RICE MOTHER

widely distributed and variegated figure in the mythology of peoples of the Indonesian culture. There are three main types of Rice Mother, which are either found separately or combined. The first is that of a goddess from whose body rice was first produced. The second is that of an all-nourishing Mother Rice (Me Posop), who is the guardian of crops and good fortune and whose milk is ricewhich is considered to be the soul-stuff of every living thing. The third is the last sheaf of harvested rice that is ritually cut and dressed as a woman. This is believed to contain the concentrated soul-stuff of the field (analogous customs occur in peasant Europe, where the last sheaf is designated Wheat Mother, Barley Mother, and other grain names). In other traditions a particular rice plant is designated as Mother Rice from the time of planting, and its vitality is believed to influence the growth of all of the other plants in the field.