The Chinese deity Kwan-Yon may, for all we know, be the _Magna Mater_ of most primitive China. At least she was an ancient popular goddess. When Buddhism was introduced into the Middle Kingdom she was too dear to the people to be abandoned or degraded in rank, and so she was interpreted to be a female incarnation of the Buddha himself. Some pictures or statuettes represent her as denoting motherly love by holding a baby in her arms, which [Illustration: BENTEN, THE JAPANESE GODDESS OF DIVINE LOVE. From a relief preserved in the Field Museum Chicago.] [Illustration: KWAN-YON By Li Lung-mien (11th cent.) From the original painting in the collection of Charles L. Freer in Detroit.] gives her an obvious resemblance to the Christian Mary, the mother of Christ. [Illustration: KWAN-YON AS THE BUDDHA. In the Musée Guimet.] The ancient Chinese were rich in divinities of all kinds and among them there is a goddess who [Illustration: T’IEN HOU, QUEEN OF HEAVEN.] in one way or other might easily have developed into the Buddhist Kwan-Yon. This is the Queen of Heaven or Holy Mother, who is worshiped with great fervor in some localities. Emperor K’ang Hi bestowed upon her the high title of _T’ien Hou_, that is, “Heaven’s Ruler,” but we may very well assume that she did not originate in his days but existed since older times. She, or some figure like her, must have been known before the importation of Buddhism, and Kwan-Yon presupposes the primitive existence of a female deity of love, charity and universal goodwill. * * * * * The northern Venus, called Freya, the mother-goddess of the Teutons and in fact of all the Teutonic races, did not share the fate of the Venus of classical antiquity. She never deteriorated into the goddess of sensuality. It is strange that we descendants of the Germanic nations are better posted on the national gods of Greece and Rome than on those of our own ancestors. These are mainly remembered from the names of the week days and even there the god of war, Tiu, has become quite unintelligible in Tuesday. Freya’s day, Friday, is easily recognizable as the Latin _dies Veneris_ or _vendredi_, and it is peculiar that on that very day Christian custom still retains the fish diet of the ancient Astarte. The motive of course is changed, and the fish is no longer thought of as the emblem of Astarte but is eaten in remembrance of the death of Christ on the cross. Fish has become the diet of fasting. Such is the logic of tradition, which persists after the reason for it has gradually been forgotten. H. A. Guerber in his _Myths of Northern Lands_ describes Freya as follows: