Mahte

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 "māte".

Overview

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.

Scholars (e.g., Miriam Robbins Dexter, Lotte Motz, David Adams Leeming, Martin Litchfield West) note that these deities were invoked with the epithet "māte" ('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.

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).

List of Mahte

Following are some of the māte characters:

1. Bangu māte - Mother of Waves
2. Ceļa māte - Mother of Roads
3. Dārza māte - Mother of Gardens
4. Dēkla māte
5. Gausu māte
6. Jūras māte - considered a goddess of the sea (from jūra – 'sea')
7. Kapu māte - 'Mother of Graves'
8. Kārta māte
9. Krūmu māte - Mother of Bushes
10. Lapu māte - Mother of Leaves
11. Lauka māte or Lauku māte - Mother of Fields
12. Lazdu māte - Mother of the Hazelbush
13. Lietus māte - Mother Rain
14. Linu māte - Mother Flax
15. Lopu māte - Mother of Livestock (Cattle)
16. Mieža māte - Mother of Barley
17. Meža māte - Mother of the Forest
18. Miglas māte - Mother of Fog
19. Pirts māte - Mother of the Bathhouse
20. Rijas māte - Mother of the Threshing Place
21. Sēņu māte - Mother of Mushrooms
22. Smilšu māte - Mother of SandsTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn
23. Sniega māte - Mother of Snow
24. Tirgus māte - Mother of Markets
25. Ūdens māte - Mother of Waters
26. Uguns mate - Mother of Fire
27. Upes māte - Mother of Rivers
28. Vēja māte - 'Mother of Winds'
29. Veļu māte or Vélių motę - mother of the souls/spirits
30. Zemes māte - Earth Mother (Māra)
31. Ziedu māte - Mother of Flowers

Role of the Mothers

Scholarship on Baltic and Latvian folklore remarks that some of the Mahte characters comprise a complex of deities related to that phenomenon. 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".

Death and the afterlife

For instance, goddess Zemes māte ('earth mother') was associated with receiving the dead and acting as their ruler and guardian. In Latvian dainas, Zemes māte is associated with fellow Mahte ("Mothers") Veļu māte ('Mother of Dead Souls') and Kapu māte ('Mother of Graves'). According to researcher Elza Kokare, Zemes māte and Kapu māte act as the resting places of the dead, guarding its body and holding the key to their graves. As an individual character, Zemes māte is invoked as a person's final resting place.Template:EfnTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn

A second personage is named Veļu māte or Vélių motę (Mother of the souls/spirits of the deceased), etymologically connected to Lithuanian veles 'shades of the dead', velionis 'dead person' 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. She is considered to be a chthonic goddess and "queen of the dead", who welcomes them at the cemetery.

Another figure named Nāves māte ("Mother Death") 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. He also cited the possibility that Nāves māte is another name for Latvian Veļu māte and Lithuanian Veliona. The word nāve also means 'death' in Latvian.

Other deities connected with the worship of the dead were Kapu māte ('Mother of Graves', 'Mother of the Grave' or 'Graveyard-Mother') and Smilšu māte ('Mother of Sand' or 'Mother of the Sand Hillock').

The natural world

Another set of Mahte figures relate to the natural world, such as Vēju māte ("The Mother of Winds"); Meža māte ("Mother of the Forest"; counterpart to Lithuanian Medeina), protectress of wild life; Miglas māte ("Mother of the Fog") and Lietus māte ("Mother of Rain"). Vēju māte (or Vēja māte) is said to be the goddess of winds and ruler of the weather.

Bodies of water

Another group is composed of several water divinities: Jūras māte ("Mother Ocean", "Mother of the Seas" or "Sea-Mother"), a goddess of waters; Ūdens māte ("Mother of Waters"); Upes māte ("Mother of Rivers"), Bangu māte ("Mother of Waves"; counterpart to Lithuanian Bangputys). Jūras māte is said to rule the seas as a goddess.

Deity Bangu māte is considered to be a recent and more poetical appellation of the Mother of the Water and Mother of the Sea.

Household and home

Lithuanian scholar Marija Gimbutas pointed out that Latvian traditions contain a Uguns māte ('Mother of the Fire') as a counterpart to Lithuanian Gabija, a deity of the hearth and protectress of house and family. Other deities associated with the household and domestic affairs are Mãjas gars ("Spirits of the House") and Pirts māte ("Mother of the Bathhouse").

Agriculture

Mahte deities related to fields and agriculture include Lauka māte ("Mother of the Plough-Land"), a deity said to be worshipped at ploughing time.

Further reading

• Beldavs, Aija Veldre. "Goddesses in a man's world: Latvian matricentricity in culture and spheres of influence in society". In: Journal of Baltic Studies 8, no. 2 (1977): 105–29. Accessed April 21, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43210827.