MADDERAKKA

Sami goddess of childbirth. She is assisted by three of her daughtersSarakka, the cleaving woman; Uksakka, the door woman; and Juksakka, the bow womanwho watch over the development of the child from conception through early childhood. Madderakka was believed to receive the soul of a child from Veralden-radien, the world ruler deity, and to give it a body, which Sarakka would then place in the mother's womb. In Norway, Juksakka and Uksakka serve functions similar to that of Sarakka. Uksakka was believed to aid in the actual childbirth; Juksakka would then take care of the child after birth. Sarakka was also thought of as the separating woman who made childbirth easier and was considered to be a deity of women in a more general sense, aiding them in women's concerns such as menstruation.