Goddess Embroideries of Eastern Europe Author:Mary B Kelly Remnants of ancient goddess beliefs were very much a part of nineteenth century Eastern European folk culture. Even up to the twentieth century, Eastern European women supervised rituals in honor of the goddess, and carefully embroidered her image on their ritual cloths and clothing. Today, the strong, powerful goddess figure can still be seen o... more »n many examples of Eastern European folk textiles. The author introduces these figures and the folk life from which they sprang, explains changes in the goddess motif and its meaning, and unfolds for us rich examples from textile collections in Russia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. She describes folk arts from Romania and Poland and relates her conversations with folk artists in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Her story ends in the United States with descriptions of public and private textile collections which contain goddess embroideries. Kelly weaves a tale of her search for the goddess Berehinia and her research on why goddess embroideries exist in Eastern Europe.« less