters and caves to sleep, to give birth, and to hibernate. Bears sleeping for long periods and then waking must surely have intrigued ancient humans. Palaeolithic people removed the skins, claws, and teeth of bears, and the latter were worn as pendants, and possibly prized in some way.

In short, we argue that bears must have been of huge significance to Palaeolithic people because of their anatomy, their habits, and their behaviour. It is therefore far more likely, in our eyes, that the figurine depicts a standing bear.

[Gorilla king]

October 2023

In the company of bears: The role and significance of the bear from the perspective of the Holocene hunter-gatherer-fishers of the East European Plain forest zone (10th-3rd millennium BC)


Abstract and Figures

The bear was the constant neighbour of prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fishers of the East European Plain forest zone (10th-3rd millennium BC) and also a part of their hunting prey. Nevertheless, scholars usually emphasise its special spiritual role, as it was quite different from the roles of other species of the boreal forest animal realm for both ethnographically-known Siberian indigenes and Holocene hunters. Here, we have made an attempt to put together and analyse all groups of the material culture sources which can give us some hints about the status, significance and symbolic meaning of the brown bear in the Holocene East European Plain forest zone - portable art, rock art, and osseous bear remains in settlement and burial contexts. These data show the significant presence of bear bones in kitchen waste and among bone tools, the sporadic presence of bear images in petroglyphs and cemetery materials, and the complete absence of them in Mesolithic/Neolithic portable art up until the start of the Final Stone/Bronze Age, around 3000 cal BC, when its presence increases.




Carved bear images in portable art. 1; 3::UsvyatyyIV, Pskov region; 2::Sārnate, Latvia; 4::AboraaI, Latvia; 5::ImerkaaI, Republic of Mordovia; 6::Chornaya Gora, Ryazan region; 7::TamulaaI, Estonia (photos E. A. Kashina [1-4; 7], A. Korolev [5], A. Macāne [6]). Objects 1 and 3 © The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (Russia).




www.researchgate.net/publication/374419759_In_the_company_of_bears_The_role_and_significance_of_the_bear_from_the_perspective_of_the_Holocene_hunter-gatherer-fishers_of_the_East_European_Plain_forest_zone_10th-3rd_millennium_BC

[Montezuma]

/\ Thats a very great search there bro. In prehistoric fauna, it is not evident that primitive man revered them as god or demi-god with the sole exception of Cave bear; and day by day, evidence by evidence, it becomes more and more confirmed. 

Anyways, here is some new info about bear in slavic culture (East european amd russian):

"In Slavic mythology, the Greater Bear god Velez (Eastern Europe) is the guardian god for livestock, property, and commerce, and a symbol of gold and wealth. Velez is associated with agriculture worship, regarded as the god of the whole people, and sometimes linked to with the worship of bears. It is also known as "Volos", the Greater Bear god Velez (Eastern Europe)."





books.google.ru/books?id=Xr_2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150&dq=bear+in+han+culture&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=2&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjizJLA2P2AAxVCh_0HHfJZBbMQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20in%20han%20culture&f=false

[Montezuma]

Here is a ceremony of romans held by people in traditional dresses. Note over the that one of the most important leader in the front is wearing a "Bear skin".

[Montezuma]

Bear-skins were used by elite Romans.



books.google.com.pk/books?id=Sw-AMSX9w0EC&pg=PA363&dq=bear+lion+fight+roman&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1nd6uvIWEAxURcvEDHVr9C8EQ6AF6BAgNEAM

[Gorilla king]

The bear, Indo European SymbolTotem


Abstract

Since the dawn of humanity, the bear has accompanied man, whether he was an object of his adoration in the caves where he lived, or inspired powerful gods. Starting with Greek mythology, the bear acquires a strong astral imprint, becoming constellations, still called today Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. In most Indo-European peoples, the bear was a powerful symbol/totem related mainly to gods, but also to nature, less to the social. However, there is no lack of social valences of this animal, placed at the top of the food chain, symbolizing rather the spiritual valences of the social leader, which was related to his religious duties. Many Romanian scholars and not only consider the bear as a symbol animal for numerous reformers and important gods from all archaic beliefs and religions of mankind, not just the Indo-European ones. We stopped our analysis on the symbolism of the bear in the civilizations created by Indo-Europeans, because within them we also find most representations, of course also due to the geography and climate where these civilizations flourished. Keywords: bear, archaic beliefs, mythology, mental impact, astral.


www.researchgate.net/publication/377808399_The_bear_Indo_European_SymbolTotem

[Montezuma]

Feb 2, 2024 9:09:56 GMT -5 Gorilla king said:

The bear, Indo European SymbolTotem


Abstract

Since the dawn of humanity, the bear has accompanied man, whether he was an object of his adoration in the caves where he lived, or inspired powerful gods. Starting with Greek mythology, the bear acquires a strong astral imprint, becoming constellations, still called today Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. In most Indo-European peoples, the bear was a powerful symbol/totem related mainly to gods, but also to nature, less to the social. However, there is no lack of social valences of this animal, placed at the top of the food chain, symbolizing rather the spiritual valences of the social leader, which was related to his religious duties. Many Romanian scholars and not only consider the bear as a symbol animal for numerous reformers and important gods from all archaic beliefs and religions of mankind, not just the Indo-European ones. We stopped our analysis on the symbolism of the bear in the civilizations created by Indo-Europeans, because within them we also find most representations, of course also due to the geography and climate where these civilizations flourished. Keywords: bear, archaic beliefs, mythology, mental impact, astral.


www.researchgate.net/publication/377808399_The_bear_Indo_European_SymbolTotem

Very nice post bro. Very exact and good. Indo-European people in other words are the 'Aryans' which include all the branches of Slavs (Russians,Poles, East Europeans), Teutons (Germans, Australians, Swiss, English), Celts (Irish, Scottish, French, Spanish), Latins, Greeks and Asia's southern Aryans mainly all Europe.

However I don't agree with his saying, "the symbolism of the bear in the civilizations created by Indo-Europeans, because within them we also find most representations"; since bear representation is not 'only' the most found in Indo-european, as, for example, the bear's importance is native American, Siberia and far eastern culture is more profound than in Mediterranean cultures. Anyways, good info.

[arctozilla]

In Rome bears were very valuable.

[Montezuma]

"Outside the Han Chinese culture, people have found many prehistoric antiques in the shapes of bears, frogs and owls on the Eurasia continent. Dr. Gimbutas included a bear-shaped lamp from the former Yogoslavia over 6,000 years ago in her book, The Language of the Goddess (see Fig. 4.22). The bear body represents energy. People at that time lit the oil lamp, hoping the light could last longer and the energy could be perpetual supply. The bear has a lot of fat in its body. Especially before it goes into hibernation, it seeks food all over the mountain to store energy. So the bear represents energy and is most suitable as the symbol of the lamp. The bear sculpture of the Vinˇca culture is a two-footed bear like a standing person (see Fig. 4.23), not a four-footed animal. It belongs to the former Yugoslavia culture."



A bear-shaped lamp of the Vinˇca culture



A bear sculpture of the Vinˇca culture

books.google.com.pk/books?id=fSbsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55&dq=bear%20totem%20in%20chu&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8zoPfnqeGAxXjRPEDHWbrBn4Q6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20totem%20in%20chu&f=false 

Page 95-96.

[Montezuma]

Neolithic sites from Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia has found abound evidence of bear cult.

[Montezuma]

Book: The Religion of ancient Celts

"If the earlier form of his name was Artor, " a ploughman," but perhaps with a wider significance, and having an equivalent in Artaius, a Gaulish god equated with Mercury,1 he may have been a god of agriculture who became a wargod".

"Others derive the name from arto-s, "bear." MacBain, 357."



"An old bear cult gave place to the cult of a bear goddess and probably of a god. At Berne —an old Celtic place-name meaning "bear"—was found a bronze group of a goddess holding a patera with fruit, and a bear approaching her as if to be fed. The inscription runs, Deae Artioni Licinia Sabinitta* A local bear-cult had once existed at Berne, and is still recalled in the presence of the famous bears there, but the divine bear had given place to a goddess whose name and symbol were ursine. From an old Celtic Artos, fern. Arta, "bear," were derived various divine names. Of these DeaArtio{n) means " bear goddess," and Artaios, equated with Mercury, is perhaps a bear god."^ Another bear goddess, Andarta, was honoured at Die (Drome), the word perhaps meaning " strong bear " And- being an augmentive. Numerous place-names derived from Artos perhaps witness to a widespread cult of the bear, and the word also occurs in Welsh, and Irish personal names—Arthmael, Arthbiu, and possibly Arthur, and the numerous Arts of Irish texts. Descent from the divine bear is also signified in names like Welsh Arthgen, Irish Artigan, from Artigenos, " son of the bear." Another Celtic name for " bear " was the Gaulish matu, Irish math, found in Matugenos, " son of the bear," and in MacMahon, which is a corrupt form of Mac-math-ghamhain, " son of the bear's son," or " of the bear." 





www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://archive.org/details/religionofancien00macc&ved=2ahUKEwjvpo_8o8iIAxUxB9sEHeFAB7cQFnoECCoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw24xXypcMnl9y3AjA_ZV4ey

[Montezuma]

"In Wales bands of warriors at the battle of Cattraeth are described in Oneurin's Gododin as dogs, wolves, bears, and ravens".



"In many individual names the first part is the name of an animal or plant, the second is usually genos, " born from," or " son of," e.g. Artigenos, Matugenos, " son of the bear " (artos, Urogenos, occurring as Urogenertos, " he who has the matu-) ; strength of the son of the urus " ; Brannogenos, " son of the raven " ; Cunogenos, " son of the dog." 



"They show descent from deities —Camulogenus (son of Camulos), Esugenos (son of Esus), Boduogenus (son of Bodva) ; or from tree—Dergen (son of the oak), Vernogenus (son of the spirits alder); or from divine animals —Arthgen (son of the bear), Urogenus (son of the urus).



www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://archive.org/details/religionofancien00macc&ved=2ahUKEwjvpo_8o8iIAxUxB9sEHeFAB7cQFnoECCoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw24xXypcMnl9y3AjA_ZV4ey

[Montezuma]

Some new artefacts from the Vinca. It's the same thing but posting for the sake of more information and details from other sources.

"Clay sculptures of women with bird, pig and bear masks are found throughout the Vinča culture (in Serbia and areas of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania) from the first half of the 5th millennium BC. Examples include numerous statuettes including a bird masked mother with bird-masked baby from the Vinča site near Belgrade, female figurines with torsos engraved with labyrinthine designs wearing owl masks with wing-like arms (such as from Gradešnica, northwest Bulgaria), pig-masked figurines from western Romania, a clay sculpture of a seated woman with a bear mask holding a bear baby, among countless others (see Gimbutas 1982:62, 120, 126, 139, 140, 143, 194, 1989:35, 117, 300).

In Southeastern Europe, elements of a formerly prominent role of the bear as a mythical animal, dating to Palaeolithic times, are preserved in Neolithic iconography. In the cultural horizon of the Danube civilization (Old Europe, respectively), the bear is directly associated with female imagery. In the synoptic overview of functions and images of the goddess elaborated by Gimbutas (1989: 328 f.), the mythical bear appears in different guises: as a bear woman (Figure 14) and as a bear mother (Figure 15), protectress of young life (Gimbutas 1989: 116 f.). Since the archaic Greek period, the bear has been associated with Artemis in her role as the patron of nature and the mistress of wild animals, especially in her sanctuary at Brauron in Attica (Haarmann 1996: 114). At certain remote places in Greece, the mother bear is still worshipped in festivals. At the cave of Akrotiri near the ancient Kydonia, western Crete, for instance, the festival of Panagia Arkoudiotissa, “Virgin Mary of the Bear,” is celebrated on February 2nd. The city of Berne, Switzerland, once a Celtic ritual center, is identified with the Bear Goddess, Dea Artio, venerated by the Helvetians, a Celtic population in the western Alps (Gimbutas 1989: 116)."




"In European folk memories, the bear is an ancestress, a divine birth-giving mother and protectress. The practice of a grandmother placing a newborn baby on a bearskin, described in the 3rd century AD by Porphyry, was continued in Slavic lands into the 20th century. The Bulgarians held ritual feasts for “Grandmother Bear” as did the Belorussians, who associated the bear with healing powers, fecundity and prosperity. Linguistic evidence connects the bear with the ability to give birth, as in the Old European root bher-, Germanic *beran ‘to bear children’, ‘to carry’, Germanic *barnam, ‘child’, and Old Norse burdh, ‘birth’. In eastern Lithuania, a woman who has just given birth was traditionally called Meška ‘Bear’. When the new mother approached the sauna for a ritual bath some weeks following the birth, the women preparing the ritual would call out, “The Bear is coming, the Bear is coming,” suggesting a remnant of an archaic ritual formula (Gimbutas 1989: 116)."







www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.archaeomythology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2007-vol3-a7-marler-haarmann.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiTpLLow8iIAxUPSPEDHTVvBxAQFnoECBoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0DSaZkgogKfJIE_0xTabTg

[Montezuma]

"Some deities from British Isles and Celtic Gaul are either bear-like or always portrayed alongside bears, indicating the animal's perceived divine status. In the early Finnish religion, it was though that the bear directly came from the stars, and once died, it would be reborn."



books.google.com.pk/books?id=8Jc-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA52&dq=bear+symbol+in+china&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi394uq0o6IAxVyVfEDHTvcKN04FBDoAXoECAUQAw#v=onepage&q=bear%20symbol%20in%20china&f=false

[Montezuma]

Book: Animals in Celtic Life and Myth


"Bears must have been hunted for their thick pelts, but almost the only archaeological evidence consists of the late Iron Age chieftain buried at Welwyn in Hertfordshire, who lay on a bearskin."



"Bears are very rare in the archaeological record. Bear teeth come from the cemetery of Mont-Troté in the Ardennes, where they were used as necklace-beads.10 Interestingly, a Romano-Celtic bear-goddess, Artio, is known from Muri near Berne in Switzerland (figure 8.13),11 on a bronze group where a goddess is accompanied by a large bear."


"Sometimes a wild and presumably hunted species – the bear for instance – will appear only in sepulchral or sacred contexts and never on a settlement site."



books.google.com.pk/books/about/Animals_in_Celtic_Life_and_Myth.html?id=5Nnkuxut9ecC&redir_esc=y#:~:text=Animals%20in%20Celtic%20Life%20and%20Myth%20examines%20the%20intimate%20relationship,to%20all%20aspects%20of%20life.

[Montezuma]

"We have seen (pp. 44–5) that occasionally the teeth of bear and wolf were used as ornaments and it is possible that such creatures were hunted specifically to provide decoration for the dead"



"Deer, bear, fox and hare are among the wild animals which were occasionally sacrificed and their bodies used for ritual purposes. The creatures of the wild were rarely eaten (see chapter 3). Two teeth of a young bear were buried in the Celtic cemetery of Mont Troté: the youth of the creature reflects the general preference at the site.149 A young hare was buried entire, together with a young dog, in the tomb of a man, perhaps a hunter, at Tartigny.150 The great ritual enclosure at Aulnay-aux-Planches (Marne) may have been used from the tenth to the sixth centuries BC. Here were sacrificed a dog, a fox and a young bear."



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[Montezuma]

POWER AND VIRILITY: BEARS, BOARS AND BULLS

All these creatures were revered and admired for their qualities of strength, dominance and unfettered potency. All three were represented in imagery, either alone or in association with a deity.

Bears

"Bears were least commonly represented: a group of little jet amulets in the form of bears comes from northern Britain and dates to the RomanoCeltic period. An example at York accompanies a burial of the fourth century AD; another was buried with the body of a child at Malton (Yorks.), but it is too small to have been a toy; a third was found at Bootle (Lancs.).69 There is evidence that particular divinities were occasionally perceived as having a close affinity with bears. Of these, the most important was the goddess Artio (figure 8.13), whose name means ‘Bear’, just as Epona’s name refers directly to her equine associate."


"The name indicates that the identities of goddess and bear are so close that they are almost one. Artio, whom we met briefly in the earlier discussion on hunting (chapter 3), was venerated in Switzerland: here a devotee commissioned a bronze group consisting of an image of the goddess and her bear, below which is a dedication to her. Artio sits with her attributes of fruit, and facing her is a large bear who leans forward as if either to threaten the goddess or to take the fruit. Behind the bear is a tree, perhaps representative of the wild forest he inhabits.70 Artio was the patron of bears, but she may also have protected the hunters or wayfarers who might encounter bears in the wood and be in danger from them. She was venerated outside Switzerland: among the Treveri of the Moselle, she was worshipped in the remote Bollendorf Valley, her name inscribed on the rocky sides of the defile.71 Artio may have had an ambivalent role, both as guardian of bears and as protector of humans against them. The goddess was perhaps perceived, not as a personified bear herself, but as a mediator between human and animal, a means whereby fear could be overcome and the bearhunt be successful. But she would also ensure that the species survived and that each bear taken would be replaced. Interestingly, the divine patron of bears was not necessarily female: Mercury Artaios was venerated at Beaucroissant (Isère)."

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[Montezuma]

"Gallic, Artaio/Artaiona/Artio, "bear"; Welsh, Arth Vawr < Maros Artos, "the big bear"; Breton, Karr Arzhur < Carros Aretorii and Welsh, Cerbyd Arthur < Carbantos Aretorii or Artouiri, "Arthur's chariot"; Gaelic, Camchéachta < Cambon cexton, the "crooked plough."

Although the agrarian theme of the plough is of Indo-European origin, the Bear harks back to the Stone Age. Not only do we find the stellar bear theme with the Basques, Pelagian Greeks and Caucasians of Europe, but also with the Algonquians of North America. It would therefore be sage to conclude that this astral motif originated within the prehistoric shamanic culture of northern Eurasia. We can also assume that it was maintained as an archaic motif by the Indo-Europeans. The Celts knew it as Andarta while the Greeks knew it as Callisto or Artemis. In this case bear symbology is linked to the birthing process, pregnancy and wedding of young women. The Greeks maintained that the she-bear and her son Arcas resided in the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. And Matus or Artos were the two common names for bear in Old Celtic. There is no doubt that Artio was some sort of Celtic Artemis.

Arta was the she-bear, and Artulla was the bear-cub. All of these names reminisce of King Arthur, a medieval version of the older prototype Artaios. Artaios was an alias of the god Lugus, and his female counterpart was Artaio, the Gaulish Bear goddess. The many other forms of the name were: Arduina, Andarta, Andrasta, and all attest to the popularity of the goddess. She was mostly celebrated as a war goddess from whom heroes and warriors sought protection. This Andarta was seen as the star mother known as the Great Bear or Big Dipper. Her cub, the Little Bear or Little Dipper was called Artulla. Then again, the stars bellow the Big Dipper were called Eburos, meaning, "boar," or the "yew." The M 97 nebula was called the "Owl" by the Anglo-Irish astronomer Lord Rosse in 1848. Was not the fairy Blodeuwedd of the Welsh myths changed into an Owl? Interestingly, Gwyddyon, son of the goddess Dôn (Cassiopea) and the nephew of Math (Bear), was said to have changed Blodeuwedd (knower of blossoms) into a Night Owl (Minerva). Lord Rosse (William Parsons 1800-1867) probably knew more than expected!

The Bear cult is well attested since the early Magdalenian pre-Basque culture in the Pyrenean Mountains of Spain and France. We may also presume that the pre-Celtic highlanders of many areas of Gaul continued to practice the bear cult long after. The Breton saint, Saint-Ursula (from ursua, "bear" in Latin) was the Christianised form of Artio. According to legend, she was kept secluded underground. This of course in ref- erence to the bear's den. It is a known fact that when the bears emerge from their retreats, that they crave for honey and berries. Berry pickers would often encounter hungry bears and often have to pray to the goddess for their safe return."


"Also, wine urns, kegs and barrels of mead and berry-wine were kept in underground cellars for the maturing process. This special wine was most likely used during sacred rituals com- memorating Artaios/Lugus at the Lugi Naissatis celebrations or during victory celebrations to the goddess Artio. It seems that Artaios was another star altogether, possibly Arcturus in Boots since it was known by the ancients as "the Bear Watcher" (Arktouros), a giant fixed star of the first magnitude.

In the Pyrenean mountains a stele bearing the inscription; LEXIIA ODANNII ARTEHE VSLM, for Lexiia (daughter) of Odan to Artaha (Artaio) accomplishing will- ingly a vow, was discovered in the small town of Saint-Pé, not far to the west of Lourdes in France. 20 Few scholars will maintain as Jean Markale, that the etymology of the god- dess Arduina or the Hills of Ardennes stem from Arta (she-bear). A better etymology for Arduinna or Arduinna, as Mr. Monard claims, could be, "steeped, sloped," for a mountain goddess."



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[Montezuma]

"The brown bear and the European bison were examined as important species of sacred mammal. The presence of these species was followed through Romanian popular traditions and iconography in order to obtain an image of the past and present sacredness of these species. The study was located in Vanatori Neamt Nature Park, a protected area situated north-east of the Romanian Carpathians, which is a well-known sacred place because of the number and importance of the monasteries and hermitages found there. During the last years of the project, visits and interviews were conducted with elders and practitioners of traditions involving sacred animals."



"The brown bear, as a sacred animal, was adored from immemorial times. The main deity of the Geto-Dacians was Zamolxe, with zelmo meaning skin and olxis meaning bear. After his birth, he was blanketed in a bearskin, and he spent a part of his life living for long periods in an underground cave, only appearing and teaching the people occasionally. At that time, the brown bear was related to courage, power, death and resurrection. In the popular calendar, which mixes phenology with pagan and Christian events, the brown bear is well represented: 24 March is the Saturday of bear’, 31 July, 1, 2 and 13 August are the ‘Days of Bear’. The most important period for the bear is 1-3 February, which is called ‘Sretenie’ or ‘Winter Martins’, during which, out of respect, different names are used for the bear, such as ‘Martin the crone’ and ‘the elder’. Offerings consisting of meat and honey are left in the forest, near a track used by bears, on 2 February, which is called ‘The big Martin’ (www.muzeulastra.ro). During the winter feasts, masks are used in order to avoid the malefic spirits in the 12-day period between the old and New Year, in accordance with pagan heritage. As a sign of respect, the bear mask is the only one without coloured strings, hand bells or stained glass. The play of the bear mask, which is very spectacular in the Moldavia region, suggests the death and resurrection of nature, also demonstrating vitality, finesse and force (Gorovei, 1995). Some popular, still present, beliefs say that the bear was a man punished by God to become half beast, but still having human appendages. Many beliefs surround the function of the bear: for example, its presence alone dissipates the belial (evil spirit), a fumigation of hair of bear heals fear, and a heavy bear foot is a solution for backaches. The bear is currently abundant in Romanian forested areas, its numbers there the most important contribution, two-thirds of the total, to the European brown bear population."






Page 380 - 383.

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[Montezuma]

"The cult of the bear was (and still is) 213 found in a wide range of lands, 214 from the northern Scandinavian Saami (Lapp) to the Northeast Asian Ainu, 215 the Inuit, and some North American Indians. In all of the modern circumpolar region, we can find a great similarity of ideas related to the bear, for example, that the bear sucks his paws during hibernation. 216 The bear walks upright, like humans, and is therefore compared with them; various peoples have concepts of shape-shifting. The bear therefore has many nicknames or is referred to by euphemisms due to taboo, such as the Indo-European "the brown one" (Engl. bear, Dutch bruin, German Meister Braun) or "the honey-licker" (Sanskrit madhulih, cf. Russian medved').

Secretive language is used in its hunt, a practice common for much of Eurasia. 217 When offered, he is killed with archaic instruments, a feature often found in rituals of any kind. Eurasian bear sacrificers are very apologetic about such killing, saying that it was not them but others or that it was the bear's own fault (as in the Finnish epic Kalevala). 218 Then, the offered bear is praised (as in North America), including the statement, "You were the first to die,"219 which is clearly reminiscent of the ancient Pangu/Puruşa myth ($3.1.4), later on reflected by the epithets of the first mortal god, Yama, in Vedic India. As mentioned, the Ainu send him back (iyomante) to his divine ancestors. After the sacrifice, a sacrificial meal is held that is first restricted to men and then shared by all in an "eat all" orgy, a sort of sacred communion similar to the Christian one, with the consumption of the divine messenger's blood and flesh.

As further examples, we may compare the modern Gilyak and,221 especially, the well-attested bear sacrifice of the Ainu, the iyomante festival, 222 as well as bear hunting (kebokai by the matagi hunters). This is performed by the Japanese- speaking but Ainu-related population of northern Honshu in Tsugaru Prefecture. 223 The rituals have many reminiscences with other old Eurasian types of rituals that will be indicated here in passing


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