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In Latvian mythology, the term Māte stands for "mother", sometimes written in English as Mahte. It was an epithet applied to some sixty-seventy goddesses. They were clearly distinct goddesses in most or all cases, so the term definitely referred to the mother-goddess of specific phenomena. According to professor Lotte Motz, scholar Haralds Biezais mentioned there were at least 70 characters in Baltic religion identified with the title of Mate. [1]
Latvian ethnographer Pēteris Šmits noted that the Mahtes seem to be a phenomenon exclusive to Latvian mythology, with no equivalent either in its Baltic neighbours (Prussian and Lithuanian), nor in other Indo-European mythologies. [2]
Scholars (e.g., Miriam Robbins Dexter, Lotte Motz, David Adams Leeming, Martin Litchfield West) note that these deities were invoked with the epithet "mate" 'mother' and individually oversaw several aspects of nature, including features of the environment (forests, fields, mushrooms, sea, the wind, etc.), animals (for instance, elks), as well as cultural aspects, such as death and interrement, or milk and cattle. [3] [4] [5] [6]
According to scholar Elza Kokare, the authenticity of some Mahte deities is dubious, but some are firmly established due to a great number of mentions in the dainas (Latvian folksongs). [7]
Following are some of the Mate characters: [8]
Scholarship on Baltic and Latvian folklore remarks that some of the Mahte characters comprise a complex of deities related to that phenomenon. [13] It is also remarked that, out of this mother cult, "the main Latvian mother deities are those of the dead, the sea, the forest, and the wind". [14]
For instance, goddess Zemes Mate ('earth mother') was associated with receiving the dead and acting as their ruler and guardian. [15] In Latvian dainas, Zemes Mate is associated with fellow Mahte ("Mothers") Velu Mate ('Mother of Dead Souls') and Kapu Mate ('Mother of Graves'). According to researcher Elza Kokare, Zemes Mate and Kapu Mate act as the resting places of the dead, guarding its body and holding the key to their graves. [16] As an individual character, Zemes mate is invoked as a person's final resting place. [c] [d] [e]
A second personage is named Veļu māte or Vélių motę (Mother of the souls/spirits of the deceased), [22] etymologically connected to Lithuanian veles 'shades of the dead', velionis 'dead person' [23] and Latvian Vels 'god of the underworld' (as mentioned by scholar Marija Gimbutas) and, by extension, with some relation to Slavic Veles, deity of the underworld. [24] She is considered to be a chthonic goddess and "queen of the dead", who welcomes them at the cemetery. [25] [26]
Another figure named Nāves māte ("Mother Death") [27] was presumed by scholar Nikolai Mikhailov to be connected to Slovenian word navje, an etymon related to the Nav of Slavic folklore, a designation for the dead. [28] He also cited the possibility that Naves mate is another name for Latvian Velu mate and Lithuanian Veliona. [29] The word nāve also means 'death' in Latvian. [30]
Other deities connected with the worship of the dead were Kapu māte ('Mother of Graves', 'Mother of the Grave' or 'Graveyard-Mother') [31] and Smilšu māte ('Mother of Sand' or 'Mother of the Sand Hillock'). [32]
Another set of Mahte figures relate to the natural world, such as Veju Mate ("The Mother of Winds"); [33] Meža mate ("Mother of the Forest"; counterpart to Lithuanian Medeina ), protectress of wild life; [34] Miglas mate ("Mother of the Fog") and Lietus mate ("Mother of Rain"). [35] Veju Mate (or Veja mate) is said to be the goddess of winds and ruler of the weather. [36]
Another group is composed of several water divinities: Juras Mate ("Mother Ocean", [37] "Mother of the Seas" [38] or "Sea-Mother"), a goddess of waters; [39] Udens Mate ("Mother of Waters"); Upes Mahte ("Mother of Rivers"), Bangu Mate ("Mother of Waves"; counterpart to Lithuanian Bangputys ). [40] Juras Mate is said to rule the seas as a goddess. [41] [42]
Deity Bangu mate is considered to be a recent and more poetical appellation of the Mother of the Water and Mother of the Sea. [43]
Lithuanian scholar Marija Gimbutas pointed out that Latvian traditions contain a Uguns mate ('Mother of the Fire') as a counterpart to Lithuanian Gabija , a deity of the hearth and protectress of house and family. [44] Other deities associated with the household and domestic affairs are Mãjas gars ("Spirits of the House") and Pirts mate ("Mother of the Bathhouse"). [45]
Mahte deities related to fields and agriculture include Lauka mate ("Mother of the Plough-Land"), [46] a deity said to be worshipped at ploughing time. [47]
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[The Mahtes were] goddesses or spirits responsible for the forests, for the fields, for milk, for the sea, for cattle.
A closer look at the "mothers" shows them to belong to various categories. [...with] a striking similarity [to] those of the North Eurasian nations ... [they are] owners and guardians of nature, protective deities of dwelling places, personified objects or phenomena that might or might not receive cultic worship, personifications of abstract qualities, or the relatives of gods.
[The Mahtes] represent[ed] various aspects of nature—fields, mushrooms, elks, and so forth.
In the Baltic lands too, especially in Latvia, we find many Mothers, ... presiding over a specific area or function. In the Latvian folk-songs they proliferate: there is the Mother of wind, the Mother of fog, of forest, of flowers, of death, of the tomb, of the sea, of silver, of bees, and so on.
