| Laima | |
|---|---|
Fate | |
| Personal information | |
| Siblings | Kārta and Dēkla |
| Equivalents | |
| Hindu equivalent | Lakshmi |
| Part of a series on |
| Baltic religion |
|---|
 |
Laima is a Baltic goddess of fate. [1] She was associated with childbirth, marriage, and death; she was also the patron of pregnant women. Laima and her functions are similar to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.
In Latvian mythology, Laima and her sisters, Kārta and Dēkla, were a trinity of fate deities, similar to the Norse Norns or the Greek Moirai. [2] Laima makes the final decision on individual's fate and is considerably more popular. While all three of them had similar functions, Laima is the Goddess of luck and is more related with mothers and childbirth, Dēkla is in charge of children, and Kārta holds power over the adult's life. [2] In modern Dievturi these three goddesses are referred to as the three Laimas, indicating they are the same deity in three different aspects. Birth rituals at the end of the 19th century included offerings of hen, sheep, towels or other woven materials to Laima. Only women could participate in the ritual, performed in a sauna (pirtis). [3]
In Lithuanian mythology, Laima (fate, destiny) is often confused with Laimė (good fortune) and Laumė (fairy). [4] Other related deities include Dalia (fate) and Giltinė (The Reaper). Laima was first mentioned in written sources as Laimelea by Wilhelm Martini in the Latin prologue to Lithuanian songs, collected by Daniel Klein and published in 1666. [5] She was also mentioned by Matthäus Prätorius, Jacob Brodowski, Philipp Ruhig and others. [6]
One of the most important duties of Laima is to prophesy (Lithuanian: lemti) how the life of a newborn will take place. [4] Sometimes there was only one Laima, while in other cases three Laimas would give often contradictory predictions. The final pronouncement would be irrevocable and not even Laima herself could change it. [7] While three fate goddesses have less support among academics, the concept is well-established in European religions (e.g. Greek Moirai). [8] In the earlier historiography, the example of predestination by Laima was used to judge the Lithuanian religion as fatalistic. For example, in 1837 Manfred Tietz wrote that, because Lithuanians believed in the determined fate, they were fearless warriors. [9] Algirdas Julien Greimas argued that such a view is superficial and that Laima did not determine the fate but only knew about it. [8] In one Lithuanian version of the Great Flood myth, Laima participates in the birth of the humankind. [10]
Laima was related to Gegutė (cuckoo), which Greimas considered a separate goddess [11] while others see her as an incarnation of Laima. Gegutė was responsible for time and the succession of the seasons. The number of her calls was believed to predict how long a person had left to live. In spring she would also determine how a person would spend the remainder of the year; for example, if a man had no money on him when he heard the cuckoo, he would be poor for the rest of the year. [11] Laima's sacred tree is the linden. [12]
The Lithuanian folk music group Kūlgrinda released an album in 2014 titled Laimos Giesmės, meaning "The Hymns of Laima". [13]
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai often known in English as the Fates—were the personifications of destiny. They were three sisters: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Their Roman equivalent is the Parcae.
Latvian mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of Latvia, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives. These myths, for the most part, likely stem from Proto-Indo-European practices and the later folk traditions of the Latvian people and pre-Christian Baltic mythology.
In Latvian mythology, the term Māte stands for "mother", sometimes written in English as Mahte. It was an epithet applied to some sixty-seventy goddesses. They were clearly distinct goddesses in most or all cases, so the term definitely referred to the mother-goddess of specific phenomena. According to professor Lotte Motz, scholar Haralds Biezais mentioned there were at least 70 characters in Baltic religion identified with the title of Mate.
Auseklis is a Latvian god, a stellar deity that represents a celestial body, but possibly not the same as Venus - the first "star" to appear in the mornings on the east side of the sky. He is the third most popular deity in Latvian mythology after Saulė and Mēness, but is almost exclusively mentioned in folk songs.
Māra is the highest-ranking goddess in Latvian mythology, the ancient Dawn-goddess, previously called Austra, and, not at all, although often stated, the same as Zemes māte.
Lithuanian mythology is the mythology of Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-Europeans, ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. In pre-Christian Lithuania, mythology was a part of polytheistic religion; after Christianisation mythology survived mostly in folklore, customs and festive rituals. Lithuanian mythology is very close to the mythology of other Baltic nations – Prussians, Latvians, and is considered a part of Baltic mythology.
Aušrinė is a feminine deity of the morning star (Venus) in the Lithuanian mythology. She is the antipode to "Vakarinė", the evening star.
Dalia is the goddess of fate in the Lithuanian mythology. She is the giver and taker of goods and property. Dalia is often confused with and hard to distinguish from Laima, another goddess of fate. Sometimes Dalia is thought of as a different manifestation of Laima. However, Laima is more involved in predicting the length of a person's life while Dalia is more concerned with material wealth a person would earn during the lifetime – allotting a proper share to everyone. According to myths, just as a father divides his estate among the children, so Dievas Senelis allots each newborn with a proper share. Dalia is seen more as an enforcer of Dievas' will rather than a decision-maker. She can appear as a woman, lamb, dog, swan, or duck.
Saulė is a solar goddess, the common Baltic solar deity in the Lithuanian and Latvian mythologies. The noun Saulė/Saule in the Lithuanian and Latvian languages is also the conventional name for the Sun and originates from the Proto-Baltic name *Sauliā > *Saulē.
Žemyna is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian religion. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. Žemyna personifies the fertile earth and nourishes all life on earth, human, plant, and animal. All that is born of earth will return to earth, thus her cult is also related to death. As the cult diminished after baptism of Lithuania, Žemyna's image and functions became influenced by the cult of Virgin Mary.
Perkūnas was the common Baltic god of thunder, and the second most important deity in the Baltic pantheon after Dievas. In both Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, he is documented as the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, fire, war, law, order, fertility, mountains, and oak trees.
Latvian Lauma or Lithuanian Laumė, or Yotvingian Łauma is a fairy-like woodland spirit, and guardian spirit of orphans in Eastern Baltic mythology or Yotvingian mythology. Originally a sky spirit, her compassion for human suffering brought her to earth to share our fate.
Algirdas Julien Greimas was a Lithuanian literary scientist who wrote most of his body of work in French while living in France. Greimas is known among other things for the Greimas Square. He is, along with Roland Barthes, considered the most prominent of the French semioticians. With his training in structural linguistics, he added to the theory of signification, plastic semiotics, and laid the foundations for the Parisian school of semiotics. Among Greimas's major contributions to semiotics are the concepts of isotopy, the actantial model, the narrative program, and the semiotics of the natural world. He also researched Lithuanian mythology and Proto-Indo-European religion, and was influential in semiotic literary criticism.
Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of the Baltic peoples stemming from Baltic paganism and continuing after Christianization and into Baltic folklore.
Gintaras Beresnevičius was a Lithuanian historian of religions specializing in Baltic mythology. He together with Norbertas Vėlius is considered to be the best specialist in Lithuanian mythology.
Time and fate deities are personifications of time, often in the sense of human lifetime and human fate, in polytheistic religions. In monotheism, Time can still be personified, like Father Time.
Medeina or Medeinė, often treated as synonymous to Žvorūnė or Žvorūna, is one of the main deities in the Lithuanian mythology, and is similar to Latvian Meža māte. She is a ruler of forests, trees and animals. Her sacred animal is a hare.
Milda, in the Lithuanian mythology, is the goddess of love. However, her authenticity is debated by scholars. Despite the uncertainty, Milda became a popular female given name in Lithuania. Neo-pagan societies and communities, including Romuva, organize various events in honor of goddess Milda in May. The Milda Mons, a mountain on Venus, is named after her.
Interpretatio slavica is the practice by the Slavic peoples to identify the gods of neighboring peoples and the names of Christian saints with the names of Slavic deities.
