Liber ab Matrimonium (Book of Marriage)^123
Nuwa (Also known as Nugua, Nu-kua, Nu Kwa)—Female—Central Asia
Chinese goddess of the institution of marriage and the agreements made
between husband and wife.Ot—Female—Central Asia
Mongolian Fire goddess who presides over and blesses marriage.Pattini (Also known as Patni)—Female—Near East
One of the most praised goddesses on Sri Lanka (Ceylon), she is patron of
marriage as well as a goddess of rice, grain fertility, and preventing plague.Svarog—Male—Central Europe/Northern Europe
Slavic god of marriage, Fire, and the sun, he is said to have created marriage
as a universally recognized rite of passage and an institute or convention
that was respected as a matter of law between different people.Var—Female—Northern Europe
Norse goddess of marriage agreements. She listens to the promises (varar)
between married couples and brings punishment to folk who break those
promises.Vor—Female—Northern Europe
Norse goddess of marriage and contracts, whose name means ‘faith.’ She is
also a goddess of monogamy and is said to guard against temptations of that
matter.The First Marriage
Although I do not feel the first marriage is any more or less sacred than the next, I
should point out there are at least a couple of goddesses and festivals that were, in
times of old, reserved for women in their first marriage. Two examples are Eos, the
Greek goddess of the dawn who is the patron of first marriages, and Matuta, Roman
goddess whose festival, Matralia, was attended only by women in their first marriage. I
believe this supports two principles: that marriage is indeed sacred and that sometimes
the first marriage needs just a little bit of extra help. After all, before you do something,
can you really know how to do it?The Second, the Third, and the...
Lore also tells us that choosing an appropriate partner is important. It does seem
logical that if that choice is important the decision should be given time. So let me tell
you about Kaik from the lore of the Salish the northwest tribes of North America. Kaik
is a mink who first married a frog, but the frog hurt his paws, so he married an Eagle.o WB Chap 07.p65 123 7/11/2003, 5:52 PM