Berehynia or Bereginia is a female spirit (Vila) in Slavic mythology which recently came to be regarded as a "Slavic goddess" with a function of "hearth mother protectoress of the home" in late 20th century Ukrainian romantic nationalism centered on matriarchal myth. The goddess motif is an ancient one and most often found in pysanky from Polissia Bukovyna and Podillia. The berehynia was believed to be the source of life and death. On the one hand she is a life giving mother the creator of heaven and all living things and the mistress of heavenly water (rain) upon which the world relies for fertility and fruitfulness. On the other hand she was the merciless controller of destinies. With the decline of the cult of the Berehynia she declined into countless characters of inferior demonology with much weaker powers such as sprites and mermaids. However her relatives remain on the steppes of Ukraine in the form of Scythian stone images.