Depiction of Laima by Latvian pagan
Latvian pagan · CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Laima

Latvian · deity · Latvian traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification

Laima, whose name is simply the word for 'luck', is the Latvian goddess of destiny and one of the most frequently invoked powers in the dainas. She appears above all at two thresholds of life: the birth-bed, where she lays down the span and quality of the child's existence, and the eve of marriage, where the anxious young woman begs her for a kind husband and a fortunate household. Her decrees are irrevocable, so that human happiness is understood as 'what Laima has granted'. She is often paired or merged with Māra, and she is the foremost of a trio of fate-goddesses completed by Dēkla and Kārta, with whom she is at times scarcely distinguishable in the songs.

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