Editing Mahte (section)

===Death and the afterlife===
For instance, goddess Zemes Mate ('earth mother') was associated with receiving the dead and acting as their ruler and guardian.<ref>Laurinkienė, Nijolė. "Požemio ir mirusiųjų karalystės deivė" [Goddesses of the Kingdom of the Dead and the Underworld]. In: ''Metai'' n. 1 2010. pp. 116-127.</ref> 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.<ref>Kokare, Elza. "[http://www.folklore.ee/rl/pubte/ee/bif/bif1/kokare.html A survey of the basic structures in Latvian mythology]. In: ''Journal of the Baltic Institute of Folklore'' (Tallinn), 1996, Nr.1, pp. 65-91.</ref> As an individual character, Zemes mate is invoked as a person's final resting place.{{efn|Best exemplified by mythologist [[Lotte Motz]]: "The chthonic goddess ''zemes mate'' (Mother Earth) receives the dead within her realm. In ''dainas'' addressed to her, she provides the eternal resting place: "Rock me mother, hold me mother! / Short is the time spent at your breast. / Mother Earth will hold me longer, / beneath her turf, a welcome guest." (J1209)".<ref>Mottz, Lotte. ''The Faces of the Goddess''. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1997. pp. 72-73. {{ISBN|0-19-508967-7}}</ref> She also stated that "In Latvian society ... Mother Earth - ''zemes mate'' - is chiefly the resting place of the departed, ..."<ref>Mottz, Lotte. ''The Faces of the Goddess''. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1997. p. 83. {{ISBN|0-19-508967-7}}</ref>}}{{efn|"In the next quatrain folksong it concerns about death, the sleeping (slumbering) in the grave. The Mother Earth is the goddess, from whom are coming all living beings and to whom after death they go back: (25) Ar Dieviņu, mâmulïte, / Labvakar, zemes mate!/ Labvakar, zemes mate, / Vai büs laba dusesanal [Good bye, Mother, / Good evening, Mother Earth! / Good evening, Mother Earth, / Shall I slumber well?]".<ref>Eckert, Rainer. "A Tendency of Nominalization in the Language of Latvian Folksong". In: ''Zeitschrift für Slawistik'' 45, no. 3 (2000): 324 https://doi.org/10.1524/slaw.2000.45.3.318</ref>}}{{efn|"Ar Dieviņu, tēvs, māmiņa,/ Labvakaru, Zemes māte (x2)/ Glabā manu augumiņu". [Farewell, father and mother, / Good evening, Earth mother (x2) / Take my body in your keeping].<ref>VĪĶE-FREIBERGA, Vaira (1980). "[https://jaunagaita.net/jg127/JG127-128_VVF.htm Dzejiskā iztēle latvju dainās]" [The poetic imagination of the Latvian dainas]. In: ''Jaunā Gaita'' (Hamilton, Ont), 25, Nr. 127, 7-11; Nr. 128 (continued), 15-18.</ref><ref>Vikis-Freibergs, Vaira. "The Poetic Imagination of the Latvian "dainas"". In: ''Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature'' 6, no. 4 (1973): 209-21. Accessed May 4, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24776924.</ref>}}

A second personage is named ''Veļu māte'' or ''Vélių motę'' (Mother of the souls/spirits of the deceased),<ref>Laurinkienė, Nijolė. "Požemio ir mirusiųjų karalystės deivė" [Goddesses of the Kingdom of the Dead and the Underworld]. In: ''Metai'' n. 1 2010. p. 121.</ref> etymologically connected to Lithuanian ''veles'' 'shades of the dead', ''velionis'' 'dead person'<ref>Lurker, Manfred (2004). ''The Routledge dictionary of gods and goddesses, devils and demons''. Routledge. p. 197. {{ISBN|978-04-15340-18-2}}.</ref> and Latvian ''Vels'' 'god of the underworld' (as mentioned by scholar [[Marija Gimbutas]]) and, by extension, with some relation to Slavic [[Veles (god)|Veles]], deity of the underworld.<ref>Gimbutas, Marija. "ANCIENT SLAVIC RELIGION: A SYNOPSIS". In: ''To honor Roman Jakobson: essays on the occasion of his 70. birthday, 11. October 1966''. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 2018. p. 746. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111604763-064</ref> She is considered to be a chthonic goddess and "queen of the dead", who welcomes them at the cemetery.<ref>Jordan, Michael. ''Dictionary of gods and goddesses''. 2nd Edition. New York: Facts On File. 2004. pp. 339. {{ISBN|0-8160-5923-3}}.</ref><ref>Lurker, Manfred (2004). ''The Routledge dictionary of gods and goddesses, devils and demons''. Routledge. p. 197. {{ISBN|978-04-15340-18-2}}.</ref>

Another figure named ''Nāves māte'' ("Mother Death")<ref>Mottz, Lotte. ''The Faces of the Goddess''. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1997. pp. 221-222 (footnote nr. 27). {{ISBN|0-19-508967-7}}</ref> was presumed by scholar Nikolai Mikhailov to be connected to [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]] word ''navje'', an etymon related to the ''[[Nav (Slavic folklore)|Nav]]'' of [[Slavic folklore]], a designation for the dead.<ref>Konickaja, Jelena. "Николай Михайлов: славист, словенист, балтист (11.06.1967–25.05.2010)". In: ''SLAVISTICA VILNENSIS'' 2010 Kalbotyra 55 (2). p. 174.</ref> He also cited the possibility that Naves mate is another name for Latvian Velu mate and Lithuanian Veliona.<ref>Mikhailov N. "[http://resbalticae.fileli.unipi.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/151-178.pdf Baltico-slovenica. Alcuni paralleli mitologici]". In: ''Res Balticae'' Nr. 02, 1996. pp. 166-167.</ref> The word ''nāve'' also means 'death' in [[Latvian language|Latvian]].<ref>Valentsova, Marina. "К ИССЛЕДОВАНИЮ БАЛТО-СЛАВЯНСКОЙ ДЕМОНОЛОГИИ". In: ''RES HUMANITARIAE'' XX, 2016. p. 71. {{ISSN|1822-7708}}</ref>

Other deities connected with the worship of the dead were ''Kapu māte'' ('Mother of Graves', 'Mother of the Grave' or 'Graveyard-Mother')<ref>Lurker, Manfred (2004). ''The Routledge dictionary of gods and goddesses, devils and demons''. Routledge. p. 197. {{ISBN|978-04-15340-18-2}}.</ref> and ''Smilšu māte'' ('Mother of Sand' or 'Mother of the Sand Hillock').<ref>[[Marija Gimbutas|Gimbutas, Marija]]. "The Earth Fertility of old Europe". In: ''Dialogues d'histoire ancienne'', vol. 13, 1987. pp. 22. {{doi|10.3406/dha.1987.1750}}; www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1987_num_13_1_1750</ref>