Ceres & the Sacred Pig

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Figurine of Demeter with Pig, Greece, Athens, 5th Century BC
Figurine of Demeter with Pig, Greece, Athens, 5th Century BC

I’ve been exploring the history of Fife, which is where I grew up and where I discovered a line of my ancestry lived as far back as the 15th century. Ceres, a small village 8 miles southwest of St Andrews was one place where my ancestors lived over a few generations.

I wondered if the place name Ceres had any connection with the Roman goddess of fertility, Ceres.

According to Wikipedia, the meaning of the place name Ceres is ‘place to the west’ from the Scottish Gaelic Siar meaning ‘west’ and was named so in relation to St Andrews. In the Middle Ages Ceres was the last stop before arriving at the final pilgrimage destination.

Another (possibly older) meaning of the place name is ‘enclosure for swine’ from the Norse syr + reit.

Here’s where I see a possible connection with the Roman goddess.

In ancient times the pig was sacred to the early goddess religions and was revered in the cults of Ceres and her Greek counterpart Demeter. The pig was seen as a magical creature associated with fertility, the moon, death, life, seasons and cycles, and the Great Goddess.

In The White Goddess, Robert Graves says that the pig was connected to Circe, daughter of Hecate who it was said turned men into swine. The children of Circe, he says, were probably women dressed up as sows participating in a full moon festival held in her honour and in that of Dionysus.

Hecate is one of the key figures of the Eleusinian mysteries, which re-enacts the descent and ascent of Demeter’s daughter Persephone. The Roman equivalent is Ceres and her daughter Proserpina.

Graves also tells us that the pig featured in ancient European practices linked with Dionysus and a band of nine ‘wild women’ who represented different phases of the moon.

In The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, Marija Gimbutas writes,

“The fast-growing body of the pig will have been compared to corn growing and ripening, so that its soft fats apparently came to symbolize the earth itself, causing the pig to become a sacred animal probably no later than 6000 BC.”

She continues,

“The curious connection between the Vegetation Goddess and pigs as known in Classical Greek times goes back to the Neolithic era. An early Vinca Pregnant Vegetation Goddess wears a pig’s mask, while the sacredness of the Pig’s body is indicated by Cucuteni pig sculptures which have traces of grain impression on them.”

Pig masked Goddess of vegetation.
Pig masked Goddess of Vegetation.

Nowhere have I found any information linking the village Ceres with the goddess Ceres, and while my link is tenuous, I feel it is worth exploring especially when, as I suspect, Fife was a place where ancient priestess temples and sites existed… more to come on this.

Pig from Nea Makri, settlement in Attica, Greece, 6000 BC
Pig from Nea Makri, settlement in Attica, Greece, 6000 BC

When I visited Ceres, I also visited the Wemyss pottery studio and shop. Wemyss ware was first produced in 1882 by Czech decorator Karel Nekola and Fife pottery owner Robert Heron. The pottery took its name from the Wemyss family who own Wemyss castle on the east coast of Fife. The Wemyss pig is among their most iconic signature pieces.

Wemyss Pig with iconic rose pattern.
Wemyss Pig with iconic rose pattern.

Given the meaning of the village place name ‘swine enclosure’, I thought this was interesting. Apparently, the reason the potters made pigs is due to the animal being a symbol of good luck in Bohemia and that Karel brough his enthusiasm for the animal from his homeland.

Coincidence? Maybe.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. cc.99

    💜appreciate this.

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