Dalia is the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

of fate in the

Lithuanian mythology Lithuanian mythology () is the mythology of Lithuanians, Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-European studies, Indo-Europeans, Lithuanians (tribe), ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic myth ...

. She is the giver and taker of goods and property. Dalia is often confused with and hard to distinguish from

Laima Laima is a Baltic goddess of fate. She was associated with childbirth, marriage, and death; she was also the patron of pregnancy, pregnant women. Laima and her functions are similar to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. In Latvia In Latvian mythology, ...

, another goddess of fate. Sometimes Dalia is thought of as a different manifestation of Laima. However, Laima is more involved in predicting the length of a person's life while Dalia is more concerned with material wealth a person would earn during the lifetime – allotting a proper share (Lithuanian: ''dalis'') to everyone. According to myths, just as a father divides his estate among the children, so Dievas Senelis (manifestation of supreme god Dievas) allots each newborn with a proper share. Dalia is seen more as an enforcer of Dievas' will rather than a decision-maker. She can appear as a woman, lamb, dog, swan, or duck.

References

Lithuanian goddesses Time and fate goddesses {{Europe-myth-stub

See also

References