 "Lamaria" is a name applied by the Svan mountaineers to Mary, mother of Jesus, whose veneration became superimposed on the ancient, pre-Christian cult of Lamaria, a female deity of motherhood and fertility.According to a local legend, the Lamaria church was the scene of the murder of the nobleman Puta Dachkelani, a Dadeshkeliani, who sought to impose his rule on the free people of Ushguli.The legend has it that the entire village helped pull a cord attached to the trigger of a musket, thus dividing equally the responsibility for killing the man.