Jumis
Latvian · deity · Latvian traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Jumis is the Latvian spirit of the fertility of the field, whose name denotes a doubled or twinned ear of grain and whose whole nature is bound up with the idea of pairing and increase. Any stalk found bearing two fused ears is itself a jumis and is treasured as a sign and vessel of abundance. At harvest the reapers perform the rite of 'catching Jumis', bending down or knotting the last standing sheaf so that the spirit of growth does not flee with the cut grain but remains in the earth to quicken the following year's crop. Long a favourite example in the comparative study of European corn-spirits, Jumis embodies the agrarian hope that the doubling power seen in the twinned ear will spread through the whole harvest.
Domains
- crop fertility
- harvest abundance
Powers
- dwells in the doubled ear of grain
- secures the fertility of the coming crop
Epithets
- Jumītis — dear little JumisBarons & Wissendorff, Latvju dainas. (primary)
Sources
- Jumis is the Latvian fertility-spirit of the grain-field, embodied in the double ear of corn and 'caught' in the harvest rites to preserve abundance.: Mannhardt, Wilhelm. Wald- und Feldkulte, vol. 2. Berlin, 1877. (secondary); Barons & Wissendorff, Latvju dainas, harvest songs. (primary)