Editing Latvian mythology (section)

=== Other practices ===
There may have been a number of other spirits and deities venerated by Latvians. There is, for example, a wide range of deities referred to as ''[[Mahte]]'' ("mother") – their number is variously estimated to be anywhere from 50 to 115. The reasons for such unclarity are that sometimes the authenticity of certain "mothers” is questioned, there are differences between regions in what deities are worshiped and also many of these are synonymous titles of a single deity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liis.lv/folklora/mitol/origin/mates.htm |title=Mātes |language=lv |access-date=14 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018044621/http://www.liis.lv/folklora/mitol/origin/mates.htm |archive-date=October 18, 2012 }}</ref> Mother and other kinship terms can be used merely to signify age and also to show respect (when referring to older people). While most female spirits are called "mothers”, male spirits would be called "father” (''tēvs'') or "master” (''kungs'') or "god” (''dievs'', ''dieviņš'') or "spirit” (''gars'', ''gariņš''). Historical sources report that there was a belief that spirits live in the ground. There also are ''Mājas gari'' ('[[house spirits]]') or ''Mājas kungs'' ('master of house'), who lived and were worshiped at home. These sometimes were sacred animals. They were often fed a first bit of every food.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liis.lv/folklora/mitol/origin/majas_kungs.htm |title=Mājas kungs |language=lv |access-date=14 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018044616/http://www.liis.lv/folklora/mitol/origin/majas_kungs.htm |archive-date=October 18, 2012 }}</ref> Spirits and deities were also worshiped in designated places, which could be visited only at certain times of year. It was believed that visiting them at other times or defiling, even unknowingly, such a site in any way would bring great misfortune to the guilty party - blindness or death are common examples. There were also animals, some known as ''dieva sunīši'' ('dogs of god'), whose killing would bring misfortune, these include [[stoats]], [[wolf]], frogs, [[ladybird]]s, etc. Sometimes, however, it was believed that killing would not bring misfortune, but that if the animal got away, it would carry out horrific revenge. This mostly refers to snakes. It was also believed that saying the name of an animal such as a wolf or snake would cause them to appear. There are similar beliefs about not mentioning the devil or plague. Somewhat related is the idea that whistling in certain places would invite the devil, while singing would invite god. Therefore, a large variety of [[Avoidance speech|euphemisms]] were used instead, including comparisons, human names, and other anthropomorphic terms – e.g. snakes were likened to ropes or called "brides", while the wolf was named ''Juris'' or ''Ansis'' or referred to as "man" (also "brother" or "friend") of the forest.<ref name="bur" /><ref name="bur I" />