Once again, the season of love comes around with the change of months. Hopefully, this will also mean a temperature increase, but while we stay bundled down at home eating discounted chocolates, you may wonder where this tradition of romance even started. When Tinder just meant flammable material, who did our ancestors turn to for romantic guidance? And who do the people from other parts of the world turn to? This is not a complete list by any means, but here are some of the most notable.
- Eros–Greek
Eros is the Greek god of love and sex (his Roman counterpart being Cupid), and the child of Aphrodite and Eres. Eros has very little to do with actual Greek mythology apart from the myth of Eros and Psyche, his wife, but his role of making mortals fall in love by shooting them with arrows influenced the modern day version of Cupid. For my fellow readers, another popular version of Eros in modern life is his character in the webcomic Lore Olympus.
- Xōchiquetzal–Aztec
Xōchiquetzal, also referred to as Ichpochtl, meaning “maiden”, is the Aztec goddess of
fertility, beauty, and love. She is also associated with the household arts and other things to do with women, such as childbirth, as well as plants and flowers.
- Inana–Mesopotamia
Inana is one of the most important deities in Mesopotamia’s pantheon, holding the mantle of both goddess of sexual love and warfare (total personification of feminine rage). She often demonstrates contradictory behaviors, being depicted as both a young, innocent maiden and an ambitious goddess seeking to grow her power and influence. The goddess also represents the star Venus in her astral aspect, similar to the Greek goddess Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart Venus whose cults are distantly based on Inana’s.
- Hathor–Egypt
Hathor is the Egyptian goddess of love beauty, and dancing, among other things, and the protector of women. She is one of the most powerful of the forty two state gods/goddesses of Egyptian mythology, being the daughter of the sun god Ra and bearing the title “Eye of Ra”. This meant that she, along with other gods and goddesses, was the defender of Ra and was sent to punish his disrespectful followers.
- Oshun–Nigeria
Oshun, the goddess of life and fertility, is the river orisha (deity) of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. She is one of the most powerful of the orisha, as several myths depict, but in particular is said to have brought humanity and other such life back to earth with her waters.
- Yue Lao–China
Yue Lao, which directly translates to “old man under the moon,” is a god of marriage and love in Chinese mythology. He is said to appear under the moon and tie couples together with a silk cord, making their predestined union unbreakable. His legends are thought to inspire the Red Thread of Fate myth, where those destined to fall in love with each other have an invisible red string tied around their finger, connecting them.
- Parvati–Southeast Asia
Parvati is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. In the Hindu sect of Shaktism, she is one of the central deities and in her full form represents the creator and destroyer of the universe, Mahadevi (also known as Adi Shakti). Like many of the other goddesses on this list, she is typically portrayed as a gentle, mother-like goddess, but is associated with some of the more formidable beings, such as Durga, Kali, the ten Mahavidyas, and the Navadurgas. This goes to show that nothing is more powerful than a mother!
With that being said, enjoy your Valentine’s season! We may not all possess the abilities of gods, but they couldn’t cry in their room while listening to Taylor Swift. Humanity wins on that one.