Lada (goddess)

Lada, Lahra or Lado (na), sometimes also called Lupa is a Slavic deity.

In medieval Czech and Russian wedding songs there is the exclamation Lada or Lado in the meaning " beloved". This led to the widespread interpretation, Lada was an ancient Slavic goddess of love. Evidence for this interpretation there but not in older sources. It was only in the 15th century by Jan Dlugosz and Lada is in the Chronica Polonorum the Cracow scholars Maciej Miechowita ( 1519) mentioned and presented as the mother of the divine twins Lel and Polel. Church bans from Poland of the 15th century refer to Lada also as a deity, but as a ( male ) god of war.

At the beginning of the 16th century also sang the Latvians and Lithuanians the deity Lada in ritual songs and sacrificed their white cocks. Further, as late evidence of a cult have survived in a Serbo-Croatian song where Lada is implored to rain, and in stories from Kiev, where the idol of a deity named Lado was worshiped at weddings.

Because of the unclear and late tradition, the worship of Ladas in pre-Christian time is doubted, however, not excluded.