Berehynia

Berehynia or Bereginia (Ukrainian: Береги́ня, Polish: Brzeginia, Russian: Береги́ня) is a female spirit in Ukrainian fantasy, which recently came to be regarded as a "Slavic goddess" with a function of "hearth mother, protectoress of the home" in late 20th century Ukrainian romantic nationalism centered on matriarchal myth.

Since Ukrainian independence in 1991, she has undergone a fakeloric metamorphosis, and today is identified as a combination of the "hearth-mother" (associated with the guardianship of the nation itself) and the rusalka. This metamorphosis has its roots in the late 1980s, as several Ukrainian writers sought to personify their vision of an ideal Ukrainian woman. Consequently, Berehynia today also has a place in Ukrainian nationalism, feminism, and neopaganism. The re-interpretation as "protectoress" is due to a folk-etymology, which associates the name, which is derived from the Ukrainian word bereh (Russian bereg) "river bank", with the unrelated verb berehty in Ukrainian (Russian berech) "to protect".

In 2001, a column with a monument to Berehynia on top, as a protector of Kiev (pictured), was erected at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in the center of the city, on the site of the former Lenin monument. Kiev's historic protector Archangel Michael (pictured at the Coat of Arms of Kiev) older monument is located just across at the same square.

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