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<P align="justify"> This term is use … <P align="justify"> This term is used to refer to local supernatural beings in folk beliefs that are usually associated with a particular (natural) environment, which they generally rule, or the activities of which they in some way control. The spirits of hunting peoples are generally nature spirits, while those of agricultural cultures also include spirits of buildings and the like (a spirit of the home or the barn, and so on). The habitat of a spirit may be defined by a particular species of animal or some similar phenomenon. People, too, are often said to have their spirits. A spirit can be distinguished from a god by fact that the former are so-called empirical entities of belief; in other words, they are believed to appear or otherwise manifest themselves to people at times. Generally, the appearance of a spirit is regarded as a sanction, that is a punishment for breaking behavioural norms, or a caution against doing so, or then a warning of danger. In terms of their sacred character (the [[The sacred|Sacred]]) spirits are generally located further down the scale from complete other worldliness than gods. Coexistence with spirits entails commonplace acknowledgement rather than burdensome rituals. However, the division between spirits and gods from the point of view of Saami folk beliefs is little more than a tool of comparative religion ([[Pre-Christian gods|Pre-Christian gods]]). </P>
<P align="justify"> Of the beings specifically named as spirits by the Saami, one can include at least certain water spirits and [[Máddu]], the Oldest of the Fish , as spirits proper. However, the whole natural environment was populated by spirits; for example, the Inari reindeer-herding Saami believed that every tree had its own spirit, which it was necessary to expel before felling the tree by cutting off its lowest branch with an axe. Many of the subterranean beings of the Saami ([[The underground beings|Earth spirits]]; [[Čahkalakkis (engl. ver.)|<i>čahkalakkis</i>]]) can also be included among the spirits. An individual person, too, had his own guardian spirit, a double (the [[The soul|Soul]]; [[Ovdasaš|<i>Ovdasa</i>]] who looked after his happiness and fortune. Distinct from these were the spirits of the dead, in which the word spirit is used in a slightly different sense ([[The death and the dead ones|Death and the dead]]). In the research literature, the word spirit is also used for [[Áhčešeátne-Njávešeátne (engl. ver.)|<i>Áhčešeátne and Njávešeátne</i>]], although its use here is problematic because of the unempirical nature of these beings. </P>pirical nature of these beings. </P> +
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