Personification of Russia

A cover of *Sentry* [ru] magazine, approx. 1932, depicting Russia as a woman in a traditional costume liberated by a warrior in medieval armor with a shield depicting the National russian, trampling the Communist flag.

The personification of Russia is traditionally feminine and most commonly maternal since medieval times.^[1] Most common terms for national personification of Russia are:

Mother Russia

Russian: Ма́тушка Росси́я, romanized: Matushka Rossiya (dim.); also
Russian: Мать-Росси́я, romanized: Mat'-Rossiya; or
Russian: Ма́тушка Русь, romanized: Matushka Rus', lit. 'Mother Rus''; or
Russian: Росси́я-ма́тушка, romanized: Rossiya-matushka, lit. 'Russia the Mother'

Homeland the Mother

Russian: Ро́дина-мать, romanized: Rodina-mat

In the Russian language, the concept of motherland is rendered by two terms:

"place of birth", (femenine gender, Russian: ро́дина, romanized: rodina)
"fatherland", (masculine gender, Russian: отечество, отчи́зна, romanized: otchizna)

Harald Haarmann and Orlando Figes see the goddess Mokosh a source of the "Mother Russia" concept.^[2]^[3] Mikhail Epstein states that Russia's historical reliance on agriculture supported a mythological view of the earth as a "divine mother", leading in turn to the terminology of "Mother Russia". Epstein also notes the feminine perceptions of the names Rus' and Rossiia, allowing for natural expressions of matushka Rossiia (Mother Russia).^[4]

^ Рябов О. В. (1999). Русская философия женственности (XI—XX века). Иваново. pp. 35–46.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Harald Haarmann, The Soul of Mother Russia: Russian Symbols and Pre-Russian Cultural Identity, ReVision Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine, June 22, 2000 (retrieved May 2, 2016)
^ Figes, Orlando (2002). Natasha's Dance: a cultural history of Russia. New York: Metropolitan Books. p. 321. ISBN 9780805057836. [...] the goddess known as Mokosh, from whom the myth of 'Mother Russia' was conceived.
^ Epstein, Mikhail (1997). Rosenthal, Bernice (ed.). The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. Cornell University Press. p. 332. ISBN 9780801432583.

[1] Рябов О. В. (1999). Русская философия женственности (XI—XX века). Иваново. pp. 35–46.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[2] Harald Haarmann, The Soul of Mother Russia: Russian Symbols and Pre-Russian Cultural Identity, ReVision Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine, June 22, 2000 (retrieved May 2, 2016)

[3] Figes, Orlando (2002). Natasha's Dance: a cultural history of Russia. New York: Metropolitan Books. p. 321. ISBN 9780805057836. [...] the goddess known as Mokosh, from whom the myth of 'Mother Russia' was conceived.

[4] Epstein, Mikhail (1997). Rosenthal, Bernice (ed.). The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. Cornell University Press. p. 332. ISBN 9780801432583.

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