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Mati-Syra-Zemlya means 'Mother-Earth-Moist'. The pagan Slavs saw the earth as a divinity and worshipped it. They believed that the earth was capable of predicting the future. This was done by digging a hole, putting your ear to it and listening. If the sound you hear is like that of a full sleigh over the snow, you will have a successful crop. If you hear the sound of an empty sleigh, you were going to have a bad crop. The Slavs swore oats to the earth. Legal controversies on property were settled with the earth as witness.

There are traces of worship of the earth in quite recent times. In the First World War a group of peasants performed a ritual to protect their village against a plague of cholera. At midnight nine virgins and three widows undressed to their underwear. The virgins loosened their hair and the widows covered theirs. They walked around the village holding skulls of animals and other such objects. While they did this they uttered ling cries of pain, as animals. As far as they went they plowed. The reason for plowing was to let the Great Spirit of the earth out so he could save them from the evil disease. The men knew nothing about the procession and were killed immediately if meeting them.