Mattarahkka

Mattarahkka, also spelled Maderakka or Madderakka and meaning origin woman, is a mother goddess of Sami shamanism, believed to live in the ground beneath the traditional goahti dwelling. She is connected with childbirth, credited with giving a child its body and with making women and female animals fertile, and offerings of drink were made to secure her mercy toward pregnant women. In the mythology of western Sapmi she is given three daughters, Sarahkka, Juoksahkka and Uksahkka, though these daughters are not part of the tradition in eastern Sapmi, in what is now Finland, which some researchers take as evidence that the daughters reflect later Scandinavian influence. An eighteenth century account by Christfried Ganander describes Mattarahkka receiving a child from the god Radien-attje and giving it life before handing it to Sarahkka to be placed in the mother's womb. Following the arrival of Christianity, Sami tradition came to associate her with the Virgin Mary.