Throughout the Nineteenth and early Twentith Centuries, female national personifications were extremely popular. From Columbia of America to Brittania of the United Kingdom, from Germania of Germany to Kathleen ni Houlihan of Ireland. Wonderful figures to present your nation as, to identify your country as a loving mother was to assign a great deal of love and a fair amount of concern for her safety.
So my question is, what happened to these symbols? Some female personification are still in use, the most recognizable of which are the ones used by a number of former Soviet nations (Mother Armenia, Mother Albania, Mother Russia), America's male personification has far eclipsed it's more personable female counterpart as a symbol of our nation and Lady Liberty has largely supplanted her in the more feminine aspects of our personification, but most seem to have largely faded into obscurity and out of the public view. It seems to me to be an immense waste for these symbols to have fallen out of use as their depictions are all very beautiful works of art and symbols of patriotism.
I would ask others to feel free to post their favorite depiction of their feminine personification, but I'm not sure if Thanas would like us posting pretty pictures in his history threads, even if some of them might be Lady Germania or even Borussia.
