Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 78, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1901 — THE BLACK VENUS. [ARTICLE]

THE BLACK VENUS.

An Vglr Stone Figure Worshiped by Peasant* of Brittany. Even false religions die bard, and there are reminders of all extinct faiths still existing in the world. One of the most curious relics of paganism which are still worshiped In a Christian coUntry is the gigantic black stone figure of a woman which is to be found in a forest of the district of Morbihan, in Brittany. It is known as the “Black Venus,” but probably dates far back of the time when the Greeks and Romans worshiped that goddess. Antiquarians assert that this ugly idol belongs to the age of the serpent worshipers, one of whose subterranean temples is in the neighborhood. This would make the figure far older than the Christian era. The stable is that of a huge, uncouth woman, with a sullen, angry countenance, her form enveloped in a loose mantle. The superstitious Bretons have always worshiped the figure, asserting that it has power over the weather and the crops. If the idol is neglected, they declare that the grain dies on the ear, and If the anger of the black woman is further roused a tidal wave sweeps over Morbihan. Twice the stone was cast Into the sea by pious folk who hoped thereby to put an end to this Idolatry, and twice the peasants dragged it back and set up an altar before it. About two centuries ago Count Pierre de L&nnion, on whose estate the figure stood, in order to save the statue from both friends and enemies, dragged it by 40 yoke of oxen to his own chateau and set it up in the courtyard. He cut an Inscription on the base of the pedestal, declaring the figure to be a Venus carved by Caesar’s soldiers. The count and his chateau are both gone, but the huge black woman, overgrown with moss, still stands In the forest, and the peasants still beseech her to bless their crops.