In Finnish mythology Otso (also Ohto, Kontio, metsän kuningas (the king of the forest)) is the name for the spirit of the bear.
Origin
Some sub-traditions considered the bear to be a relative who had fled the community and been transmogrified by the power of the forest. It was also referred to as friend, brother, uncle, or forest-cousin, or ways were thought up that would bypass the need to refer to the spirit at all, even indirectly.
Beliefs
If a bear had to be killed, a sacred ritual of Peijainen was held, and the bear's spirit in the form of its skull remained in a sacred clearing which was upkept, and people would bring expiatory and tributary gifts to it.