In Latvian pagan mythology werewolves are very different than in the European myths. Here they are the good guys. They were even called god’s dogs (Latvian pagan god’s not Christian one's), because they did good jobs and in some way worked for god. Thought with time during Middle Ages werewolf myths did change in the influence of the Christian church, and with centuries people here slowly started seeing werewolves as evil. And also becoming a werewolf here is very different than in European myths. Being a werewolf wasn’t a curse, and it had no relation with the full moon. And you couldn’t become one when being bitten by another werewolf. In myths most of people who were werewolves decided to become such freely without being coerced. Thought it was also possible to become one unwillingly when an old werewolf who didn’t want to run as a wolf anymore could give his wolf’s skin to you without you knowing that or consenting to it. Usually this werewolf did that by giving you to drink some bewitched beer. Only after you had already gotten the wolf’s skin you realized what had happened, and by then you had no other choice but to run as a wolf every now and then. And one of the ways how one could willingly become a wolf (the one shown in this picture) was to creep under a tree root that appears from the ground and then grows back in it. In order to transform back into a human, you had to creep under the same root but in the opposite direction. Thought there were lots of other ways how you could willingly turn into a wolf. Of course, you could choose in which moment you wanted to transform into a wolf and also when to transform back into a human. And most of the time werewolves were living with their families and other people who had no idea that every now and then they turned into wolves. And Latvian werewolves looked like real wolves. They weren’t half wolf and half human creatures as shown in some modern day drawings. Through there were some differences from real wolves. When people turned into wolves, they were slightly larger than real wolves and their hind legs were longer than their front legs. And they also had human eyes. P.S. If your clothes (which usually were hidden somewhere in the forest) were found by some people and touched while you were in a wolf form, you couldn’t transform back into a human anymore. Then you were forced to keep on living as a wolf for the rest of your life. Although you weren't completely doomed. There still was one way how you could turn back into a human after all. That happened if someone willingly have you (while in the wolf's form) a piece of bread.
