Walk to the Matrons
Matronae and Dea –
The Celtic female trinity between Eifel and the river Rhine
Gudrun Nositschka guiding*
TheMat
r
ones’i
mage
The Matrons of the consecration stones between the Eifel region and the river Rhine
in western Germany always present themselves as a trinity. Two older Matrons with
conspicuous bonnets sit to the left and to the right of a younger Matron who only differs from the two senior to her in that she is wearing her hair at shoulder length and
at times needs a little foot stool to support the same dignified posture her two compani
onsdi
s
pl
ay
.Thet
hr
eewomen’
sl
apsar
eemphasi
sedbybasket
sf
i
l
l
edwi
t
hf
r
ui
t
s
like pears, apples and pomegranates. Around their necks the three women are wearing crescent-shaped pendants reminiscent of the waxing moon. The sides of the
consecration
stone
are
decorated abundantly with
symbols with flora and
fauna, among others with
trees,
serpents,
the
rhombus and the crane.
Interpreting the trinity
The arrangement of the
matrons as well as their
characteristics communicate
the knowledge of the
contemporary people about the cyclic processes in nature, life and in the universe.
Through the figure of three, obvious antagonisms may be interconnected more fluently”
.
Similar to the Christian religion in later times, the Celtic people knew about the trinity
of unity and the unity of trinity.
Indo-European Romans worshipped mother goddesses, called matres, too. The Latin
term mater means mother, creator of nature and all things as well as founder, source,
fountain, root and ground. The Latin term materia derives from mater, and means,
among other things, primordial matter which generates something. Although the
original authority of the Roman goddesses was claimed by male Roman Gods, the
Romans still worshipped their mother goddesses.
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As researcher Sophie Lange writes:
“
… Goddesses adopt
ed by t
he
Romans (in the Eifel) are among
others the trinity goddesses. Since
the Romans had nothing similar to
these divine women, they adopted
them virtually unchanged and called
them Mat
r
ons.
.
.
”
Matrons and goddesses
The inscription on the Matron stones
Gudrun Nositschka pointing at signs of dignity
in the Eifel, in Bonn, Cologne and on
the lower Rhine region give us some hints. There the female trinity is not called matres = mother goddesses, but matronae and dea in singular as well as deae in plural
case, viz. Matron and goddess or goddesses.
The term matronae, like dea/deae is a collective term. Matronae means, among other
things, women of class, family mothers, respectable wives, courtly lady, mistress (as
in female master) and arbitress. In the
context of the term dea/deae, the term
matronae “
wasusedasanat
t
r
i
but
eoraddr
essf
orRomangoddesses”
.
Were the old Roman sculptors, the
founders of civil society and the Roman
occupants
aware
of
this
ancient
knowledge and these relations, when they
called the Celtic female trinity matronae
and dea?
Kristin Rönsch translating
I trust that artists have this kind of intuition to make old knowledge visible again.
The strength of an original idea of the world, which had allowed the understanding of
natural interdependencies and of the human relations with the sun, the moon and the
earth as well as with animals, plants and the given topography remained alive among
the people as a yearning.
*For further information see: Gudrun Nositschka. Matronea and Dea. The Celtic Female Trinity between Eifel and the River Rhine, in: Spiral of time. Journal of the House
ofWomen’
sHi
st
or
y,edi
t
edby Annette Kuhn, Marianne Hochgeschurz, Monika Hinterberger, Leverkusen / Farmington Hills, 2/2007, pages 56-62
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