| Names: | Kaksaritar 
Kasarinen
Kasarikki
Kasarikko
Kasaritar  |
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Kasaritar is the mother of the common lizard, an animal which is seen as being made of copper.
The circumstances of the common lizard's birth vary widely. In 1789, Christfrid Ganander wrote that someone named Vingas lied with Vangas and they had a son, Vangamoinen, the lord of snakes and lizards. The name Vangamoinen has been connected to Väinämöinen, and Ganander in this situation utilizes some of the lines which appear in the runosong surrounding the secret son of Väinämöinen with lines such as: "Vingas lied with Vangas, / with his own mother's child". In another runosong, Vingas is even given the name Vingas Vankamoinen. Still, it's important to point out that a Kainuian runosong states that Vengas lied on the beach and became impregnated (assuming by wind, not by any "Vingas"). From this point, someone named Vangas being impregnated by wind and giving birth to Vankamoinen, the lizard or lord of lizards, could be possible; it resembles the runosong where a Northern Maiden is impregnated by waves and given birth to Väinämöinen.
But what about Kasaritar, then? Well the thing is, Kainuian runosongs add more context. Kasaritar was lying on a tree branch but fell to the ground, berries and twigs breaking her stomach. Then, this event with Vangas happened and the common lizard was born. This is why Kasaritar is called the Mother of the Lizard, which head was cast from the copper of Kasaritar's coppery and golden stomach. Vangas is not able to give birth to the lizard in water, or in hays, and is only successful when giving birth in a rotten tree stump.
In a completely different twist, there is also a Kainuian runosong which described Vangas swallowing a bubble on the sea, which burns her throat, and the common lizard is born. No word on where this bubble came from, but I assume from Kasaritar; that would be the only way for this account to make any linear sense. (Bold of me to assume that any linear sense existed in the first place). It also happens in many snake and lizard related runosongs that someone evil lies on the beach, drool comes from their mouth, and this drool in one way or another results in the snake/lizard.
To make this all the more confusing, in a White Karelian runosong Kasaritar was on the sky but she came down as fire? or fire came down but it's not her?, resulting in the birth of the common lizard. Runosongs from North Ostrobothnia and Central Finland call this fire "Tuhhuus" and "Tuulus", which Kaarle Krohn connected to a figure from the Underworld.
All of this is clearly kind of secondary to a runosinger: the point is that the common lizard is made of copper. This is why, in a runosong from North Ostrbothnia, it is said that Kasaritar is the Mother of the Lizard, but that Uparo "copper" is its father.
| Kasaritar, variats | Kasari means "a saucepan", but I guess the point here is that saucepans were made of copper. |
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Only in Finnish, sorry. This is the source material.