Máttaráhkká

Sámi ancestral mother-goddess of conception and birth (classed as deity). Máttaráhkká / Maderakka, 'the origin-mother' (máttar 'ancestor, root' + áhkká 'goddess, old woman'). Head of the four household Áhkká; she gives the soul its body and hands the child to her daughters. The three named daughters belong to Western Sápmi; eastward Máttaráhkká alone (or merged with Sáráhkká) is found. Secondary attestation (Læstadius, Holmberg, Rydving; drum-iconography).

Children

• Juoksáhkká
• Sáráhkká
• Uksáhkká

Domains

• ancestral motherhood
• fertility and childbirth

Powers

• Receive the soul sent from the upper world and clothe it with a body
• Make women and the female animals fertile

Relations

• mother: Sáráhkká
• mother: Juoksáhkká
• mother: Uksáhkká
• spouse: Madder-attje

Sources

• L. L. Læstadius, Fragments of Lappish Mythology (ms. 1838–1845; ed. J. Pentikäinen, trans. B. Vähämäki, 2002)
• U. Holmberg (Harva), Finno-Ugric Mythology (The Mythology of All Races IV), 1927
• H. Rydving, The End of Drum-Time: Religious Change among the Lule Saami, 1670s–1740s (1993)