Zaltones
According to Matthäus Praetorius, Zaltones was the name for Lithuanian snake charmers. The name derives from Lithuanian žaltys and Latvian zalktis ( grass snake ) from.
Snake cult
The worship of the snake is attested by the Baltic peoples up to modern times. The Lithuanians and Latvians kept grass snakes as domestic snakes and fed them with milk. She was considered the protector of cattle and could be equated with the Latvian Piena māte ("milk mother"). In a Lithuanian folk song , the grass snake is referred to as the “envoy of the gods”. A Lithuanian proverb reads:
"The sight of a dead Žaltys makes the sun cry."
They sometimes served to interpret the future and were otherwise associated with superstitious practices. The keeping of snakes and their feeding with milk is also attested for the Prussians and is said to have been worshiped as an idol of the god Potrimpos according to Simon Grunau .
See also
literature
- Jonas Balys, Haralds Biezais : Baltic mythology . In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig (Ed.): Gods and Myths in Old Europe (= Dictionary of Mythology . Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 2). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-12-909820-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Haralds Biezais: Baltic religion. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-17-001157-X .
- ↑ Marija Gimbutas : The Balts. London 1963, p. 203 (German: Die Balten. History of a people in the Baltic Sea region. Herbig, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-7766-1266-5 ).