ИСТИНА

Comparing to Irish mythology the study of Latvian mythological heritage deals with the basic difficulty of being a subject of extensive reconstruction during the “National Renaissance” of the mid-XIX A.D. Thus “classical” triad of Latvian major deities (Dievs, Māra, Laima) is likely to be an artificial scheme, but comparing its elements to Irish and, more widely, Celtic data may lead to constructive results. Though Latvian Māra, a female deity connected with household, farming, fertility and justice, has been commonly associated with Irish war and sovereignty goddess Morrigán and her cognates, the figure of her anticipate and co-operator Laima frequently remained unmentioned. Latvian Dainas portray her as divine helper and a “happiness provider”; she crosses the sea in a golden boat and appears to mortals to take them to the happy Otherworld. The clearest parallel to it is an Irish motif of the female Otherworld Messenger as appears in Échtrai and Immrama. Thus, despite apparent similarity, the figure of her mortal protégé is quite different: in Irish case he is mainly physically and/or socially perfect (e.g. a hero), and in Dainas, in contrast, he is simply an unhappy one – mostly an orphan; but the orphan, however, is an unambiguously positive figure in Latvian folklore.