Personification of Russia



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

Ма́тушка Росси́я (dim.); also Мать-Росси́я; or Ма́тушка Русь; or Росси́я-ма́тушка
 * Mother Russia

Ро́дина-мать
 * Homeland the Mother

In the Russian language, the concept of motherland is rendered by two terms:
 * "place of birth", (feminine gender, ро́дина)
 * "fatherland", (masculine gender, отечество, отчи́зна)

Harald Haarmann and Orlando Figes see the goddess Mokosh a source of the "Mother Russia" concept. 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).

Usage
During the Soviet period, the Bolsheviks extensively utilized the image of "Motherland", especially during World War II.

Statues
During the Soviet era, many statues depicting the Mother Motherland were built, most to commemorate the Great Patriotic War. These include:


 * The Motherland Calls (Родина-мать зовёт, tr. Rodina-mat' zovyot ), a colossal statue in Volgograd, Russia, commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad
 * Mother Motherland (Батьківщина-Мати, tr. Batʹkivshchyna-Maty, Родина-мать, tr. Rodina-mat'  ), now called Mother Ukraine, is a monumental statue in Kyiv that is a part of the Museum of The History of Ukraine in World War II
 * Mother Motherland (Saint Petersburg), a statue at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, St. Petersburg, Russia
 * Mother Russia (Kaliningrad), a monument in Kaliningrad, Russia
 * Mother Motherland Mourning over Her Perished Sons (Родина-мать, скорбящая о погибших сыновьях, tr. Rodina-mat', skorbyashchaya o pogibshikh synov'yakh ), Minsk, Belarus commemorating the dead in Afghanistan
 * Mother Motherland (Naberezhnye Chelny), a monument in Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia
 * Mother Motherland (Pavlovsk), a memorial complex, Pavlovsk, Voronezh Oblast, Russia
 * Motherland Monument (Matveev Kurgan)