Bear worship is the religious practice of the worshiping of bears. Archaeologists have claimed that the bear is the oldest European deity, based on the niches found in caves across Europe which hold the bones and skulls of bears, arranged with evident care. ^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Taken during a Hindu prayer ceremony on the eve of Diwali. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...

In his book, Dawn Behind the Dawn, Geoffrey Ashe explores the association of the Greek goddess, Artemis, with bears. In one myth she transforms Callisto, one of her maidens who has angered her, into a bear and then assigns her to the heavens as the constellation Ursa Major. At the temple of Artemis in Brauronia, during a festival held every five years, two young girls aged five and ten wore yellow bearskin robes and performed the bear dance. Ashe postulates that Indo-European tribes brought from the Northern countries the image of a bear goddess, associated with the Big Dipper, who became Artemis in Greece. For other uses, see Artemis (disambiguation). ... In Jupiter and Callisto by François Boucher, Jupiter/Zeus takes the form of Diana/Artemis (Pushkin Museum, Moscow) This article is about the mythological figure. ... This article is about the constellation. ... Brauron is an early sanctuary site of Attica. ...

Throughout all of Celtic Gaul and Britain, Artio, the goddess of wildlife, appears as a bear. The Greek goddess, Artemis, has a bear form. The Ainu of Japan, the Haida of North America, and many peoples of central Asia regard the Bear Mother as their ancestress. The Great She Bear, Ursa Major, watches over us from the sky. Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (from Latin Gallia, c. ... In Celtic mythology, (specifically known from Switzerland), Artio was a goddess of wildlife, specifically the bear, and was worshipped at Berne, which actually means bear. She was often called Artio of Muri. ... For other uses, see Artemis (disambiguation). ... Ainu IPA: /ʔáınu/) (also called Ezo in historical texts) are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaidō, northern Honshū, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. ... This article is about the people. ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ...

References

• Ashe, Geoffrey, Dawn Behind the Dawn, Holt 1992
• Johnson, Buffie, Lady of the Beasts, Harper San Francisco 1988

See also

• Animal Worship
• Arctic
• Arcturus
• Great Bear
• Berserker
• Kalevala