JURAS MATE

[Latvian] Juras mate ("sea mother") is the goddess of the sea. She is one of the numerous mothers (see: Mates). She is said to be worshipped by fishermen and sailors, plays an important role in healing by magic, especially to stop bleeding. She is an obscure goddess and rarely mentioned in song texts. Still she is among the Mothers mentioned in 17th century texts. Whether the ritual demand of keeping the details in secret has led to these details being gradually lost along with the rituals of worship is just a speculation, but might be a reasonable one. One well known among the Livs (a Finnish people living in the coastal areas). Sometimes a view is expressed that "the mothers" are more characteristic for this people than Latvians, so it could be a borrowing as such.