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.Weiser-All (1968: 21) records thebelief that a pregnant woman had to lay wood on the fire in a certain way toavoid a breech birth, while she must not sit on a chopping block or stepover it, lest the baby be born with a hare-lip.The special porridge given to144 Mistress of the Household the mother for her first meal after the birth was named after Sar-akka (Weiser-All 1968: 107) and three wooden matches might be put in this, one with acloven end.It was eaten by other women of childbearing age at the sametime,  in Sar-akka s honour (Karsten 1955: 44); offerings might be made toher, such as spinning wheels and reels, brandy poured on the ground, or adog which was buried alive (Lid 1946: 16).Both Madder-akka and Sar-akkawere said to help with menstruation, and to assist reindeer to calve.TheScandinavian Saami, for whom Sar-akka was very important, also invokedher to help children in illness.The place of Sar-akka was in the middle of the house, by the hearth;that of Uks-akka, whose name means Old Woman of the Door, was by thethreshold, and that of Juks-akka probably at the back of the house (Lid1946: 16).There is some confusion as to the exact functions of these lasttwo goddesses; Ränk (1955: 26ff.) believes that Uks-akka guarded the doorand also protected the growing infant from accidents, the Virgin Mary laterreplacing her as door guardian.Juks-akka had a bow as her symbol, andher name means Old Woman of the Bow; a tiny crossbow might be hungnear the child s cradle or put into the mother s porridge after the birth.Ränkthinks that she is the goddess who determined the sex of the child, andcould cause a boy to be born, and that the bow was a male symbol.It maybe noted that these three goddesses possess separate functions in theircare and protection for mother and child, while the figure of Madder-akka,the grandmother, emphasizes the importance of the ancestress in theconception and birth of children.The group of four goddesses is foundonly among the Saami of Scandinavia; in Russia and Finland there was onemain birth deity corresponding to Madder-akka, although a group may haveexisted earlier (Ränk 1955: 7).The title of Earth-Mother is used for a professional midwife in Norway,and was previously in use in Denmark and parts of Sweden for the womanwho delivered the child.It seems likely to have been derived from the earlierconcept of the goddess of birth beneath the earthen floor, which survivedup to the eighteenth century among the Saami, rather than from the customof laying the new-born on the earth (Lid 1946: 11ff.).Another name given tothe woman acting as midwife was Light-Mother, which Lid believes was basedon the use of a special ritual candle to  lighten the new-born child and examineit after birth.The relationship between the Light-Mother and her  Light-Childwas a close one; in some cases, particularly in Iceland, she looked after thechild in her home for the first few days or for an even longer period, duringwhich it was nourished either by a fostermother or with cow s milk.The porridge generally known in Norway as senge-graut (childbed porridge)was called none-graut in certain areas, and norna-greytur in the Faroes,meaning  porridge of the Norns.This suggests the possibility that, like theSaami goddesses, the Norns were originally a group of female beings associated145 Mistress of the Household with childbirth, determining the destiny of the new-born child (see pp.119 20).It might also explain a reference to the Norns in the poem Fáfnismál (12) in thePoetic Edda, in which the hero Sigurd puts questions to the dying dragonFafnir.He asks who are the Norns who come to help in time of need and makethe choice between boy and maid (kjósa moeðr frá mögum).This line haspuzzled editors and translators, who have assumed that it must mean deliveringthe child at birth.But the determining of the sex of the unborn child was thefunction of one of the Saami goddesses, and the mother would appeal to her ifshe were particularly anxious for a son.If similar powers were possessed byone of the Norns, this could explain the phrase in the poem.Sigurd is also told in Fáfnismál that the Norns are  of different origins,not of one race: some akin to the gods, some to the elves, and some daughtersof Dvalin.Those akin to the gods could be the great goddesses, Frigg andFreyja, mentioned as helping in childbirth in Oddrúnargrátr, a poem in theEdda, probably of eleventh-century date.Here Borgny is struggling to givebirth, and her pain and increasing weakness are effectively conveyed.Oddrun,said to be the sister of King Atli, although we know nothing of her or Borgnyfrom other sources, is summoned to help her; they knew each other in thepast, although the poem later reveals that Oddrun blames Borgny for addingto her griefs.She has come, she declares, not out of friendship, but becauseshe swore that she would always help in time of need, apparently meaning incases of difficult childbirth; it would be interesting to know to whom thesepromises were made.Oddrun is evidently famed for her skill as a midwife,and her method is to use powerful spells, as she sits by the knees of Borgnyin the traditional position of the midwife, either in front of the kneeling womanor behind her (Lid 1946: 13; Weiser-All 1968: 114).In Sigrdrífumál we are toldthat whoever helped at a birth would have runes inscribed on the palms ofthe hands, and would clasp the joints (lidu )of the mother, and call on thedísir (goddesses) for aid.In Borgny s case, Oddrun s spells were so powerfulthat twin children, a girl and a boy, were successfully delivered.Borgny wasvery weak, but her first words were those of formal thanks to her mid-wife: May the holy beings, Frigg and Freyja and other gods, help you even asyou have saved me from danger.This appeal to several divinities is in keeping with the description of theNorns as being not only akin to the gods but also linked with elves andunderearth beings [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]