# Germanic 3 Mothers
Latin Matres ("mothers") or Matronae ("matrons")
Found on continental devotional altars:
- Names half the time either German or Celtic
- Usually 3 in number
○ At least one figure holding a basket of fruit in her lap
- Motifs:
○ Depictions of sacrifice (burning incense, pigs, and bowls filled with fruit)
○ Decorations of fruits, plants and trees
○ Snakes, children
- Epitaphs:
○ "to the Galician Mothers"
○ "to the August Nurses"
R. Pascal theorizes that The Three Marys may be Christianized versions of the Matres and Matronae. ("On the origins of the liturgical drama of the Middle Ages" The Modern Language Review, 36.3 [July 1941:369-387] p. 372)
See: Mōdraniht