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Māra is the highest-ranking
goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...
in
Latvian mythology 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 myt ...
, the ancient Dawn-goddess, previously called Austra, and, not at all, although often stated, the same as Zemes māte ( Mother Earth, pace).


Names

Alternative names: Māre, Mārīte (
diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...
), Mārša, Māršava (Western Latvia).


Description

She is the patroness of all feminine duties (children, cattle), patroness of all the economic activities ("God made the table, Māra made the bread"), even money and markets. Being the alternate side of Dievs, she takes a person's body after their death while Dievs is taking the soul. She is the goddess of the land, which is called ''Māras zeme'' ('Māra's land'). She is called 'Mother of Cows' (''Govu māte''), the same way the
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...
Dawn-goddess is called ''gávām mātár-'' 'id'. In western
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
, and to a lesser degree in the rest of Latvia, she was strongly associated with
Laima Laima is a Baltic goddess of fate. She was associated with childbirth, marriage, and death; she was also the patron of pregnancy, pregnant women. Laima and her functions are similar to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. In Latvia In Latvian mythology, ...
, and may have been considered the same
deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
.


Festivals

The festival Māras was held in her honor every August 15. This is probably a result of
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
influence and identification of Māra with Mary, whose main festival ( the Assumption) has fallen on the same date since early times. Opinions are divided over whether Māra is a pre-Christian deity, or originated as a reflection of the Christian Mary created by semi-Christian Livonian peasants.


See also

* Morana (goddess) * Mara (Hindu goddess) *
Mara (disambiguation) Mara or MARA may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Mara (''Doctor Who''), an evil being in two ''Doctor Who'' serials * Mara (She-Ra), fictional characters from the ''She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'' and ''The New Advent ...
*
Mare (folklore) A mare (, ; Old Norse, Old High German and Swedish language, Swedish: ; ) is a malicious entity in Germanic folklore, Germanic and Slavic folklore that walks on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on nightmares.Harald Bjorvand, Bjorvand, ...
*
Marah (Bible) Marah ( meaning 'bitter') is one of the locations which the Book of Exodus, Exodus identifies as having been travelled through by the Israelites, during the Exodus. The liberated Israelites set out on their journey in the desert, somewhere in t ...
*
Mokosh Mokosh ( ) is a List of Slavic deities, Slavic goddess. No narratives about this deity have survived and scholars must rely on academic disciplines like philology to discern details about her. According to etymological reconstruction, Mokosh wa ...
*
Semele Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele ...
*
Eos In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Eos (; Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic Greek, Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic Greek, Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric Greek, Doric ''Āṓs'') is the go ...
*
Aurora (mythology) Aurōra () is the Latin word for dawn, and the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry. Like Greek mythology, Greek ''Eos'' and Rigvedic deities, Rigvedic ''Ushas'', ''Aurōra'' continues the name of an earlier Proto-Indo-European myth ...
*
Ēostre ''Ēostre'' ()Sievers 1901 p. 98Robert Barnhart, Barnhart, Robert K. ''The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology'' (1995) . is an List of Anglo-Saxon deities, Anglo-Saxon goddess mentioned by Bede in his 8th century work ''The Reckoning of ...
*
Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
*
Bendis Bendis () was a Thracian goddess associated with hunting and the moon. Worship of the goddess seems to have been introduced into Attica around 430 BC. In Athens, Bendis was identified with the goddess Artemis, but she had a separate temple at ...
*
Mara (demon) Mara,, '; ; or ; ; also マーラ, ''Māra'' or 天魔, ''Tenma''; ; ; Tibetan Wylie: ''bdud''; ; ; ; in Buddhism, is a malignant celestial Asura king who tried to stop The Buddha, Prince Siddhartha from Awakening by trying to seduce him w ...
, a "demon" of the Buddhist cosmology * Hausos


References


Further reading

*


External links


Māre at Krisjanis Barons folk closet
Latvian Folklore
Latvia seeks common roots in Tamil Goddess Mariamma
''Times of India'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mara Latvian goddesses Commerce goddesses Agricultural goddesses Animal goddesses Childhood goddesses Earth goddesses