The earth was not passive matter requiring human domination but living goddess requiring respectful partnership. She was not abstraction symbolizing fertility but immediate presence named Žemyna—the mother who provided sustenance when properly honored, who withheld abundance when disrespected, who responded to offerings with tangible results observable in harvest yields and livestock health. Baltic farmers did not merely work the soil—they maintained relationship with conscious divine entity whose cooperation determined whether families ate or starved through coming winter.
