Yewâ Mammyâ: A Song for the Grain Mothers on the Autumn Equinox

Happy autumnal equinox for those in the northern hemisphere, and spring equinox for those in the south!

I’m reposting this video of my song created in thanks to the grain mothers. “Yewâ Mammyâ” is in the partially reconstructed proto-Celtic language, which- it is thought- would have been spoken about 3,000 years ago, before the Celtic languages broke into what would become Welsh/Cymraeg, Manx, Breton/Brezhoneg, Gaeilge, Cornish and Gàidhlig. Though we can’t truly know what this language sounded like, it’s moving to explore the potential sounds!

Our words translate to: “Grain Mother, Grain Mother, Lay down, lay down,” and “Making, making, the garden, the garden.” These words are a reference to the many ancient beings- often, but not always women- in traditions across the world who die or are k*lled- and from their bodies come the grains, the beans, the fruits that feed humanity. In reconstructed Indo-European creation stories, the deity Manu k*lls his brother Yemo (who would become Ymir in Norse mythology). From Yemo’s body the earth and sky are constructed. In Japanese cosmology, the goddess Ukemochi is k*lled by Susano-o, and from her body grains and beans emerge for the world. In Irish cosmology, the deity Tailtiu dies after exhausting herself by clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. And in the Anigiduwagi traditions on the land that I live, the first woman and corn mother Selu fosters corn from her body in life and in death. 

Ukemochi, by Tatsuya Kosaka

This is not to imply that all these stories or these beings are all equivalent or have the same meanings in these varied traditions, but that there is a disparate commonality of recognizing that death and sacrifice take place for the world to be fed- that the bodies of great and sacred beings have fed us from the beginning of time.

 Who are you thanking when you eat? From whence does your harvest come?

Part 1:

Yewâ Mammyâ, Yewâ Mammyâ, Lâyo, Lâyo (Grain Mother, Grain Mother, lay down, lay down)

Part 2: 

Kwera kwera, kebo kebo (Making, making, the garden, the garden)

Many thanks to Carolyn Hillyer for her work in fostering proto-Celtic song. And to Lithuanian traditional song for inspiring this sutartinė-like piece.

To learn about my upcoming workshops (in which I often teach songs like this one), and to never miss my video posts, subscribe to my newsletter!