Žaltys

Zaltones was Matthew Prätorius the Lithuanian name for snake charmers. The name derives from Lithuanian Latvian žaltys and zaltis ( grass snake ) from.

Snake cult

In the Baltic nations the worship of the serpent is attested to modern times. In the Lithuanians and Latvians grass snakes were kept as house snake and fed with milk. It was regarded as the protector of cattle and could be equated with the Latvian Piena mate ( " milk mother "). In a Lithuanian folk song, the grass snake is referred to as " emissaries of the gods ." A Lithuanian proverb is:

" The view of a dead Žaltys can cry the sun. "

They were sometimes the interpretation of the future and were otherwise connected with superstitious practices. Also for the Prussians holding snakes and their feeding is attested with milk and said to have been worshiped as an idol of the god Potrimpos after Simon Grunau.