Leib-olmai

Sámi forest- and hunting-god ('alder-man'), master of wild game and especially the bear; hunters made daily offerings for his favour. Secondary attestation.

Domains

• the hunt

Powers

• Grant luck in the hunt and govern the bear
• Appears to hunters in the shape of a bear and grants or withholds the hunt

Sources

• Sámi ethnography of the hunt and the bear-cult (Friis 1871; bear-feast accounts)
• Name 'alder-man' (leaibi 'alder'), alder-bark used in bear ritual