A
vegetation deity is a
nature deity whose disappearance and reappearance, or
life, death and rebirth, embodies the growth cycle of plants. In
nature worship, the
deity can be a
god or
goddess with the ability to
regenerate itself. A vegetation deity is often a
fertility deity. The deity typically undergoes dismemberment (see
sparagmos), scattering, and reintegration, as narrated in a
myth or reenacted by a religious
ritual. The cyclical pattern is given theological significance on themes such as
immortality,
resurrection, and
reincarnation. Vegetation myths have
structural resemblances to certain
creation myths in which parts of a being's body generate aspects of the
cosmos, such as the
Norse myth of
Ymir.