Deer in mythology
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[[Image:Pazyryk deer.jpg|thumb|200px|A gilded wooden figurine of a deer from the [[Pazyryk]] burials, [[5th century BC]].]]
'''[[Deer]]''' have significant roles in the [[mythology]] of various peoples.
In [[paleolithic]] [[cave painting]]s the figure of a [[shaman]] wears antlers as the deer-spirit, notably the figure being called [[The Sorcerer (cave art)|"The Sorcerer"]] in the Cave [[Trois-Frères]] in southern France.
==Abrahamic religion==
===Judaism===
In [[Jewish mythology]] - as discussed in the Talmud (חולין נט ע"ב) - exists a giant kind of stag by the name "[[Keresh]]". He is said to live in a mythical forest called "Divei Ilai".
===Christianity===
[[Image:Saint Giles closeup.jpg|thumb|Detail of ''Saint Giles and the Hind'', c. 1500, by the [[Master of Saint Gilles]]]]
[[Saint Giles]], a Catholic saint especially revered in the south of France, is reported to have lived for many years as a hermit in the forest near [[Nîmes]], where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being a deer, or [[hind]], who in some stories sustained him on her milk. In art, he is often depicted together with that hind.
In the founding legend of [[Le Puy-en-Velay]], where a Christian church replaced a healing a [[megalith]]ic [[dolmen]]. A local tradition had rededicated the curative virtue of the sacred site to Mary, who cured ailments by contact with the standing stone. When the founding bishop Vosy climbed the hill, he found that it was snow-covered in July; in the snowfall the tracks of a deer round the dolmen outlined the foundations of the future church.
==Celtic paganism==
The Insular [[Celt]]s held deer as supernatural animals, "fairy cattle" that were herded and milked by a localised and benevolent fairy giantess (a ''[[Banshee|bean sìdhe]]'') in each district, who could shift shape to that of a red deer;<ref>J. G. McKay, "The Deer-Cult and the Deer-Goddess Cult of the Ancient Caledonians"''Folklore'' '''43'''.2 (June 1932), pp. 144-174; McKay (p. 149) points out that the usual term for a giantess, ''ban-fhuamhair'', a cannibal ogress, is never applied to the "[[Vetula|Old Woman]]" </ref> in the West Highlands, she selected the individual deer that would be slain in the next day's hunt.<ref>J.F. Campbell of Isalay, ''Popular Tales of the West Highlands'', ii, no. 27, noted by McKay 1932:150.</ref>
In Ireland, ''An Chailleach Bhéarach'', "The Old Woman of Beare", an island off the coast of County Cork, takes the form of a deer to avoid capture; to Beare come characters from the Land of the Dead to visit Ireland.<ref>"The Chase of Ben Gulbin" (McKay1932:151).</ref> Other [[Celtic mythology|Celtic mythological]] figures such as [[Oisin]], [[Flidais]] and [[Sadb]] were given connections to deer.
The Continental Celtic [[Cernunnos]] is depicted with deer antlers in votive artwork and upon altars, and is possibly the horned figure on the [[Gundestrup cauldron]]. Cernunnos is most likely one of the multiple sources from which [[Wiccans]] synthesized the figure of their [[Horned God]].
==Germanic paganism==
In [[Germanic paganism]], deer appear in surviving sources. In the [[Poetic Edda]] poem ''[[Grímnismál]]'' the [[four stags of Yggdrasil]] are described as feeding on the world tree, [[Yggdrasil]] and the poem further relates that the stag [[Eikþyrnir]] lives on top of [[Valhalla]]. In the [[Prose Edda]] book ''[[Gylfaginning]]'', the god [[Freyr]] is described as killing [[Beli (Norse giant)|Beli]] with an antler. In ''[[Þiðrekssaga]]'', [[Sigurd]] is presented as having been nursed by a doe.
An [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] royal scepter found at the [[Sutton Hoo]] burial site in [[England]] features a depiction of an upright, antlered stag. In the [[Old English language]] poem ''[[Beowulf]]'', much of the first portion of the story focuses on events surrounding a great [[mead hall]] called [[Heorot]], meaning "Hall of the [[Hart]]".
==Greek mythology==
[[Image:Diane de Versailles Leochares 2.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Diana of Versailles]]]]
[[Image:Herakles and Telephos Louvre MR219.jpg|thumb|right|150|Heracles, Telephos and the doe ([[Louvre Museum]])]]
In [[Greek mythology]], the deer is particularly associated with [[Artemis]] in her role as virginal huntress. [[Actaeon]], after witnessing the nude figure of Artemis bathing in a pool, was transformed by Artemis into a stag that his own hounds tore to pieces. [[Callimachus]], in his archly knowledgeable "Hymn III to Artemis", mentions the deer that drew the chariot of Artemis:
:''in golden armor and belt, you yoked a golden chariot, bridled deer in gold.''
One of the Labors of [[Heracles]] was to capture the [[Cerynian Hind]] sacred to Artemis and deliver it briefly to his patron, then rededicate it to Artemis. His son [[Telephos]] was exposed as an infant on the slopes of Tegea but nurtured by a doe.
==Hinduism==
In [[Hindu]] mythology, the goddess [[Saraswati]] takes the form of a red deer called Rohit according to the [[Aitareya]] Upanishad. Saraswati is the goddess of learning so learned men use deer skin as clothing and mats to sit upon. A golden deer plays an important role in the epic ''[[Ramayana]]''. While in exile in the forest, [[Rama]]'s wife [[Sita]] sees a golden deer and asks Rama and [[Lakshmana]] to get it for her. The deer is actually a [[rakshasa]] called [[Maricha]] in disguise. Maricha takes this form to lure Rama and Lakshmana away from Sita so his brother [[Ravana]] can kidnap her.
==Hittite culture==
The stag was revered alongside the [[bull (mythology)|bull]] at [[Alaca Höyük]] and continued in the [[Hittites|Hittite]] mythology as the protective deity whose name is recorded as ''<sup>d</sup>KAL''. Other Hittite gods were often depicted standing on the backs of stags.
==Huichol paganism==
For the Huichol people of Mexico,<ref>Barbara G. Myerhoff, "The Deer-Maize-Peyote Symbol Complex among the Huichol Indians of Mexico" ''Anthropological Quarterly'' '''43'''.2 (April 1970), pp. 64-78.</ref> the "magical deer" represents both the power of maize to sustain the body and of the peyote cactus to feed and enlighten the spirit. Animals such as the eagle, jaguar, serpent and deer are of great importance to the Mexican indigenous cultures. For each group, however, one of these animals is of special significance and confers some of its qualities to the tribe.
For the Huichol it is the deer that holds this intimate role. The character of the Huichol tends to be light, flexible and humorous. They have avoided open warfare, neither fighting against the Spanish nor Mexican governments, but holding to their own traditions. The Huichol hunt and sacrifice deer in their ceremonies. They make offerings to the Deer of the Maize to care for their crops, and to the Deer of the Peyote to bring them spiritual guidance and artistic inspiration
The spirit [[Furfur]] in The [[Goetia]] is depicted as a [[deer|hart]] or winged hart.
==Scythian culture==
The [[Scythian]]s had some reverence for the stag, which is one of the most common motifs in their artwork, especially at funeral sites. The swift animal was believed to speed the spirits of the dead on their way, which perhaps explains the curious antlered headdresses found on horses buried at [[Pazyryk]] (''illustrated, to the right'').
==Shinto==
Deer are considered messengers to the gods in [[Shinto]], especially [[Kasuga Shrine]] in [[Nara Prefecture]] where a white deer had arrived from [[Kashima Shrine]] as its divine messenger. It has become a symbol of the city of [[Nara, Nara|Nara]].
==Slavic paganism==
In [[Slavic mythology]] and [[Slavic folklore|folklore]], '''Golden-horned deer''' is a large deer with golden antlers which often appear in [[fairytale]]s. The legend of Saint [[Hubertus]] (or "Hubert") concerned an apparition of a stag with the [[crucifix]] between its horns, effecting the worldly and aristocratic Hubert's conversion to a saintly life.
In the story of Saint [[Hubertus]], on Good Friday morning, when the faithful were crowding the churches, Hubertus sallied forth to the chase. As he was pursuing a magnificent stag the animal turned and, as the pious legend narrates, he was astounded at perceiving a crucifix standing between its antlers, which occasioned the change of heart that led him to a saintly life. The story of the hart appears first in one of the later legendary hagiographies (''Bibliotheca hagiographica Latina'', nos. 3994-4002) and has been appropriated from the earelier legend of [[Saint Eustace]] or Placidus.
==Manufactured mythology==
[[Quintus Sertorius]], while a general in [[Lusitania]], had a tame white stag which he had raised nearly from birth. Playing on the superstitions of the local tribes, he told them that it had been given to him by the goddess [[Diana (goddess)|Diana]]; by attributing all his intelligence reports to the animal, he convinced the locals that it had the gift of prophecy. (See [[Plutarch]]'s life of Sertorius and [[Pliny the Elder]]'s chapter on stags (N.H., VIII.50)
The naming of the ship, the "[[Golden Hind]]", of Sir [[Francis Drake]] is sometimes given a mythological origin, though Drake actually renamed his flagship, in mid-voyage, 1577, as a gesture to flatter his patron Sir [[Christopher Hatton]], whose armorial bearings included the crest "a hind [[Or (heraldry)|Or]]." In heraldry, a "hind" is a [[Deer|doe]].
==References==
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[[Category:Mythological archetypes]]
[[it:Cervo (mitologia)]]