My Mother Is... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Eingana

To Australian Aboriginal people, Eingana or Mother Eingana is the creator of all things. Taking the form of a huge snake the goddess contained all of creation within her body but, having no reproductive organs, suffered in great pain until she was speared near her anus by the god Barraiya allowing all living things inside her to escape.

This is how the aboriginals explain why the birth canal and the anus are so close together. Eingana still lives in the Dreamtime, only making an appearance when the creation of new life becomes necessary. Mother Eingana is also the aboriginal death mother attached to every living thing by a single thread and should this thread break that living thing will die. Should Mother Eingana die herself then all things in creation will come to an end in that instant.

Answer: Pachamama

Pronounced 'Pawch-mama' and also known as Mama Pacha, she was the wife of the supreme sun god Inti and was the Incan goddess of planting, harvesting and fertility. Taking the form of a dragoness, Pachamama is still revered by Andean cultures today with the deity being worshipped in Peru, Bolivia and Chile; her followers make offerings of coca leaves, beer, gold and the lungs of a sacrificed llama. Today, it is also believed that the beautifully preserved mummies found high in the Andes were sacrificial offerings made to Pachamama.

Answer: Gaea

The earth goddess Gaea sprang originally from the void known as Chaos and after forming the union with Uranus, she gave birth to the twelve gods known as the Titans; Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Thea, Coeus, Phoebe, Creius, Eurybia, Iapetus, Clymene, Rhea and Cronus. Gaea also produced three Cyclopes and the three one-hundred-handed Hecatoncheires. Gaea was the oldest of all beings in the Greek pantheon and, through her further unions with Pontus (the Sea), Aether (the Air) and Tartarus (the deepest part of the Underworld), was the one from which all the other gods and heroes had their origin.

Answer: Nerthus

Revered by a number of Germanic tribes including the Anglii, Reudigni, Aviones and Varini, the earth mother goddess Nerthus was believed to move amongst the people in a chariot drawn by cows. During these periods all items made from metal would be locked away to prevent humans from engaging in warfare and during these periods great festivities would take place. Once the priests had declared that Nerthus had become tired with the society of humans she would return to her remote and secret island where she and her chariot would be cleaned by slaves who were then immediately put to death by drowning; it was not permitted that the slaves would return and describe to humans what they had seen on the island inhabited by Nerthus.

Answer: Danu

Danu is one of the oldest of the Celtic pantheon and for this reason many of the stories and myths about her have been lost over time. The name Danu means 'wisdom' or 'teacher' and the earliest existing records from around 1000CE appear in the collection of writings known as the Lebor Gabįla Érenn, a narrative history of Ireland from the time of the creation of the world until the early middle ages. Danu, also known as Dan, Anu and Annan amongst other Celtic cultures is the goddess of fertility and of agriculture.

She is also believed to be a water deity as many of Europe's major rivers such as the Danube, Dneiper and Don take their names from her. Symbols associated with Danu include horses, seagulls, amber and the moon.

Answer: Durga

Mother of the universe and the power behind creation, destruction and preservation, the goddess Durga appears in many Hindu scriptures including the Yajur Veda and the Vajasaneyi Samhita. Also known as Durgatinashini, her name translates into English as 'one who eliminates suffering'.

She appears in many forms, each dependent on the weapons required at that time to defeat Mahishasur, a demon that could only be defeated and killed by a woman. Durga is often depicted as possessing eight or ten hands, each hand representing one of the directions of Hinduism, and as having three eyes, each eye representing, from left to right, desire, action and knowledge. Durga is usually depicted as standing on the back of a lion with the pose that she is adopting representing freedom from fear.

Included amongst the weapons available to Durga are a sword, a conch shell, bow and arrows and a discus known as the Sudarshan-Chakra.

Answer: Umai

Often associated with the Mongol goddess Ot, Umai is the earth goddess of the ancient Turkic tribes. The protector of women and children, her name when translated from Mongolian means womb or uterus. Amongst other Turkic peoples of central Asia, Umay is always depicted with a child and it is believed that the presence of Umay can be detected if the child is smiling or crying.

The goddess is associated with the sun, and because of this her colour is yellow and the sun is also her symbol. Umai was called upon to assist in the delivery of babies in the role of a divine midwife; the goddess would prevent evil spirits from entering the child during delivery and how early the goddess arrived with the mother would determine how easy or how difficult the birth would be.

Answer: Papatūānuku

To the Māori, the goddess Papatūānuku is the land itself. After their birth in darkness, the children of the goddess and Ranginui forced their parents apart in order to allow light into the world, the Te Ao Mārama. Over time the children also gave birth to all living things and so all living things became connected to Papatūānuku to whom they will also eventually return.

The Māori also believe that the islands that they live upon were born from the womb of Papatūānuku from beneath the sea and they view islands as being placentas, another word for 'land', whenua, also meaning placenta; because of the importance of the placenta and umbilical cord to the Māori peoples, after birth both are buried in a place significant to the individual which also reinforces the link between that person and Papatūānuku.

Answer: Mut

Mut, whose name literally means Mother, was the queen of the gods and goddesses of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. Mut was represented by the white vulture which the ancient Egyptians considered as a protective and maternal creature. Mut, also known as Mout or Maut was a combination of two earlier goddesses, Wadjet and Nekhbet, each representing the northern and southern regions of a unified Egypt.

The symbols of Mut were the Uraeus, a sacred Cobra type serpent and a powerful symbol of power in ancient Egypt and the lioness; as the city of Thebes and its cult rose to prominence, Mut absorbed aspects of a number of other goddesses in a process known as syncretism which included Bastet, Mafdet and Sekhmet. Surprisingly, unlike the majority of mother goddesses who are associated predominately with the earth, Mut is associated more with and known as the 'Goddess of the Sky'.

Answer: Yemaya

To the Yoruba culture of Nigeria and Benin, Yemaya, or Yemoja, is the goddess of the ocean and the mother of all. As the source of the rivers of western Africa she is especially associated with the river Ogun which ran through the ancient Oyo Empire. Yemaya is believed to be the cure for infertility in women and her wealth is represented by the decorative cowrie shell.

The goddess is also worshipped across central and south America, the belief system having crossed the Atlantic Ocean with the slave trade; the cult of Candomblé with some two million followers practice the worship of Yemaya in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Yemaya rules over the surface of the ocean and grants safe passage to travellers.

Her colours are blue and white, and peacocks and ducks are sacred to her.