Akka (spirit)

Sami mythology

• Maderakka, the first akka, was mother of the tribe, goddess of women and children, she who gives humans their bodies. Women and girls belong to her, as do boys until they are declared men. Maderakka is popular among modern Sámi feminists. Her three daughters are:
• *Sarakka, the goddess of fertility, menstruation, love, human sexuality, pregnancy and childbirth. After a birth, a woman would eat a special porridge dedicated to Sarakka. The modern Sámi women's organisation The Sarahkka formed in 1988 and is named in honor of her.
• *Juksakka, "akka with an arrow", the protector of children.
• *Uksakka, who shapes the fetus in the mother's womb and assigns humans their sexes.
• Jabme-Akka, "the akka of the dead", is a goddess of the underworld. She soothes the spirits of dead babies, but all other spirits dwell in sorrow. Her land of the dead is said to mirror of the land of the living, where everything is opposite. So, the dead are buried with the essentials of living and anything that would make their afterlife better.

  Finnish and Estonian mythologies