"God's Own Country" is a phrase meaning an area, region or place supposedly favoured by God.
InAustralia, the phrase "God's own country" was often used to describe the country in the early 1900s, but it appears to have gradually fallen out of favour,[1] largely to be replaced by "The Lucky Country". The phrase "God's Country" is often used to describeQueensland[2][3][4] and theSutherland Shire in southernSydney.[5]
The idea of "God's own country", worded as "Deus é brasileiro" (Portuguese: "God is Brazilian"), is a common trope in Brazilian culture to inspire optimism and point out the country has vast resources but faces few natural disasters nor international conflict. It is referenced by politicians[6][7][8] and artworks, as in the movieGod Is Brazilian.
When used in reference toEngland, "God's own country" refers to the legend that as a boyJesus visited England with his great uncle,Joseph of Arimathea.[9] The event itself inspired a poem in the preface toWilliam Blake'sMilton in 1808. The poem "And did those feet in ancient time", was set to music by SirHubert Parry in 1916 as a hymn known as "Jerusalem", which has become an unofficialanthem of England.[10] The poem asks if Jesus did visit England in ancient times, and in so doing create theNew Jerusalem, or heaven in England.[11]
Another first usage of the term by Edward du Bois was in a poem describing the English county ofSurrey in 1839.[12] The phrase was also used in its more literal meaning to refer toHeaven, in a poem byElizabeth Harcourt Rolls Mitchell in 1857.[13]
The phrase has been used to describeYorkshire, a region of northern England.[14] The term "God's Own County" has also been used.[15][16][17]
“God’s Own Country’ is the tagline ofKerala Tourism which was coined by Walter Mendez, the creative director of an Indian advertising agency in 1989 at the request of the Tourism Department,Government of Kerala.[18][19]
This was used by agencies to showcase Kerala’s natural beauty and not-so-explored places across the state.
Kerala Tourism has won several awards for its innovative tourism campaign. Each of them depicted God’s Own Country in a new light, ensuring that the tagline continues to be associated with Kerala.[20]
The description of Kerala as "God's own country" can additionally be traced to the event known as Thrippadidanam in 1749, the then rulerMarthanda Varma, Maharaja of Travancore, decided to "donate" his realm to Padmanabha (Vishnu) and thereafter rule as the deity's "viceregent" (Sri Padmanabha Dasa). ('Dasa' meaning Servant or Slave.).[21][22]
Apart from various legends of the origin of the Kerala, the slogan alludes to the variety of faiths in the state:Hindus,Muslims,Christians,Buddhists,Jains,Jews, andParsis (Zoroastrians) have coexisted harmoniously for centuries, as attested by the mishmash oftemples,towers,spires andsynagogues.
TheMatsya Purana, one of the oldest of the 18Puranas,[23][24] uses theMalaya Mountains ofKerala (andTamil Nadu) as the setting for the story ofMatsya, the firstincarnation of Vishnu, andManu, thefirst man and theking of the region.[25][26] ThesePuranic accounts portrayKerala as "God’s own country", or the land favoured byGod.[27]
Another character from thePuranas associated with Kerala isMahabali, anAsura and a prototypical just king. According to regional belief, Mahabali ruled Kerala with great justice and was beloved by his people.[28] However, the gods grew jealous of Mahabali's growing fame and power, and feared he was becoming too powerful. They begged Lord Vishnu to stop Mahabali. Vishnu incarnated asVamana and, playing on Mahabali's benevolence, trickedMahabali into giving up his kingdom, and exiled him toPatala, thenetherworld. Vishnu, seeing the devotion of Mahabali, blessed him to be theIndra of the nextManvantara and granted him his request that once a year, during theOnam festival,Mahabali could return to his kingdom to visit his people.[29] It is said that Vishnu guards Mahabali's kingdom as a mark of respect for his virtues.[30]
Kerala (Chera-nadu) is prominently referenced in the Tamil EpicCilappatikaram. The HeroineKannagi after suffering innumerable injustices travels over the hills to Kerala, where the Gods and Goddesses receive her and take her to heaven. The deity at theKodungallur Bhagavathy Temple is worshipped as Kannagi Amma.
Another legend, from the 17th centuryMalayalam workKeralolpathi, tells that the lands ofKerala were recovered from the sea by the axe-wielding warrior-sageParashurama, the sixthavatar of the deityVishnu (hence, Kerala is also called Parashurama Kshetram; 'The Land of Parashurama'). According to legend, Parashurama threw his axe across the sea, and the water receded as far as it reached. This new area of land extended fromGokarna toKanyakumari. The land which rose from sea was filled with salt and was unsuitable for habitation; so Parashurama invoked thesnake-kingVasuki, who spat the holy poison and converted the soil into fertile lush green land. Out of respect,Vasuki and all snakes were appointed as protectors and guardians of the land.
The earliest recorded use of the phrase as applied toNew Zealand was as the title of a poem about New Zealand written byThomas Bracken.[31] It was published in a book of his poems in 1890, and again in 1893 in a book entitledLays and Lyrics: God's Own Country and Other Poems.[32] God's Own Country as a phrase was often used and popularised by New Zealand's longest serving prime minister,Richard John Seddon. He last quoted it on 10 June 1906 when he sent a telegram to theVictorian premier,Thomas Bent, the day before leavingSydney to return home to New Zealand. "Just leaving for God's own country," he wrote. He never made it, dying the next day on the shipOswestry Grange.[33] Bracken'sGod's Own Country is less well known internationally thanGod Defend New Zealand, which he published in 1876. The latter poem, set to music byJohn Joseph Woods, was declared the country's national hymn in 1940, and made the second national anthem of New Zealand along withGod Save the Queen in 1977.
In recent times, the formGodzone on its own has been used informally of New Zealand.[34]
The phrase was also sporadically used to describe severalAmerican regions. Most known is theUpper Peninsula of Michigan. It is currently used to describe South Boston. It was also used by theConfederate army to describe parts ofTennessee in the 1860s.[35] The phrase was also used to describeCalifornia in the 1860s,[36] and byClement Laird Vallandigham to describe the land of theMississippi plains.[37] None of these remain widely used to describe a region, though it is still occasionally used to describe the United States overall.[38][39]
DuringWorld War II,GermanNazi propaganda ministerJoseph Goebbels sarcastically mocked the US as "Aus Gottes eigenem Land" (From God's Own Country) in an essay that appeared in the German newspaperDas Reich on 9 August 1942.[40] Goebbels ridiculed the United States as a young land that lacked culture, education and history in contrast with Germany. In 1943, the Nazis published ananti-American,antisemitic propaganda book written byErwin Berghaus called "USA – nackt!: Bilddokumente aus Gottes eigenem Land" ("USA naked! Photo documents from God's own country") which also mockingly characterized the US with the phrase.[41][42] Several modern German newspapers such asDie Welt,Der Tagesspiegel andDie Zeit, have also used the phrase "Gottes eigenes Land" ("God's own country") to criticize American culture and society.[43][44][45]
The phrase "God's own country" was heard during the 1970s inZimbabwe (formerlyRhodesia,Southern Rhodesia), where most people perceived the land as beautiful despite the ongoingBush War of the time. Evidence of the phrase being used earlier in reference to Rhodesia is found inChartered Millions: Rhodesia and the Challenge to the British Commonwealth by John Hobbis Harris, published 1920 by Swarthmore Press (refer to page 27). The phrase "Godzone" is distinctly different and was not used in Rhodesia.