The goddess Lada, the patroness of women and family, her very name evokes a feeling of security and peace. She helps women meet their soul mate, bring harmony and goodness to existing families.
She gently unites many beliefs, for Lada is the personification of the feminine, affectionate, wise power of love and harmony. Eliminates many blockages that we have acquired by rushing into the world of masculine, aggressive energies.
Helps transform internal and external obstacles into the power of the Heavenly energy that crowns earthly happiness.
4th archetype of feminine energy. 
LADA - in Slavic mythology, the female hypostasis of Rod, the wife of Svarog, the goddess of love and beauty, youth and abundance, ripening of the harvest and fertility, the patroness of marriages, the hearth, and intercessor before the gods. The Mother of God Lada is the mother of the Slavic gods, she is also the woman in labor, the “all-generous mother Rodikha”, who helps during childbirth. Later, after the baptism of Rus', her such a characteristic image was actually equated with the Christian Mother of God. Femininity itself: tender, melodious, golden-haired, in white clothes - even on Kupala night in a round dance it will lead a guy to his sweetheart; and he will hide his stepdaughter from the evil stepmother under the branches when she gets ready to meet her friend. In young families, the hearth supports: it happens that the hearth is about to go out, and Lada throws a twig, waves her clothes - the hearth will flare up, touch the hearts of the foolish with warmth, and again there will be harmony in the family.
Since unhappy love is sometimes the cause of grief, Lada personified such a hypostasis of it. They said about a man who married without love: “I didn’t marry Lada!” To avoid such a disaster, the newlyweds brought flowers, live birds, honey and berries to the goddess.
The ancient Slavs called the whole system of life by the name Lada - lad, where everything was supposed to be fine, that is, good. People should be able to get along with each other. The wife called her beloved Lado, and he called her Ladushka. “Lady,” they say when they have decided on some important matter, and in ancient times a dowry agreement was called ladnik: lady - engagement, ladylo - matchmaker, ladkanya - wedding song.
And even the pancakes that were baked in the spring in honor of resurgent life are from the same root.
Then they sang:
Bless me, mother,
Oh mother Lada, mother!
Call for spring...
And, of course, Mother Lyubov gave her blessing to people to summon spring. The goddess Lada was known to many European peoples.
Lithuanians and their neighbors, the Lettas, glorified Lada during the Kupala festivities. They sang: “Lada, Lada, dido musu deve!” (“Lada, Lada, our great goddess!”) - and they sacrificed a white rooster.
When in the 12th century BC. e. The Dorians conquered Greece, they brought with them the cult of Lada, whose name in their language meant Lady. Since then, our Lada has firmly settled in ancient Greek mythology, she even split into two, becoming, first of all, the Titanide Leto (in Rome she was called Latona), the mother of Apollo and Artemis. It is interesting that Leto and her children assisted the Trojans (a people related to the ancestors of the Rus) against the Achaeans. Then she incarnated as Zeus’s beloved Leda, who gave birth to the Dioscuri twins.
Why can we say that Leto and Leda are the Slavic Lada, what do they have in common, except for the similarity of names? Firstly, all three goddesses were associated with the cult of the white swan, the sacred animal of Lada, whose name meant, among other things, “swan”. It was for this reason that Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of a white swan. And the Lithuanians sacrificed a white rooster to Lada as a substitute for a swan (in fact, it was difficult to find swans in Lithuania in those days). Both Greek women, Leto and Leda, gave birth to divine twins, and Lada also had twins - Lel and Polel. 
The magnificent Lada temple stood in ancient Kyiv. Before his baptism, Vladimir, being in love and collecting beauties everywhere, greatly revered this Queen of love. He erected a magnificent and decorated temple for her on the Mountain.
G. Kheraskov describes it this way:
Ladin Temple proud of its colorful pillars,
It is hung around with flails woven from roses.
The goddess, holding the boy in her hand,
She appeared wearing beads and a myrtle wreath;
Her hair is flowing like gold;
For her generosity, flowers are brought in payment.
“Vladim”, canto III.
And in that temple there is a statue of an incomparable beauty in a pink wreath. Her golden hair was decorated with river pearls, and her long Russian dress, tied at the waist with a gold belt, was covered with complex ornamental embroidery. She held the hand of a winged baby, her son and the god of love Lel. At the base of the statue, incense smoked and piles of flowers lay, which were replaced daily with new bouquets. The birch tree, personifying the goddess Lada, was considered a sacred tree by the ancient Slavs. The temple building was built from “living” material - wood (this tradition is still strictly observed in the East - in China and Japan), completely covered with silver plates. Thousands of burning candles were reflected in them, illuminating everything around with flashes. It was an amazing sight, unearthly in beauty.
Scandinavian Edda about Lada:
"Just as Perun was an angry god, so the Golden Mother was disgusted with him, or in other words, Baba was the goddess of peace and quiet. Her image was made of gold in the form of a woman; and from this it received its name, as well as from the property attributed to it. In her arms she held a baby, who was considered her grandson, and from whom she was called Baba, i.e. Grandmother. This grandson was Svetovid. Around the image there was a great variety of musical instruments, on which her praises were sung during her celebration. Her most glorious temple was built near the Obigo or Obega River. Here she gave answers; and therefore this temple was considered prophetic, and was in great glory. She was so sacredly revered that no one dared to pass by her idol without offering something as a sacrifice, and if he had nothing, then he offered at least a scrap of his dress with earthly worship.
This goddess seems to have been the same as the Celtic Frigga or Freya, to whom alone the prophecy is attributed: “One Frigga knows the future news, but does not reveal this to anyone,” the words of Odin cited in the Edda”.
Goddess of the Earth: a young beautiful woman with golden-colored hair and a wreath of roses, dressed in Russian clothes, girded with a gold belt and adorned with pearls, she held a baby by the hand - the goddess of spring Lelya. She is one of two goddesses who give birth. The Mother in labor (Lada) was associated by the Slavs with the period of summer fertility, when the harvest ripens, becomes heavier, and becomes full. This is fully consistent with the image of fruitful Autumn.
A little more information about our primordial Gods. Today is the female hypostasis of Rod. 
Lada - Goddess of cosmic love
Lada - Female hypostasis of the Rod, Spouse of Svarog. Theotokos Lada - Mother of the gods; Goddess of abundance, ripening of the harvest and fertility. For believers - Intercessor before the gods: protects from their wrath. Later, after the baptism of Rus', She was equated with the Christian Mother of God. The Goddess was approached with prayers in late spring and throughout the summer. 
Stretch out your hands to the golden sun,
Oh, this is the greatest joy!
Lada slowly walks around Iriy -
Wife of Svarog, the essence of femininity.
In the rays of her heavenly beauty
The sun is shining and the storms are silent,
And lilies of the valley and roses bow
Before her are her wonderful flowers.
She laughs, and the Gods cannot
Resist this smile
All the heavenly palaces rejoice!
Looking at her husband tenderly and wisely,
The Goddess hurries to hug him,
Meet the pink morning with him
In the fragrant forget-me-not meadows
And rest on mown haystacks...
Lada is the Female projection of Rod. Without this life-giving energy, Rod would never have been able to give birth to himself. And this is exactly what he does at the dawn of any young Universe he launches. Lada is the highest creative hypostasis of the Spring of the Universe, this is the powerful energy of creation. Only She is capable of blowing up the cellular structure of the Overcosmic Navi, where the volitional and mental forces of the Family that have passed through the evolutionary cycle have accumulated; not only that, but also activating the dormant information field for creative work. To give birth to itself, Rod needs the feminine creative energy of Lada. But this Power of creation and birth fills not only the Rod, It becomes the creative potential of all the highest cosmic gods of the Universe. The ancient Aryans called Her the Mother of the World, which She actually is.
They said about a man who married without love: “I didn’t marry Lada!” Goddess Lada became Women's Love. She was the name given to wise wives who knew how to bring a family together and create harmony in the house. The Great Goddess liked faithful marital love. An engagement was then called frets, a wedding agreement was called padin, and a girl's fortune-telling about the groom was called fret. And, they say, people have never heard of anyone taking an unlovable wife as a wife, or raping, dragging a girl into marriage with a hateful, unloving, uneven... Great Lada would never forgive such sacrilege...
In order for the young family to live in love, each newlywed couple brought live birds, flowers, berries and honey as a gift to Lada. All the people loved her, women sacrificed embroideries, scarves, and rings.
Lada was one of the Rozhanitsa, that is, she was present at the birth of a person and determined his fate. The stars, the brothers-Months and the Rozhanitsa Lada herself give each person a Share - or a Meeting, as it is also called - a small Deity who follows the owner to the grave, works and bothers, helps him. Everyone’s shares are different, depending on which star ruled in the sky.
In the magnificent Lada Temple in Kyiv there was a statue of an incomparable beauty in a pink wreath. Her golden hair was decorated with pearls, her dress was decorated with rich embroidery and jewelry. She held the hand of a winged baby - her son and the god of love Lelya.
By the name of Lada, the ancient Slavs called not only the original goddess of love, but also the entire order of life - a harmony where everything should be fine, that is, good. All people should be able to get along with each other. The wife called her beloved Lado, and he called her Ladushka. “Okay,” people say when they have decided on some important matter. And even the pancakes that were baked in the spring in honor of resurgent life are from the same root. Then they sang:
Bless me, mother,
Oh mother Lada, mother!
Call for spring...
Lada is the goddess of abundance, the time of harvest ripening. The goddess was approached with prayers in late spring and during the summer, and a white rooster was sacrificed (the white color symbolized goodness). Her name was repeated in the choruses of songs: “Oh, Lado!” There were two Mother Goddesses: Mother and Daughter. Lada was called "Mother Leleva". Lada was associated by the Slavs with periods of summer fertility, when the harvest ripened and became heavier. There are many words and concepts associated with the name "Lada" in the Russian language, and they all have to do with establishing order: get along, get along, get along, get along, okay.
She rode around the sown fields in green clothes, blessing the future harvest, and the fur of her horse shone with ripe gold, like a poured ear. And men and women, holding hands, followed her into the fields, where they could hug away from prying eyes. People were in charge; their love gives good strength to the grain field. The field gave people blue flowers and promised to return what they had sown a hundredfold. They say that the grain grew back then with a hundred ears, hundreds of tight, heavy ears of grain on each stem! 
The great Lada, Mother Lada, had a young daughter. Her name was simply Daughter - Lelya, Lelyushka, Polelushka. It’s not for nothing that the beloved child is still not only raised, but cherished, the cradle is called a cradle, and the child itself, no, no, is tenderly called a cradle (both a caress and a talisman) in the name of the beautiful Goddess Lada (Sacred Call).
The meaning of the name of the goddess Lada lies in the concept of Order (Ancestral System) and Harmony (Harmony of Soul and Body), and also serves to describe all that is most beautiful and graceful. Therefore, the symbol of the goddess Lada herself is the most beloved tree among the people - the birch. It is also appropriate to remember that it is the Russian Birch that is considered to be the magical symbol of Rus'.
The goddess Lada is always characterized by light features, in winter - blondes in a snowy robe, and starting in spring - girls with golden hair, crowned with a wreath of flowers. It is thanks to traditional sacrifices to the goddess Lada that today there is a custom of giving flowers to beloved women (incarnations of Lada).
Like all Russian pagan goddesses (in contrast to the rather strict gods), Lada is extremely supportive of all the aspirations of people, responding even to hatred with love. In honoring the goddess Lada, one should not confuse family love with spontaneous love (the patron of which is the goddess Lelya). A feature of this cult is the obligatory dedication (in the name of preservation) of all property and valuable things belonging to the family (which should be inherited) - to the patronage of the goddess Lada . All maternity shirts and other family amulets (including those for protection during military operations) can gain their Power only under the protection of the goddess Lada (while the Gods of War strive to take all the best Warriors into their Retinue). Therefore, all ancestral amulets must be consecrated (brought to light) on the Altar of the goddess Lada, a Sacred place that is always open to the Sunlight.
Christianity only served to restore the popularity of the goddess Lada, who, along with other Mothers of the Family, began to be revered as the Mother of God (in accordance with the monotheistic views of Christianity).
Linden - TREE OF THE GODDESS.
The ancient Slavs considered the linden tree to be the tree of the goddess of love and beauty Lada; girls danced around old linden trees.
Lelnik is a maiden Slavic holiday.
Lada's daughter Lelya-Rozhanitsa!
At the moment the earth awakens
Appear to be born
Spring sprouts were able to!
On the maiden holiday of April,
To round dances under the moon -
We are waiting for you today, Lelya -
Goddess of earthly youth! 
- http://www.proshkolu.ru/user/rkzxf/blog/129850/ - material prepared by Larisa Germanovna Shchudrova;
- http://www.otklic.ru/kurs/stati/bogi.htm - Images of pagan gods of the Slavs
Lada, ladushka, okay, lad... that’s what in ancient Rus' was called the way of family life, where everything is always good, “okay”. And not without reason, because that was the name of the Slavic goddess of love and beauty - Lada.
Goddess Lada is the patroness of marriage and love. But in addition to love affairs, she also blessed abundance in the house and the ripening of a high harvest.
The meaning of Lada in the life of the ancient Slavs
Since pagan times, gods have always been of great importance to people. But among them there was one goddess who brought only happiness, joy and love.
Goddess Lada is the patroness of love and lovers and, unlike the rather strict gods, she always gives only joy. And even in the face of hatred he gives smiles.
Everything elegant and beautiful is contained in the name Lada. And by the way, the symbol of the goddess herself is the very Russian tree - the birch. But the white birch is Rus' itself.
Interesting fact. Previously, there were customs of making sacrifices to the gods. But it was Lada who did not need sacrifices. People brought her fresh flowers and berries.
It was from this custom that it became a tradition to give bouquets of flowers to girls and women symbolizing love.
July is the month of Lada
It’s not for nothing that Ladushka is remembered in July. After all, this hot summer month was also popularly called “Lipets” because of the linden blossoms. And the massive ripening of the crop, the appearance of berries, vegetables and fruits was considered an incense sent by the Slavic goddess Lada.
Children born in July were always considered to be under the protection of Ladushka. It was believed that people born in this month would be very happy in marriage.
The goddess Lada was a symbol of not only love. She patronized women and children, widows and lovers. In addition, Lada symbolizes fertility not only in terms of harvest, but also in the birth of children.
Unusual customs
- Lada is the goddess of love and beauty. About those who married for convenience and without love, they said that they did not marry Lada.
- There is such a cozy word “lad”. This is when everything in the family goes as it should, “okay.” Therefore, Ladami was the name given to wise women who knew how to always maintain comfort and good relationships among all family members in their family.
- Everything that the Slavs had to do with love, family, and suitors was named after the goddess of love. So, for example, the engagement was called - lada, fortune-telling of girls for grooms - laduvanye.
- In a happy family, the wife called her beloved husband “Lado.” And the husband called his adored little wife “Ladushka.”
- Goddess Lada never forgave marriages not for love, much less violence or marrying off a girl to someone who is hateful and unloved.
- In order for the young to live well and well, they brought fresh flowers and berries as gifts to the goddess. Honey and birds were considered especially valuable gifts. Moreover, the birds had to be released into the wild without causing harm. Handicraft girls brought gifts of their creations - embroidery, homemade scarves.
- An interesting custom was associated with childbirth. It was believed that at the birth of a child, the Slavic goddess Lada was always present, who gave fate to the baby.
- People believed that the goddess gives every born child a Share. This is a small deity that will protect and follow its owner until the very end.
- But everyone has their own Share. Everything depended on the dominant star at the time of the birth of the baby.
Goddess of fertility
Scientists studying Slavic gods have established that there were two benefactors who patronized women and childbirth.
How else. After all, Lada gave birth to a daughter named Lelya. It is interesting that Lada is considered the goddess of the summer and autumn months, when the crops ripen and are harvested in the fields.
Let us remember how artists who want to depict autumn in the face of a woman paint the image of a plump, mature mother of a family. Among the Slavs, the goddess Lada is a woman who personifies autumn, fertility and comfort in the family.
But the spring months are given over to the power of Lada’s daughter, Lelya. When nature awakens, spring greenery appears on the fields and trees. If you look at spring, she is depicted as a young girl, pure and innocent.
Think about where the gentle word “cherish” comes from when parents caress their baby. Yes, yes, on behalf of Lelya - the goddess of young spring flowers and pure beauty.
Lelya's holiday
And if Lelya’s mother is concerned about the harvest and the preservation of love in the house, then her daughter protects new shoots and emerging sprouts. She has in her power nascent love and tender girlish dreams.
Lele was also brought gifts and lured into visiting the house. But before that, they made sure to ask her mother for permission.
Gifts for the goddess Lelya were dairy products and plant products. All this was brought to the clearing from April 22 to 23, in the young month of spring. At midnight a fire was lit, and 12 small ones were lit around it, which represented the months.
Only girls and women could come to the holiday. The men only watched from afar. All those present ate the provisions brought with prayers and songs and had fun all night.
Image of Lada
The goddess of beauty Lada symbolized love and fidelity. She personified fertility both in the sense of harvest and childbearing.
But Lada should not be confused with a symbol of motherhood. This role was played by another revered goddess - Mother Makosh.
The depicted goddess Lada among the Slavs always looked feminine and light. But she was not a young girl. As a rule, she had hair with a greenish tint, closer to blonde.
Multi-colored butterflies were always painted around the head. And the whole outfit was made from natural materials. The colors also echoed the natural shades of foliage: crimson, azure, green.
Lada, the Slavic goddess of beauty, always wears the image of a bright, cheerful, cheerful woman of 25-30 years old. She is always pure and sincere, but her beauty is only innocent.
Image of Lelya
Lada's daughter is a young, blossoming girl Lelya. She is clean and bright, she is at that age when she can just dream of a groom and get married.
Lelya was always depicted with light brown hair. She is no longer a little girl, but she is not yet a woman either. Therefore, she is not a keeper of the hearth, like her mother, and was revered for her beauty and innocence.
Lelya was imagined by the ancient Slavs only surrounded by wild nature. Fallow deer and young squirrels caress at her feet. A light breeze blows your hair.
Lada's daughter, a creature completely devoid of any aggression and always cheerful, is cheerful and attuned to sincere feelings.
The Russian birch tree is inextricably linked with the image of Lelya. Berezonka, like Lelyushka, are always pure and immaculate, ready to give themselves to only one betrothed.
Sadness in Lelya's eyes
Very often, when depicting Lelya, artists draw a girl with sad eyes. And all because at the dawn of her girlhood, Lada’s daughter fell in love with a young man. But in response to the girl’s confession, he said that he was open to all women and loved each of them.
This young man's name was Yarilo, the son of the Sun God. He was ready to link his fate with Lelya, but not for life. It is clear that the wounded girl could not afford this.
In the end, Lelya met her great love in the person of Finist. But somewhere in the depths of her soul lived that very first love that made her suffer.
Revered Lada
Of course, Lelya is still a very young girl. But the goddess of love Lada is a woman who has already matured. Accordingly, she patronized the ripening of everything, from love to harvest.
You can often see pictures of the goddess coming to the field, all in green robes and blessing the future harvest.
An interesting fact about lovers who secluded themselves in the fields. They believed that they were following Lada, and she was protecting them. But if it concerns only meetings and marriage arrangements. There is no talk of any carnal pleasures.
If the young people talked about love, it means they gave new strength to the ears of corn, which began to grow even more. At the same time, green sprouts gave the lovers their light and warmth.
The goddess Lada has always been very revered among the Slavs. All things that are valued and dear to the family are subject to Lada’s protection and amulet. Such things are necessarily brought out for public viewing and undergo a rite of passage.
This is especially true for maternity shirts, baptismal clothes, and various family amulets. If a man goes to war, all the things he takes with him are taken out into the sun, onto the altar for consecration by Lada.
Whereas everything that can cause harm, on the contrary, is removed from human eyes and sunlight.
The Slavs revered the goddess Lada very much. Historians claim that previously there was even a temple dedicated to the goddess. It was built, of course, from wood.
The center of the temple was decorated with an incredibly beautiful girl in a wreath of flowers. The hair is braided and decorated with pearls.
The goddess's dress is traditionally Russian - long, with a wide belt and decorated with interesting embroidery.
Incense was always lit at the feet of the goddess, and people and temple employees placed fresh flowers and berries.
Lada is the Slavic goddess of beauty, love and marriage, family happiness, patroness of widows and orphans. Lada is the Goddess of cosmic love, the female hypostasis of Rod, the Spouse of Svarog (according to other sources, the wife of Rod). To give birth to itself, Rod needs the feminine creative energy of Lada. But this Power of creation and birth fills not only the Rod, It becomes the creative potential of all the highest cosmic gods of the Universe. The ancient Aryans called Her the Mother of the World, which She actually is.
The Mother in labor (Lada) was associated by the Slavs with the period of summer fertility, when the harvest ripens, becomes heavier, and becomes full. This is fully consistent with the image of mature motherhood: fruitful Autumn. By the name of Lada, the ancient Slavs called not only the original goddess of love, but also the entire system of life - Lada, where everything was supposed to be okay, that is, good. All people should be able to get along with each other.
Boris Olshansky. Sacred call.
The wife called her beloved Lado, and he called her Ladushka. An engagement was then called ladami, a wedding agreement was called padinami, a dowry agreement was called a ladnik, a girl's fortune-telling about the groom was laduvany, ladylo was a matchmaker, ladkanya was a wedding song... And, they say, people had never heard of anyone taking a wife disliked or raped, dragged a girl into marriage with a hateful, unloved, uneven... Great Lada would never forgive such sacrilege...
Boris Olshansky. At the heavenly pier.
But since love can sometimes be the cause of grief, Lada also personified unhappy love. They said about a man who married without love: “I didn’t marry Lada!” To avoid such troubles, each newlywed couple brought flowers, live birds, honey and berries to the goddess. And, of course, Mother Lyubov gave her blessing to people to summon spring. The goddess Lada was known to many European peoples. Lithuanians and their neighbors, the Lettas, glorified Lada during the Kupala festivities. They sang: “Lada, Lada, dido musu deve!” (“Lada, Lada, our great goddess!”) - and they sacrificed a white rooster.
Andrey Guselnikov.
When in the 12th century BC. e. The Dorians conquered Greece, they brought with them the cult of Lada, whose name in their language meant Lady. Since then, our Lada has firmly settled in ancient Greek mythology, she even split into two, becoming, first of all, the Titanide Leto (in Rome she was called Latona), the mother of Apollo and Artemis. It is interesting that Leto and her children assisted the Trojans (a people related to the ancestors of the Rus) against the Achaeans. Then she incarnated as Zeus’s beloved Leda, who gave birth to the Dioscuri twins.
All three goddesses were associated with the cult of the white swan, the sacred animal of Lada, whose name meant, among other things, “swan”. It was for this reason that Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of a white swan. Both Greek women, Leto and Leda, gave birth to divine twins, and Lada also had twins - Lel (Lelya) and Polel.
Boris Olshansky. Magic. 1998.
But in the Slavic lands Lada was revered more than anywhere else. Information has been preserved that in pre-Christian times, in the lower part of Kyiv, on Podol, there was a majestic Lada temple. In the center stood a statue of a divinely beautiful woman wearing a pink wreath. Her golden hair was decorated with freshwater pearls, and her long Russian dress, tied at the waist with a golden belt, was covered with precious and complex ornamental embroidery. She held the hand of a winged baby, her son and the god of love Lel. At the base of the statue, incense smoked and piles of flowers lay, which the attendants replaced with new bouquets every day.
The temple building was traditionally built from “living” material - wood (this tradition is strictly observed, for example, in the East - in China and Japan), completely covered with silver plates. Thousands of burning candles were reflected in these silver slabs and illuminated everything around with flashes.
Maxim Kuleshov.
Among the Świętokrzyskie Mountains in southern Poland rises Bald Mountain. Such mountains, as if by nature themselves intended for crowded gatherings on their peaks, were considered sacred by the pagans or, conversely, unclean. Here in the 9th-10th centuries. (or even in the 1st millennium BC) there was a sanctuary - a vast area surrounded by a rampart. According to what was recorded in the 16th century. According to legend, the deities Lada, Boda and Lelya were worshiped here in early May. Later, on the site of the temple, the monastery of St. Trinity. Obviously, two Lada holidays were celebrated here: the culmination of spring (May 1) and its end.
Świętokrzyski National Park, Bald Mountain.
She also patronized mothers and children. The whole people loved her, women sacrificed embroideries, scarves, rings, which more often than the idol were left on trees in sacred groves. Then, in Christian times, icons of the Mother of God began to be decorated in a similar way, to whom the former love for the goddess Lada was involuntarily transferred. The Slavs were more willing to make requests to goddesses rather than to gods. The gods were honored, they were feared, and the goddesses, especially Lada, were asked (after all, a woman’s heart is softer, more responsive) - and in gratitude they brought them gifts and organized festivals in their honor. Lada listened most attentively to people's requests, she was called Shchedrynya, and the holiday in her honor (current Epiphany, January 6/19) was Shchedrovki. This name has been preserved in some languages to this day.
In honor of Lada, songs were sung praising harmony and peace, love for people. They made holes in frozen lakes and rivers so that the Lada could breathe. Gifts to Lada were thrown into these ice holes: pies, grain, pancakes (wasn’t the memory of the goddess preserved in the sound of this word?), and the ice was decorated with multi-colored shreds and poured with multi-colored decoctions of herbs as a sign of the imminent arrival of spring. Then the feasting and festivities began. Was it not from this holiday that Maslenitsa was born, which is also called Pancake and Oladina?
Then they sang:
Bless me, mother,
Oh mother Lada, mother!
Call for spring...
The Lada holiday was, obviously, also Krasnaya Gorka - the Russian holiday of newlyweds, timed to coincide with the first Sunday after Easter. On this day, “modal” songs were also sung. The Lada sign is a circle with a triangle in the middle, where the acute angle is directed downward and the base of the triangle is directed upward. The circle here represents the universe, and the triangle is the heart of this universe.
Its symbol is the white swan, as a true symbol of purity, heavenly love and family fidelity. In winter, Lada's bird was considered to be the titmouse, for which they tried to leave food under the trees or hung pieces of meat on branches. Another holiday in honor of Lada was called the Herd - the present Trinity. Ladybugs were dedicated to this goddess, killing which was considered a sin, as well as the dawn flower (lovage), which arouses the passion of the heart.
Lada was personified by a birch tree, the branches of which in some places are still curled during the Trinity, as if they were braiding the goddess’s hair. It is not surprising that in some ways this coincides with the veneration of mermaids: after all, mermaids are girls who died from heavenly love, and Lada was precisely the goddess of love.
Vladimir Forostetsky. Lada.
In ancient holidays, when meeting the rising sun, they always called upon this goddess: - Oh, Lado! It was she, together with her husband, who dispersed the winter fogs and opened the way for Spring. It was believed that Lada was once the keeper of living and dead water, but then, when the gods created people and planted the Iriy Garden for them, magical springs began to flow at the roots of the world tree.
Like Zhiva, and Makosh (Mokogi), and other goddesses, Lada was one of the Rozhanitsa, that is, she was present at the birth of a person and determined his fate. Lada resembles Venus (Aphrodite) of the ancient world and the bright beauty Freya of Scandinavian legends. Freya’s similarity with Lada-Rozhanitsa is also that she accompanies the shadows of the deceased to the afterlife, that is, she is related to the fate of the human soul.
Mythologists of the late 18th and first decades of the 19th century (Popov, Chulkov, Kaisarov) did not doubt its existence, accepting without verification the testimony of Innocent Gisel, who in his “Synopsis” says: “the fourth idol of Lado; Having this god of joy and all prosperity, those who are preparing for marriage offer sacrifices to him, with the help of Lad, imagining good cheer and a kind life to acquire.” Gisel drew his information about the pagan gods from the books of Polish historians Kromer and Stryjkowski.
The refrain “lado” is found in spring, summer and wedding songs. The forms of the chorus vary: “Ay did, oh lado”, “didi-lady, di-diladushki”, “oh didi lado”, “didi ladoy”, “oh didd lado”, “lado, lado, my lado” and others. The Serbo-Croatian refrain "lado" gave the derivative verb "ladati", that is, to sing songs with this refrain on the eve of St. George's Day. The word “Lada” is an old Russian one; in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” it occurs in 4 cases, applied to the husband; in today's Great Russian songs it is used partly in the feminine gender ("I'm looking for my sweet lada"), partly in the neuter gender ("my lado is jealous"). Lyrics from a Croatian song: “Handsome Ivan picks roses for you, Lado, holy deity.” Or words from a Serbian song: “We pray, Lada, we pray to the highest god. Oh, Lada, oh! Let the quiet wind blow, Lada, let the quiet wind blow. Oh, Lada, oh!...”.
There are many ancient rituals dedicated to the goddess Lada. These rituals are usually aimed at harmonizing family relationships, improving personal life, softening an evil character, and also to attract love into life.
Stretch out your hands to the golden sun,
Oh, this is the greatest joy!
Lada slowly walks around Iriy -
Wife of Svarog, the essence of femininity.
In the rays of her heavenly beauty
The sun is shining and the storms are silent,
And lilies of the valley and roses bow
Before her are her wonderful flowers.
She laughs, and the Gods cannot
Resist this smile
All the heavenly palaces rejoice!
Igor Ozhiganov.
0
At the word " Goddess", any more or less educated person imagines a beautiful woman who is capable of doing amazing things. Sometimes their image is supplemented with certain objects in their hands, but usually they are depicted with spiritualized faces, looking somewhere into the distance. Russian people did not always have Christianity , and previously we had a huge pantheon of all kinds of divine entities that led the Slavs and controlled the weather. Unfortunately, since those distant times, people have lost contact with their ancestors and forgotten the original gods. Today we will talk about one goddess who goes by the name Lada You can read who she is a little lower. On our resource you can find a lot more useful and interesting information on various topics. Therefore, be sure to add this site to your bookmarks so that you always have access to modern newspeak and youth slang.
However, before we continue, we would like to point you to a couple of interesting publications on the topic of religious cults and religion. For example, find out more about Slavic goddesses; who is the god Veles, how to understand the Kolovrat symbol, what the Celtic zodiac means, etc.
So, let's continue, Slavic goddess Lada, meaning?
Lada- this is the name of the Slavic goddess, our ancestors usually associated her with fertility and beauty.
Her male form is named Lado. Lada and Lado were considered by some people to be twin gods, and in other cases they are considered as a mother goddess with her son. Usually songs were written about them, which were associated with planting various crops, cleaning and weddings. Together Lada and Lado personify one aspect of a dual deity, whose other names and images are associated with the Sun, grain and water, respectively.
In Russia, Lada and Lado were worshiped around the 15th to 18th centuries during fertility rites held in early spring. Some researchers claim that Lada and Lado are not names of deities, but are considered ordinary fairy-tale characters used in poetry and folk songs. However, a number of historical chronicles indicate the opposite.
When this goddess first appeared in mythology is not entirely clear. Perhaps she was borrowed from other Slavic or Baltic goddesses, or perhaps from the Greek Leto or Leda. There is an opinion that the names Lada and Lado can be inextricably linked with the Russian word “ boy", as well as words such as " harmony, peace, union».
Lada is the goddess of beauty in Latvian, Lithuanian and Slavic mythology. The divine twins Lada and Lado, together form one image of the deity of fertility, akin to the Greek Dionysus. Other names for this deity are Kupala/Kupala, associated with water; Kostromo-Kostrobunko / Kostroma associated with grain; and Yarilo/Yarila, associated with the Sun. Each of these images has both a masculine and a feminine element. Lada and her male partner Lado are usually mentioned together. For example, in songs sung by groups of women during planting, harvesting or wedding ceremonies.
According to Linda J. Ivanitz, author of " Russian folk faith", Lada originated in the Neolithic hunting culture and " remains the most mysterious"among documented pagan Slavic deities. Depending on the source, Lada is believed to come from either the Latvian goddess, the Finno-Slavic Mokosha, or the Great Mother Goddess of the northern Latvians and Mordvins. Other sources identify her with Loduna, the Scandinavian goddess of fire, hearth and cattle.
A seventeenth-century text considers Lada to be the mother of Lel and Polel, who are related to the twins Castor and Pollus, the sons of Leda in Greek mythology. Another connection to Leda is with the Polish twin deities Zyzilia and Didilia, who are also associated with love and fertility.
Some authors consider the Lado man as a deity of the underworld and marriage. David Leeming writes that Lada, like Yarilo, is a dying and reborn deity. By the eighteenth century, Lada appears to have taken on the role of the mother goddess, and Lado (also called Dido or Dida) takes on the role of her son and/or consort. Soviet archaeologist Boris Rybakov suggested that Lada and her daughter Leila were goddesses of spring, representing Slavic versions of the Greek Leto and her daughter Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.
Russian monastic texts from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries mention girls worshiping a goddess named Lada and a phallic god named Lado. Rituals were held in the spring, during the appearance of mermaids, in villages and fields. Lada is mentioned in the Kiev synopsis of 1674 as a goddess from the time of Vladimir the Great. Although the first documented evidence of cult worship comes from the Polish church prohibitions of pagan rituals in the fifteenth century. For example, the rector's post at the University of Krakow around 1405 reads:
"To this day they sing and dance their gods: Lado, Yassa and others [...], of course, without reference to the Holy Father, so what good can come of this? A person does not receive salvation by the names Lada, Jassy, Kvaja or Nii [...], which, by the way, are the names of the gods revered here in Poland, as will be evidenced by the Ceran annals of the Poles".
Some researchers have suggested that Lada was simply a refrain ( verse, stanza or refrain repeated in a certain order in the text) in Slavic folk songs or poetry, and that these names did not belong to any real deity. However, similar musical traditions exist in all Slavic and some Baltic folklore, along with folk phrases. For example, such as " laduvati" (in the Volyn region, which means to hold a wedding), which refer to the presence of the Lada cult. Lithuanian songs refer to Lada as " Great Goddess" And " Mother Lade" Scholar and translator William Ralston Shedden-Ralston comments:
"One writer went so far as to believe that Lado and Lada are just two fairy-tale characters who are mentioned only in Russian songs. But the generally accepted idea is that Lado was the name of the sun god, like Frey, and that Lada was the Slavic copy of Freya, the goddess of spring and love. In Lithuanian songs Lada is referred to as "Lada, Lada, dido musu deve!" (Lada, Lada, our great goddess!). In the songs of the Russian people, the words "Lado" and "Lada" are constantly used as equivalents, in one case for a lover, groom or husband, and in the other for a mistress, bride or wife."
After the Christianization of the Slavs, the veneration of Lada was transferred to the Virgin Mary. According to Ralston:
"For this reason, the Serbs call her “Fiery Mary” and speak of her in their songs as the sister of Elijah the Thunderer, that is, [the Slavic god of thunder] Perun."
It is noted that Russian priests complained that this pagan phenomenon could not be suppressed because young people came to Christian churches and started games dedicated to Lada. That's why Orthodox Church slightly changed the nature of these rituals, so that now in Christianity we have queens, not mermaids. The Lada ceremony consisted of weaving wreaths, then they were placed on the girls’ heads, and then they were given to the boys, who carried them home and fixed them above the front door or on the wall in their room. Young people put wreaths on the necks of the statues of their gods that were in their homes.
An interesting thing about Lada is that the Russians named their car line after " Lada", and this is one of the most legendary cars in Slavic history.
Well, isn't Lada fabulously beautiful? I mean, of course, the goddess, and not the car, although she is not so bad. Although I must admit that this car also has a bit of magic. The obvious reason why the Russians decided to name this car line with the word “Lada” is that this name brings good luck, and in fact should protect the car owner from many problems encountered on the road. Have you thought about buying yourself a Lada? Don't think, go and buy this car right now!
After reading this useful article, you finally found out about Slavic goddess Lada who she is and what she symbolized in ancient times.
Find out more about Slavic goddesses.
 |
 |
 |
