The Golden Woman today appears only in myths and legends. Presumably, it was she who was the main idol, which was worshiped in antiquity by the peoples of North-Eastern Europe and North-Western Siberia.
Myths about the golden idol
The earliest mention of the golden idol is found in the 13th century in the Scandinavian "Saga of Olav the Holy", which is part of Snorri Sturluson's "Circle of the Earth" collection. The saga tells that around 1023 the Norse Vikings, led by the famous Thorir-Dog, set out on a campaign to Biarmia (Bjarmaland) - this was the name of the legendary state, which stretched in the 9th-12th centuries in the region of the Northern Dvina, Vychegda and the upper Kama. In Russia it was called Great Perm. They managed to secretly penetrate the Byarm sanctuary - Yomali, guarded by six shamans. There they saw many treasures and a large gilded statue. On the neck of the idol was a precious chain, on the head was a golden crown, decorated with twelve different images. On my knees lay a bowl filled with silver coins mixed with earth. The Vikings took with them so much money and treasures,how much they could carry. Finally, one of them, Carly, chopped off the head of the idol, enticed by the chain. But on the way back, the Vikings were met by the keepers of the sanctuary, and they had to flee, throwing away all the loot.
We also find information about the cult of worshiping the Golden Woman in the Sofia Chronicle for 1398 in connection with the death of Bishop Stephen of Perm. It says that Stephen sowed the faith of Christ on those lands where animals, trees, water, fire and … the Golden Woman were previously worshiped.
In the 15th century, the Novgorodians-ushkuiniks, having visited the Ural lands with goods, brought news about "people unknown in the Eastern country, small growth, eating each other and praying to the golden idol."
A lot of legends about the Golden Woman are circulating among the Komi, Khanty and Mansi. So, the Mansi reindeer herders tell such a legend. The golden woman was alive and could walk on her own. When she was crossing the Stone Belt, as the Ural Mountains were called in the old days, the local shaman tried to detain her, as she considered herself the local mistress. Then the idol cried out in a terrible voice, and from his screams all living things died for many miles. The impudent shaman fell on her back and turned to stone.
The Yakut epic describes a copper statue standing in the middle of impenetrable swamps. When enemies approached, she allegedly began to emit a sound resembling the chirping of many crickets, and also emitted a blue glow into the sky.
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The Nenets have a myth that once a year, when the Great Sun appears in the sky, a Sun Baba rises from under the frozen ground, carrying a baby in her womb.
The cult of the "golden goddess" among the Slavs
It seems that the Golden Woman was worshiped in Ancient Russia as well. In the pagan legends of the Slavs, the Temple of the Golden Baba is mentioned, located "in the Obdorskaya country, at the mouth of the Obigo river" (probably, the Ob river is meant). She was considered the patroness of pregnant women and midwives. They sacrificed gold, silver and furs to her. Even strangers came to worship the idol. Researchers of ancient Slavs believe that the Golden Woman was the main one among the Rozhanits - the goddesses responsible for human destiny.
According to most researchers, it was about the Mansi goddess Sorni-ekwa, whose name means "Golden Woman" in translation. Prince N. S. Trubetskoy, who was engaged in ethnography, believed that this was Kaltash-Ekva, the wife of the supreme Khanty-Mansi god Numi-Tarum, who patronizes all living things and determines the fate of every person.
Where to find the Golden Woman?
It is assumed that with the advent of Christianity, the pagans began to hide the statue so that it would not be destroyed. Quite detailed information about this can be found in the books about Russia by European travelers of the 16th century. True, information about the location of the Golden Baba sanctuary is rather contradictory. For example, M. Mekhovsky in his "Composition about two Sarmatias" (1517) writes that the idol is located behind Vyatka "when penetrating into Scythia." But S. Herberstein in 1549, A. Gvagnini in 1578 and D. Fletcher in 1591 indicate that it is hidden near the mouth of the Ob.
In his notes, made during a trip to Russia, the Roman envoy Sigismund Herberstein reports: “They say, or, to put it more correctly, they fable that the idol of the Golden Old Woman is a statue in the form of an old woman holding her son on her lap, and there is already another child, about whom they say that this is her grandson. Moreover, as if she had put some instruments there that emit a constant sound, like pipes. If this is so, then I believe that it comes from the strong and constant wind blowing on these instruments."
On one of the maps of the medieval cartographer G. Mercator, published in 1595, near the mouth of the Ob River, there is a statue with a child in her arms and the signature "Golden woman" (Slata baba).
In the Uvat Museum of Local Lore "Legends of the Gray Irtysh", located in the Tyumen region, you can see an exposition dedicated to the Golden Woman. The exhibits include the Kungur Chronicle, according to which 400 years ago the idol was located in the Demyansk town on the territory of the Uvat region, but after the capture of the town by the Yermakov Cossacks, headed by the ataman Bryazga, the statue mysteriously disappeared. In the center of the museum hall there is a reconstruction of the altar with a gilded figure of the goddess, reproduced from the drawings of the chronicler S. U. Remezov.
In 1961, the statue was allegedly found in the vicinity of the village of Yuilsk in the upper reaches of the Kazym River, about 270 kilometers north of Khanty-Mansiysk. But it turned out not to be gold, but wooden, covered with silver on top. Therefore, there were rumors about the substitution. However, everyone who dealt with the idol died one by one. Although it is clear that the information is completely unverified … In addition, the "Juil Idol" soon disappeared.
Where the mysterious Golden Woman is now, if she really exists, is unknown. Maybe the idol is hidden in one of the hidden Ural caves waiting in the wings …
Irina Shlionskaya