Zarni An, the Golden Woman
Komi · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Komi/Permian goddess-idol, an individuated figure ('the Golden Woman'), rendered here as deity. English 'Zarni An, the Golden Woman' leads; native Зарни ань (Zarni ań) in term. The chronicle-attested core (a venerated golden idol of the Permians) is weighted high; the modern 'solar mother-goddess' elaboration is weighted low, and there is scholarly debate over whether the Zolotaya Baba was Komi-Permian, Ob-Ugric, or a composite of both. SOLITARY: no individuated kin, spouse or parentage attested in the sources (Holmberg 1927; the chronicle and early-modern idol accounts).
Domains
- cult idol and veneration
- motherhood and fertility
- sun and light
Powers
- draw offerings from all who pass
- grant fertility, protection and renewal of life
Sources
- Zarni Ań, the 'Golden Woman' (Russian Zolotaya Baba), is a female idol/goddess revered by the Permians (Komi), recorded from the Sophian Chronicle (s.a. 1398) and the account of St Stephen of Perm's mission, and described as a venerated statue by Herberstein (1549) and Miechowita (1517).: Uno Holmberg (Harva), Finno-Ugric [and] Siberian Mythology (The Mythology of All Races, Vol. IV, 1927) (secondary); Sophian / Novgorod Chronicles (s.a. 1398), via the Golden Woman tradition (tertiary); Sigismund von Herberstein, Notes on Muscovite Affairs (1549) (tertiary)
- In the later mythological synthesis she is read as a solar, maternal mother-goddess of fertility and protection, depicted with a child and associated with elk and bear, and appears on the coat of arms of the Komi Republic.: Komi mythology, Grokipedia / Mythosphere (tertiary)