LAIMA

also called Laima-dalia (from Lithuanian laime, happiness, luck), in Baltic religion, the goddess of fate, generally associated with the linden tree. Together with Dievs, the sky, and Saule, the sun, Laima determines the length and fortune of human life. In the course of each life she helps arrange marriages, oversees weddings, protects pregnant women, and appears at childbirth to pronounce each infant's destiny. Revered as patroness of cows and horses, Laima decides the life span of plants and animals and determines the length of the day. Three other demigoddesses with analogous functions are preserved in Latvian mythologyDekla, protector of babies, Karta, spinner of the thread of life, and Mara, goddess of fertility.