Gintaras Beresnevičius
Lithuanian Religion and Mythology
General characteristics
Lithuanian religion belongs to the Baltic religions and through many links is related to Prussian
and Lettish ones and, along with the old religions of the Northern and Central Europe (Slavs,
Germans and Celts), reflects the realias of Indo-European religions. It's distinctive feature is a
certain social dimension, i.e.: neither Prussians nor Letts had formed by then a sovereign state,
with either knighthood or warriors formed into a strong social strata; whereas the 13th and 14th
century sources, as a rule, in reference to Lithuanian religion would mention the forms of religion
honored by the warriors and lords. Because of the dominance of these social classes, in the 13th
and 14th centuries it appeared that the most conspicuous is the military-aristocratic segment of
the Baltic official religions. In the 15th - 16th century sources and in the folklore and the
ethnography of the 19th and 20th centuries we trace a very powerful streak of believes kept by
peasants, to some extent this is determined by the spread of Christian religion among the power-
holding part of the society, its subsequent loss of the national identity and along with this slow
conversion of peasantry to Christianity, scarce network of the parishes and renaissance of the
farming mythology for a number of reasons made the streak even more acutely felt than in the
13th -14th centuries, when the unbridled Lithuanian peasants were both warriors and the military
actions were no lesser source of living as farming.
Sources
Apart from rather dim mentioning in Tacitus' "Germania" of gentes aestiorum, who worship
the Mother of Gods (most likely these were Western Balts) and some other sources ascribed to the
Western Balts (by Wulfstan, Adamus Bremenensis); reports of the Arabic voyager Idrisius on
Madsuna town citizens, who worship fire, could be attributed to source son Lithuania as well. Apart
from the whole volume of reference of the Baltic tribes in the bulls of popes and other sources,
Lithuanian religion is somewhat more clearly represented by Ipatijus Voluinė' manuscript fragments
speak about gods secretly worshipped but Mindaugas and were it is said about gods which were
besought by Lithuanian warriors; also a short insertion of the Slavic translation of Malala chronicle
on Sovijus myth, undoubtedly authentic but their interpretation is not clear, many god-figures cited
there are never mentioned in the subsequent sources. A separate group of sources is formed by
the Lyvonic and Teutonic Orders documents, yet they are also very fragmented and are not
concerned with the securing of the authentic material. The sources increase in density in the period
before accepting Christianity and right after it was accepted; data preserved by Hieronymus
Praquensis and Jan Dlugosz (Johannes Longinus), though idealized, supply a lot of information.
Later renaissance sources, late manuscripts, give the legendary versions of Lithuanian history
where there also emerge religious elements. "Lithuanian chronicle" speaks about religious
innovations that took place in the early Middle Ages, however, they are not supported by the
earlier documents, yet, their authenticity can be witnessed by the overall religious innovations in
the Baltic. Maciej Stryjkowski in the middle of the 16th century listed 16 Lithuania Gods, J.Lasycki
listed numerous Samogitian gods and some minor mythological figures. These authors can be
considered very reliable, however, they did not speak Lithuania and they were recording features
of deteriorating religion, which was permeated by a number of locally worshipped "gods" and some
encrusted petty mythical figures. This jumble hardly lends itself to coherent classification. In the
end of the 16th century, in the following 17th century and later Jesuit missions were very active in
Lithuania passed a lot, though, fragmented information about the remains of pagan faith spotted in
the province of Lithuanian, M.Preatorius wrote about the customs and beliefs in the Lithuania Minor
(Mažoji Lietuva), his works are of paramount importance because they bear no comparison to the
fragments found in earlier sources, they bear the character of a comprehensive ethnographic
compilation of the beliefs, mode of life, rituals etc. in the Lithuania Minor at the end of the 17th
century. All these materials matched together can be used for reconstruction of the Lithuania
tradition, however, it is necessary to bear in mind that all these facts reflect certain stages in the
evolution of Lithuanian religious tradition, its periods of existence and decline, and "mechanical
summing up" would not produce the overall image of the old Lithuanian religion. Also, here we
could add some other group of sources: archeological and linguistic sources, folklore collections
recorded in the 19th-20th centuries and the ethnographic material from the period. Yet, it is
possible to assume that the specificity of different sources defines the answers to the inquiry we
are concerned with; also the chronological factor is very important. Basically we should define at
least 4 stages of the evolutionary processes as seen in the sources:
1. 13-14th centuries. The period of the official religion worshipped by the knighthood and the
warriors; religion is strongly influenced by the "military mythology". The class of priests is still in
function.
2. 15-16th centuries. The upper strata of society are converted to Christianity. The peasants,
who are not touched by the Christianity, pass on the old tradition. In the more isolated villages the
evolution of religion, rather destructive, continues in a peculiar way. The province produces
agricultural Pantheon of gods; in the villages religious rites continue.
3. 16-18th centuries. Jesuits start to attract to Christianity Lithuania province and complete
the process. The old Pantheon comes to depletion, gods are being replaced by ghosts, minor
mythological figures, whose cult is practiced through occasional devotional offerings. The old
religious ceremonies live through dramatic alteration, they cease to be community act but are
restrained to a family circle.
4. 19th and the first part of the 20th centuries. Deliberate repetition of the ancient religious
elements is not observed or almost not observed. Old mythological images and rituals developed
naturally enter the field of Christian faith. In the church services, festivals and folklore there
abound elements of the old tradition but they are tinted with Christian meaning (or rather
embedded in Christian mythology). On the one hand this situation can be conceived as the ultimate
victory of Christianity against the old faith and the old mythological vision, on the other hand we
can speak of an obvious penetration of the old tradition into Christianity. The result is religious
syncretism sprung due to the victory of the Christianity, in reality the adaptation of the Christianity
to the invincible tradition. This fusion was programmed ever since the middle of the second
millennium and finally brought to life in that period.
Pantheon
The 13th Russian manuscripts mention gods worshipped by Lithuanians. Ipatij's manuscript
around 1252, documenting the baptizing of Mindaugas insists that the royal baptizing was feign
and Mindaugas would continue present offerings to his old gods: to the chief Nunadievis and
Teliavelis and Diviriks and to the God of Hares and to Medeina (BRMŠ I 260-261).
Approximately round 1258 it is recorded that Lithuanians were beseeching their gods Andajus and
Diviriks (ibid). In the translation of chronography of Jon Malala, 1261 and its insertion, it is said
that Sovijus imposed sacrifice to Andajus and Perkūnas, thunder, to Žvorūna, a canine bitch,
and Teliavelis, an iron-monger who coined the sun for him to light the earth and swung it into the
sky. (BRMŠ I 266-268). This is a very wide description of the Pantheon and it is considered
trustworthy because both sources complement each other and confirm the information.
Euphemisms
In reconstruction of the Lithuanian Pantheon of the 13th and 14th centuries it cannot escape
attention that the chief Gods of the Pantheon even in the same source may be referred to by
different names, e.g. in Ipatij's manuscript (else known as Voluinė manuscript), while recording
Mindaugas baptizing about 1252 and speaking of the Gods worshipped by Mindaugas the first
comes to be mentioned Nunadievis, around 1258, speaking of the gods worshipped by Lithuanian
warriors the first is Andajus, the researchers practically agree that in both cases we read of one
and the same god, the supreme god in Lithuanian. Only he is referred to by two names. In the
same sources speaking of Mindaugas' gods we come across another similar case, god Diviriks,
who most likely meant Perkūnas (he is in the mentioned also in the insertion of Malala chronicle).
Diviriks must be understood as the bishop of the gods (Dievų rikis) i.e. the bona fide god of the
gods, because the supreme god in Lithuania has a strong deus otiosus genus. Diviriks corresponds
to the Indo-European realia as the god of Celts Teutates who is sometimes known as Toutiorix "the
ruler of the nation, the bishop". Celtic gods in the written sources are often referred to by different
names, too, i.e. one god may have several names, one is clearly a name while the others its
attributes or euphemisms. To this manner of double naming belongs the name of the only
Lithuanian goddess from the 13th century. In the manuscript of Ipatij she is mentioned as
Medeina, in Malala chronicle as Žvorūna. It is quite possible that these are also two different names
of the same goddess both are attributes and appear to be related to hunting, because Žvorūna else
is referred to as a canine bitch and also recalls hunting through the word "žvėris" (beast), and a
bitch here is read as a hunting hound, Medeina is related to the trees (medis); Lithuania word
"medžioklė" indicates that hunting is associated with a forest, trees (cf. Polish polowac, Russian
polovanije "to hunt", "hunting" from the Slavic word "field"). Thus Žvorūna-Medeina could be a
name of one and the same goddess associated with hunting.
Double naming of gods could be interpreted differently. On the one hand the god could really
be named by a few names, each would be brought up, let's say, in regard to the circumstances.
Double naming could appear because Lithuanian gods in different regions of Lithuania could have
local or "dialect" names. But the most plausible appears to be the explanation that he real names
of the gods were not to be announced were "taboo" and in the history of religion this is not
uncommon. The real name of the god could be announced only on very exclusive occasions or else
never uttered at all because of respect or of fear to bring the proximity of deity. This could be
supported by the many names of other known gods in Lithuanian folklore and their number. This is
Perkūnas named Dundulis, Bruzgulis, Dievaitis, Grumutis etc. Velnias - kipšas, pinčiukas,
vokietukas etc.
Still the highest position in the hierarchy of Lithuanian Gods belongs beyond any doubt
according to the 13-14th century's sources to Andajus and Nunadievis. Both names could be
regarded as euphemisms.
The God
Lithuanian God, Prussian Deywis, Deiws, Latvian Dievs is derived from the Indo-European
name of god Deivos. At some time this word was to describe the lighted dome of sky, cf. old Indo-
European deva "god" and dyaus "sky"; Latin deus and dies, cf Lith. god and day; these words stem
from indoeuropean root deiuos, that means both God and the sky, divine heaven etc. Baltic
Dievas, Dievs, Deivs is related to Greek Zeus, Dzeus (cf. Lith dialect Pondzejis), avest. Daeva,
luvian Tiwat, German Tivaz. From the Balts the name of God was borrowed by Finns, Finnish and
Estonian taivas, taevas "heaven". As is believed in the Baltic Dangaus Dievas, the god of the
Heaven, shows a number of Indo-European features - it lives in the heaven, and is related with
luminous bodies in the sky, but this is more characteristic of Latvians, it is pictured as a bright
luminous person ruling the fates. Yet the researchers of mythology may paint Dangaus Dievas too
abstract, unintentionally trying to make it more akin to the Indo-European image of the God of
Heaven. In Lithuanian ethological sagas the connection between the God and the lustrous dome of
sky aren't numerous. The god here appears in a very concrete shape.
This first of all is a figure of an old man. In the ethological sagas the god is an old, grey
crooked, clumsy person; he hurts his toe on the stone, cannot chase a dog, his appearance often is
funny and he is ridiculed. Generally in the image of the God as Old man figure the old age is being
hyperbolised to the verge of grotesque, yet this is quite understandable, because the first and the
oldest god has to be old, because he is the oldest person in the whole world. However, the
appearance should not fool anyone because the Old man-god is far from helpless.
The Old man-god is often being depicted on the background of daily life, realias of daily
peasant existence. He lights the fire and smears his face with soot etc. He enters the village
cottages and cabins and eats, rests and stays for the night i.e. he acts as an ordinary peasant and
this is justifiable because the image of God is here transferred through the signs of the
environment understandable for the peasants.
The Old man-god is also very powerful, he enjoys enormous creativity power and this power
occasionally is used for explanation of the creation of the existing facts. While the God washes
himself a drop falls on the ground and a man is born. The god hurts his toe on the stone and the
stone stops growing. The God visits the homes of people in disguise, in the attire of an old
vagabond. Those who let him in and give him food are usually rewarded and those who reject the
vagabond with disgust give him neither shelter nor alms are turned into animals: pigs, polecats,
bears, wolves, dogs, geese, storks etc. This positions the god in the care of the norms of ethics,
but his sentence often is exceedingly severe. For a simple breech of norm, e.g. a hearty laugh from
the Old-man god he may turn the person without any hesitation into an animal. This rigor of the
Lithuanian God is close to the god Varūna from Rigveda period in India, also the highest and
relentless god who portions punishments in compliance with the strictest code of law. In some
ways Lithuanian god Old-man reminds Indian god Avatar or sometimes Greek God Zeus also prone
to appear incognito, it may appear that this kenosis of gods is generally a feature known to all
Indo-European tradition.
Perkūnas
Perkūnas is the most important Lithuanian god, though God 'Dievas' (in lith. Dangaus
Dievas, Dievas senelis) is nominally the highest person, Perkūnas is the central figure in the
Pantheon. Perkūnas is mentioned in the 13th century sources, he is known to Prussians and
Latvians (Percunis, Perkons). In Russia his equivalent is Perun, the main god of the Dukes' army,
the analogues are seen in the figure of Pirva the main god figure of Hetits, in the figure of the
Indian rain and storm cloud goddess Parjanya, cf Germanic version of the name Toro Porr. The
etymology of Perkūnas is not entirely clear. He is associated with the Latin quercus "oak tree"
(the tree of Perkūnas), also is derived from the word "strike" (in lith. "smogti") and "beat" (in lith.
"perti, mušti") etc.
In Ipatij manuscript Perkūnas is always called Diviriks, most probably the bishop of gods
and this name suits him very well: the central temples, sanctified places are associated with the
fire and the so called cult of fire", or else the figure of the god is central (in the tradition of Prussian
tales). Perkūnas in the 13-14th cc. must have been firstly a god of warriors (in Ipatij manuscript
the Lithuania warriors turn to Andajus and Diviriks, in a versified version of Lyvonia chronicle .It is
said, that Lithuanian warriors cross frozen Riga bay, and Perkūnas ruled over that, here
Perkūnas combines his military function with the atmospheric). Also in folklore Perkūnas usually
is being depicted as a militant, quick-tempered, armed (with an axe, knife and arrows), he fights
Velnias and the malevolent spirits. Folklore usually emphasizes that Perkūnas is a patron of
weather, he lives between the heaven and the earth in the clouds, he commands the thunder and
lightning. Thus Perkūnas occupies the center of the structure of the universe, becomes the master
of the atmosphere (God is correspondingly associated with the heaven and the devil - Velnias with
the earth, underground, water). Perkūnas possesses a two-wheeled cart harnessed by two goats
or horses (cf Tora), and rides through the sky , the sound of the wheels often causes thunder. The
God empowers Perkūnas to strike and chase the devil or devils, though often it is said that this
animosity is based on personal grounds because of a certain act the devil committed (theft, insult,
abduction of a woman).
Perkūnas simultaneously is given the function of the patron of the fertility, when he roles his
thunder for the first time in spring the grass starts growing, the processes of vegetation begin,
Perkūnas also appears in the wedding symbolism. In this way Perkūnas is rather close to Baal of
West Semitic god rather than Tora Scandinavian god, but this similarity must stem from Perkūnas
Baal function in the agricultural culture. One other function of Perkūnas is keeping justice. He
chases devils but he also punishes bad people, fights evil spirits and keeps the order given by God.
In some hypotheses Perkūnas appears rather late in the universal evolution after the archaic
Gods, God of Sky and God of Thunder separate (cf Zeus, Jupiter, who are both the patron-rulers of
the sky and of thunder). Lithuanian God of the sky and Perkūnas must be two split parts of the
same archaic god (L.Von Schroederr, J.Balys). This split must have taken place a long time ago
because Perkūnas and the God of the Sky in Lithuanian, and in Prussian tradition are distinctly
different gods.
Teliavelis
Teliavelis is met both in Ipatij manuscript where he come second only after Nunadienis, in
Malala chronicle insertion he comes in the fourth position, the last, but he is known as the smith
who forgered the sun and sent her into the sky. This situation allows us to interpret Teliavelis as a
Lithuania folklore devil close to God. IN Ipatij list he is counterpositioned to Nunadienis, in Malala
insertion he is mentioned at the end of the list, these are the positions usually secured for the
representatives of chtonic sphere. His contact with the sun does not turn him into a heavenly
character, Lithuania folklore very clearly insists that the first to introduce smithy were devils and
only much later people learned this craft. Teliavelis name was explained through different
attempts - the god of the Road (A.Bruckner), the God of the Flock (from Telias "calf"), the god of
the Earth from tel "earth (N.Vėlius) or a borrowing from Scandinavian mythology (Tialfi -
V.Toporov). True, Teliavelis name may invite different interpretations but the second root of the
word vel-, the function of a smith and his position the divine lists makes him a veritable
representative of a chtonic world, akin to the old Lithuanian Velnias or Velinas, folklore devil. It is
possible that Teliavelis is a rather old figure in Lithuanian Pantheon, who made its appearance
when the cult in creation of the state was centralized and the classes of nobility and warriors
emerged. He is an active character with the features of a culture hero, close to Velnias but he is
not identified as Velnias in the official list of the national Pantheon. Velnias does not make its
appearance in the national Pantheon because of the excessive power of Perkūnas, because
mythologically Velnias is the opposite of Perkūnas. In Lithuania after Christening the evil spirit in
Christian religion was given the name of Velnias, it proves that Velnias in the prechristian period
and most probably in the last period of Christianity was strongly demonized (M.Gimbutienė), and
this process of degrading Velnias started in the era of the Indo-European pronation (N.Vėlius).
Therefor a representative of a chtonic sphere is chosen Velnias but he is not solely identified with
Teliavelis (or only partly identified). Speaking of Teliavelis it is important to mark that the myth
about a forged and cast in to sky sun shows that there was no cult of the sun in Lithuania. The Sun
was seen as a hot lump of metal (this was also a Greek philosopher Anaxsagores thought).
Velnias
Velnias in Lithuanian folklore is the character that is met most often and the proimage of this
character the old god Velnias or Velinas. He must have been related with the animals, the dead,
the underground, the underground wealth, and the sphere of economy as well as with magic,
conversions, and wizards.
Lithuanian devil of the folklore in the ethological legends creates the world in the company of
the God, the devil himself is either created by the god or in the older tradition) is a God's younger
brother. The God and the devil creating the world are partly guided by the common goals and
partly by the opposites; what is created by the god the devil attempts to damage, distorted and
partly he succeeds. All the bad, disorderly and inconvenient things on earth are explained by the
interference of Velnias into the process of divine creativity. The God creates useful animals, the
devil - the animals that harm people useless creatures.
Velnias is associated with low wet locations, moors, lakes, he may make his appearance in
the forest. His living place can be under the earth inside the mountain, behind the water. On the
other hand the devil may appear in the air, may fly and on those instance he is identified with a
storm, a hurricane. In the tales and legends the relation between the devil and the stones is
emphasized (he sows them or carriers) with some trees, birch trees, fir-trees (he hides under a fir-
tree from Perkūnas). On some occasions the devil is identified with the lower part of the tree
trunk, with a hollow, with a stump, e.g. he sits on a stump (the reference to the chtonic world, the
lower part of the Tree of the World). The devil is connected with the animals, especially with the
horses, oxen and cows, he keeps herds of these animals in some ethological legends it is stressed
that the devil created animals and that he created horses and goats. In the legends the devil often
rides and harnesses horses. From the wild life the closest to him is wolf, rabbit, bear and he may
assume the image of any of those.
The devil often appears among women (at the village parties devils dance with the village girls
or the devil would celebrate a wedding with a hanged woman and dances with her.) and, in
general, he is interested in the weddings also the funerals. He often appears when a person dies to
take his soul. The devil under the influence of christianity becomes the ruler of the hell (in lith.
"pekla") and their he rules the dead mostly in shape of the animals.
Generally the devil is close to humans, it is not difficult to find him or call him he also comes
without any invitation, let's say if people decide to play ripka or other games, he often offers his
service sin the farming, to clear the field form the stumps and he lets being hired for an arm.
Devils have a sense of music, often they contract a violinist, play musical instruments themselves
and dance. Both life and death functions are under protection of the devil, he is an intermediary or
a guide, to use N.Vėlius term: "the same mythical character devil in Lithuanian mythology was
associated with the dead and with the living ones and with the death and with the fertility, harvest
(with both opposites death - life) and he was probably thought as an intermediary between the
world of the living and the world of the dead, between life and death between the earth and the
underworld. Therefor he received the patronage of the people who are connected to the both parts
of this worlds (i.e. priests, magicians etc)". Also, according to N.Vėlius, musicians, poets, people
who were inspired from the outer world from the world of the dead with whom they had a link were
in the old Indo-European tradition associated with magicians and the devil stands in between these
two classes with his passion for music.
Medeina, Žvorūna
Ipatij manuscript mentions Medeina and Malala insertion speaks of Žvorūna, who appears to
be the one and same goddess and the patroness of the animals and could be called both these
names as correspondingly to Artemis, Diana in the antique mythology. Her accession to the
highest level of the national Pantheon must have corresponded to the needs of the warriors; this
goddess also could represent a minor goddess also reflecting some needs of the warriors, as could
be believed the goddess of earth Žemė, Žemyna, which is met in the later sources as the realia of
peasant religion. Yet, we only witness that he 13th century sources show a heavily militarized
official pantheon, it must be a really late formation to match the needs of the army and the dukes'
religious interests, cf. reformed pantheon of Kiev (with the exception of Veles or Volos a Slavic
version of the devil Velnias).
Hare God
Hare God appears only once in Ipatij manuscript speaking about the gods worshipped by
Mindaugas, he is never met in the later sources. Speaking about the Hare God problem we should
consider the intention of the manuscript writer which clearly attempted to diminish the meaning of
Mindaugas christening and to show his pagan fallacies. If other gods mentioned in the Ipatij
manuscript are traceable in Malala chronicle translation insertion but it does not contain the Hare
God. It seems that Ipatij manuscript used Hare God to explain some very abrupt behavior of
Mindaugas in certain circumstances.
The structure of Pantheon in the 13 -14th centuries. The Quartet of Gods
The material of Ipatij manuscript and Malala insertion speak rather comprehensively about
Lithuania Pantheon structure however it is worth remembering that her we mention the official
religion of royal and knightly court, about the religion of the army and the warriors that has specific
features and very little minds peasant and land farmers religion. On the other hand warriors
religion must have been of primary importance in the 13th and 14th centuries in Lithuania involved
in unfinishing wars. IN one way or the other among these lists we spot a quartet of gods, with a
clear cut structure. It is reflected in Lithuanian Folklore too since Andajus and Nunadievis could
correspond to the folk God. The Old man-god, Diviriks, Perkūnas, Teliavelis - Velnias.
Medeina and Žvorūna seem to stand for the hunting goddess, which is quite befitting a warrior
pantheon.
It appears that here we also come close to indoeuropean beliefs_ a goddess copulating with all
gods from a given mythological system or group, as for example Scandinavian Freya and Indian
goddess spouse of Asvin gods. It is possible to remember another parallel four gods known both for
Indo-European and for gods from the Near East, i.e. the masculine triad and the goddess, cf.
Shumeran quartet: Anas, Enlilis, Enki and the mother of gods Ninhurzag, Caesar's sequence of the
Celtic gods as is given in interpretatio romana Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, Minerva and Germanic gods as
enumerated by Tacitus Mercury, Mars, Heracles and Izide (the so called Vodan, Tiu, Donara,
Freya). We must note that the quartet make its appearance in Lithuanian mythological sources, i.e.
Malala insertion speaks of the gods brought in by Sovijus: Andaj, Perkūnas, Žvorūna, Teliavelis;
in Voluinė chronicle, if ignore the Hare God introduced for the purposes of exotic decoration and
confusion, Nunadievis, Teliavelis, Diviriks and Medeina.
The first official decline of the pantheon period is related to the Lithuania and Samogitian chronicle
(we will speak about it later), it is reflected in the report of Hieronymus Praquensis (BRMŠ I 588-
597), Jan Dlugosz chronicle (BRMŠ I 542-585). First of all the religion after having lost the cast of
prophets continues to exist in a different shape. The loss of the cast means the irreparable blow to
the tradition. the subterranean tendencies, magical phenomena emerge. Yet a couple of
subsequent generations continue to live in the religious field out of inertia, except one generation
by way of "Chinese whisper" passes authentic tradition to another and make sit wither and shrink.
The Middle phase of the Pantheon decline. The Partitioning of gods
Stryjkowski in his work "Kronika Polska Litewska Zmodzka i Wszystkiej Rusi" (1582 r. Wg
wydania III, Warszawa 1980, t.I s.XIV.) among others listed 16 names of "Lithuania and
Samogitian " gods. The list is compiled rather randomly, there is no congruity in it, but many divine
names appear to be reliable, with the exception of the god under the name of Didzis Lado, who
may have been include because of a certain misunderstanding and in other sources does not
appear, also not a known god patron of birds Swieczpunscynis (possibly "Šventpaukštinis" or
similar); Pušaitis mentioned by Stryjkowski at the bottom of the list is a Prussian god not
Lithuanian.
Stryjkowski mentions Prokorimos as the first among gods, the highest god (here we encounter
euphemistic tradition again; this divine name is mentioned below) however later gods of special
function are listed: Ruguczis, a god of pickles and sour food; Ziemennik - a god of earth, in his
honor grass-snakes are given milk; Kruminie Pradziu Varpu ,a god figure providing corn crop;
Lituwanis - the rain sender; Chaurirari -the god of horses and the war, which is compared by
Stryjkowski to the Mars and who is being worshipped astride in the saddle; Sotwaros - a god of
animals; Seimi Dewos - a god of the family; Upinis Dewas - the god of rivers; Bubilos - the god of
bees and honey; Dzidzis Lado - the great God; Gulbi Dziewos - the correspondence to the satires
and fauns; Swieczpuscynis - the god of hens, geese, ducks and other tamed and wild animals;
Kielu Dziewos - the god of the travel; Puschaitis - the god of earth. Stryjkowski tells what sacrifice
was to be given to what god, most often these are domestic foul.
It is noteworthy, teat the gods enumerated above mostly belong to the economic sphere.
Their list is rather accidental, there is no visible structure or hierarchy (cf. right after Prokorimas,
the superior god, there comes the god of pickles and sour food Rugučis), besides Perkūnas who
would grace all lists is not included. The gods are very clear ascribed to a function, significant to
etch daily life of a peasant, and it appears a s a typical list of a farmers or peasants pantheon. The
system is not transparent the relationship between gods not traceable. Simply an area of economy
has its own patron. However, these gods are rulers of relatively broad areas, if we compare
Stryjkowski list the list of Samogitian gods from approximately the same period.
Jan Lasycki (Jan Lasicius, "De diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum et falsorum
Christianorum". Basilea, 1615) around 1580 compiled a list of Samogitian Gods of 76 in number,
defined their functions and gave information about the rituals of Samogitians of the period (Lasycki
book was published long after the death of the author). The very sources rather reliable, except his
application for the mythological research is hampered by the divine names with a lot of spelling
mistakes and poor transcription, and this technical problem is further aggravated that some gods
are mentioned only in Lasycki's books and they never are know previous or in later to his book. It
may appear that in most cases Lasycki noted highly specific and very often very local, known for a
few villages only or even less in one family or the divine beings (spirits, patron spirits) kept. In the
form the point of view of the history of religion the growing number of gods is a completely natural
process, mostly active in the period of religious decline, and the situation in Samogitia was very
uncertain, Christianity was very superficial and the late tradition of the pagan priests without
reinforcement went in to degradation. It is safe to assume that both in Samogitia and in Lithuanian
province in separate provinces there could shape individual models of destruction, local
transformations of the old tradition, variants of decline with the local thesaurus of the divine names
and a bit diverse ritual religious. Therefore Lasycki most probably noted down only one "religious
county" and its pantheon. Therefor Lasycki deserves the following treatment: reliable in principle,
but defined by many circumstances and, primarily, local destructive tradition. Lasycki mentions
from the previous religious sources the known names of gods: Percunas, Modeina, Tavvals,
possibly related to the relict of Teliavelis. The Superior position for the God was named in
Samogitian Auxtheias Visagistis, which would stand in line with the euphemistic tradition of the
main God names, but is quite possible that by the name "Aukštasis Visagalis" or "Visagalįsis" they
referred to the Christian God (on the other hand, these euphemism could be used in reference for
both Gods, blending in to one image). Lasycki mentions authentic in later sources reiterated names
- Žemyna, Žemėpatis, Aušra etc (Zemina, Zemopacios, Ausca). There are some very narrow
function gods and spirits: Numeias, could be interpreted as the god of home or a goblin, Austheia
is a goddess of bees, but these become even more specified when we speak about gods whose
names are: Slotrazis, Tratitas Kirbixtu, Aspelenie, Kurvvaiczin Eraiczin etc. It presents more
difficulty in trying to find out about the gods: Orthus, Miechutele, Pessias, Tiklis, Klamals, Kremara
etc. Some confusion is seen in the places the very same god is named by a few names, i.e. Gabie,
Matergabie, Polengabia.
Most of the gods mentioned by Lasycki are related to the realias of the peasant life, they have
very narrow and specific function and this situation in the pantheon could have been formed in two
ways: either through decline of important gods with wide function, when their epithets and function
euphemisms acquire the status of the proper names and correspondingly the status of new gods,
or else, through decline of the old official religion the focus of attention shifts to etch old peasant
tradition formerly overshadowed by the peasant mythology. Both the first and the second
assumptions are rather speculative but the idea that these two reasons worked together would be
safe. IN either case we trace here obvious destruction of the mythological system.
Mythology
There are no Lithuania Myths in the classical sense of the word. One exception the Sovijus
Myth recorded in the 13th century in the Slavic Malala insertion to the translation of chronography.
There are no Lithuanian holy scripts, quite believable that they did not exist at all, mostly because
of the existence of the spoken tradition. The main mythological counterpoints appear in mythology
through ethological legends, most of which still carry mythological connotation, but are met not in
the religious but in the ideological context.
Cosmogony
Lithuanian ethological legends speaking about the creation of the world, mostly state that at
first there was nothing but water", and on the shore of it, on the water the God was walking, at
first two gods are mentioned Dievas and Velnias, though sometimes the creation of the very
Velnias (in the legends named as Liucius) is described. Liucius appears when the god spits or
when he rubs two stones and from the sparkles sprang Velnias (the motive of the sparkles is
known in Rigveda). Later on God's command Velnias goes down into water and brings handfuls of
dirt, clay or sand (in one very archaic version a duck substitutes Velnias), but he also puts some
dirt in to his mouth. Dievas receives dirt from the hands of Velnias and puts it on the water and
the earth begins to spread; so does the dirt in the mouth of Velnias, he cannot keep it any longer
and coughs it up, vomits it and in this way the rough surface of the earth appears, the lakes, pools
of water, stones et al, though in God's project the earth gad to keep level.
Later Dievas lies down to sleep and Velnias grabs him by the feet and drags to the water in
the attempt to drown Dievas. Yet, the land expands proportionately to the distance Velnias drags
the figure of Dievas and in this way the primordial spot of land develops in the Earth. Further
Dievas produces angels from the sparks of the stone and Velnias in imitation produces more
devils. Both Dievas and Velnias create animals as if in competition with each other, but Dievas
creates good, useful creatures while Velnias - harmful wretches.
These legends show collaboration of Dievas and Velnias though controversial yet the world
as we know it is a product of a joint attempt of Dievas and Velnias.
Anthropogony
Lithuanian ethological legends speaking about creation of the man occasionally state Dievas
made a man from the dirt or clay and then inspired spirit in to the form. This motive does not differ
in any detail from the Biblical story. It is quite truthworthy that even before Christianity Lithuanians
had a version of the first "Molding" of a man, because it exits in many other isolated nations; the
"dirt" version of the human being is also seen in the parallel between the words "Žmogus" (a
human being) and "žemė" (earth), cf. Latin Homo-humus, Hebrew Adam-Adama. Possibly the idea
of a human being stemming from earth irrespective of the Biblical influence exists in many
agricultural nations. However, though Lithuanian version of molding must have existed some time
ago, it became obliterated by the Biblical version in the legends, therefor it is impossible to
discriminate it and to prove that it really existed.
However for Lithuanian tradition undoubtedly belongs human appearance from the Gods'
saliva version: the God has walking along the water and spat and on his way back saw some
creature, which as it turned out appeared from his saliva. In one legend this is the way how two
people appear: a man and a woman, in other places just a human being and still in other instances
Liucius (Liuciperis). These legends are rather numerous. One rare legend, true states that Dievas
in stirring fire place smeared his face and started washing, a drop of water while he was washing
fell on the ground and in this way the man appeared. A similar motive is stored in shanty and
mansiu tribes and in arctic and Siberian mythologies. In either way the overall picture is still here,
human being springs from the matters related to the God hitting the ground.
In Lithuanian tales this creativity is completely accidental. Dievas did not intend to create
human being, he just spits, without any intention and in seeing a being appear is surprised himself
and in some tales he addresses the new creature: "Who are you?", and, of course the answer is
that it does not know. Dievas had to wreck his head for a long while before he remembers that
before some time he spat here. This legend is a reflection of a very ancient ideology, Dievas is not
interested in the human being and does not intend to create it.
Some motives speaking about the creation of the world have some archaic tradition motives,
which differ conspicuously from the biblical insertions. These are the images of nails. It is asserted
that "people used to have a robe on their body similar to what we wear on the ends of the fingers.
It never wore out and used to be permanent. People turned in too lazy and used to lie somewhere
in etch shade and did nothing. Therefor Dievas took off the robe and left the nails on the finger
tips". In another tale it is said that Adam and Eva in etch paradise live with robes which are made
from the same material as the nail. It appears that here we have our version of Lithuania "Garden
of Eden" version: the first people, who were destined to live forever, because they were protected
by the cover, protected from all troubles. Then something happened and people lost it, possibly
after the sin to etch heavenly God.
Lithuanian tale about the paradise lost would remind to many isolated nations the known
myths about the fact that the first people as the snakes could have changed their cover. IN their
old age they could have shed the old it and rejuvenate. However, because of some fatal
misunderstanding or a misdeed they lost the quality and therefore only snakes live forever (they
still shed and their skin).
"Paradise nails" still had theological meaning and continuation. Lithuanian legends and tales
speak about human death when in the next thing awaiting would be climbing into the high slippery
mountain of ice and glass and at whose top there resides divinity. In this climb we need nails, one's
own a or the animals' (bear's, lynx's). Lithuanian superstition state that this climb has to be
prepared in advance, do not throw away cut nails but burn them (in this way it would become
easier to redeem them in the other world). Older people awaiting death would not cut nails at all,
sometimes keep their nails in special bags. All these ides and customs are rather strange but their
meaning is deeper than the literal meaning of the superstition. The man after his death returns
back to the paradise or else in the world of Dievas through the application of the fragments of the
paradise lost.
Sovijus myth tells about the dead the first dead who found the route to the under world and
who passed it around that the best way to bury is not to dig the body into the ground or place in to
the tree but to burn it. This myth explains the tradition of burning the deeds in Lithuania and other
Baltic countries.
Cult
The main motive, recurrent in the descriptions of the holy places- fire. The eternal fire on the
mountains and the sacral places was maintained by the priests, there are features, that there must
have been women who took care of the holy fire, vaidilutės, vestal virgins. They could be either
virgins or, it seems, widows. There were fireplaces in the sacred grounds where the offerings to the
gods were burnt.
There were no temples in Lithuania, similarly as in other Baltic places; we should speak about
holy grounds. They had some structures (e.g. J.Dlugosz mentions a tower on the riverbank with
the eternal fire kept on the top of it by the priests). J.F.Rivij's chronicle with unidentified
authenticity gives rather detailed description of Perkūnas temple in Vilnius. In whose basement
grass-snakes were kept in a special niche there burnt fire, there stood Perkūnas effigy and next to
it there stood a pyramid-like twelve tiered square altar, every tier was dedicated to a different sign
of zodiac. The structure had no roof, this holds true to all cult structures in the Balts, they were
either open at the top, or else they were replaced by the holy fire, a tree (most often) an oak -tree,
holy grove. As far as we can judge, in the archaic period all cult buildings by the Indo-Europeans
were open at the top, the temples were built under the influence of the Egyptian and
Mesopotamian religions. In the North Europe this was the tradition before the very entrance of
Christianity. Later sources, after in the introduction of the Christianity write about the continuing
offerings on the mountains, forests, under the oak-trees, next to the stones, considered holy (or
straight on them).
Many old religious rituals developed in to etch festivals in course of which in still in the 17th
and in the first part of the 18th century the ancient gods were mentioned. Among calendar festival
winter and summer solstices wear most often celebrated. The holidays of the year a Christmas Eve
(Kučios), Christmas (Kalėdos), the New Year and the Magi (Trys karaliai) reflect the cult of the
dead, cosmogonic character, chaos and its overcoming fortune is being guessed and future
determined. During St John's day (or else Ilgės, Rasa) the ritual related to fire was carried out, the
bonfires set, poles burned, celebrations would take place on the hills, castle hills, and expeditions
set outing search of the so intended blossom of the fern, the one who finds it can see through the
earth and find the wealth etc.
Shrovetide (Užgavėnės) is celebrated with a lot of noise, gangs of redressed people walk
around, they pretend to be foreigners, animals, mythical beings, the winter is chaste away. Easter
is celebrated with painting the eggs, they are rolled as is believed that the sun on the Easter
morning get sup and rolls around in the sky and jumps. Processions round the church are held,
people strata all kinds of races, tell fortune, and sanctify thee ire. A big celebration is the Day of All
Dead and All souls day. The soul of the dead are given food, it is believed that on that day the dead
souls visit their homes and relatives. All these celebrations are still kept these days with the
emphasis on both etch archaic and the Christian elements of the tradition.
The concept of the Life after Death
It is the horizon of death that makes the cuts the figures of the most important gods in
Lithuania in the myth of Sovijus (Sovijus with his veneration of the dead foresters veneration of the
main gods of the Lithuanian tradition). On the background of death the cult is being codified. It
seems that death was not seen as the catastrophic end of life, it most probably was a natural
exhaustion of life and its continuation in another form.
As it is possible to decide in the case of the warriors and the nobility the journey of the dead
would start from the incineration fire, yet some believes still observed till not long ago, prove that
between the death and the moment of the other world there appears a certain gap in time which
makes the dead linger in this world. It was believed, that Dievas allows the human beings to live a
certain score of years and if the person cannot live fully the whole stint, e.g. perishes, commits
suicide, dies a premature death he has to live on this earth till the designated date if death
entering the shapes of plants, most often the trees, into the animals, or birds. There was also a
believe that the dead can leave this earth only once per year on the All souls Easter, i.e. Shrove
Thursday or the other version says that this was All souls day and before this date the dead has to
linger on earth. Therefore there is a certain part of people who live on earth. Because of the
influence of the Christianity these souls became identified with the repenting sinners the purgatory,
thus purgatory, in practice was gravitated to the Earth. Certainly, to take faith in these images was
assisted by archaic metempsychosis system, whose relics in the Lithuanian vision of the after life
are plenty. Let us say that the dead in the hell are turned in to working horses and oxen, they
carrier heavy burdens, another instances the soul of the dead make appearance as a flock of
sheep. In the paradise the dead can be turned in to birds.
The central image of after world is the mountain, on top of which is inhabited by the God or
Perkūnas. Behind it or else from the top of it there starts the residence of the dead, it is light and
warm, with beautiful garden, with a lot of singing birds. Sometimes it is conceived that the dead
has to climb the hill after death with the help of personal or animals' nails. At the bottom of the hill
there lives a serpent here a devil's space stretches out and it seems that the hell is right under the
mountain, i.e. under the heavenly residence of the dead. It seems that the dead live in the parts
where the birds fly to stay over for the winter and the birds know their rout e by Milky Way.
Possibly the Milky Way was seen as the mythical mountain cosmic or as its slope, which had to be
conquered by the humans, and the birds could fly to it.
Literature
Sources:
Baltų religijos ir mitologijos šaltiniai. T. 1. Parengė N. Vėlius. Vilnius, 1996. Sources of Baltic
religion and mythology, volume I of IV. In lithuanian.
Mannhardt W. Letto-Preussische Gotterlehre. Riga, 1936.
Reprinted in Darmstadt, 1971. Good collection.
Mierzynski W. Zrodla do mytologii litewskiej. T. 1-2. Warszawa, 1892-1896.
Old comments, not many sources.
Other:
(in lithuanian)
1.
Beresnevičius G. Baltų religinės reformos. Vilnius, 1995.
2.
Beresnevičius G. Dausos. Vilnius, 1990;
3.
Laurinkienė N. Mito atšvaitai lietuvių kalendorinėse dainose. Vilnius, 1990;
4.
Laurinkienė N. Senovės lietuvių dievas Perkūnas. Vilnius, 1996;
5.
Vėlius N. Chtoniškasis lietuvių mitologijos pasaulis;
6.
Vėlius N. Mitinės lietuvių sakmių būtybės. Vilnius, 1977;
7.
Vėlius N. Senovės baltų pasaulėžiūra. Vilnius, 1983.
Summary in english.
(in other languages)
1.
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New York, 1950.
2.
Balys J., Biezais H. Baltische Mythologie // Gotter und Mythen im alten Europa. Stuttgart,
1973.
3.
Bruckner A. Starozytna Litwa. Ludy i bogi. Warszawa, 1904. 2 leidimas: Olsztyn, 1979.
4.
Bruckner A. Die Slawen und Litauer // Chantepie de la Saussaye. Lehrbuch der
Religionsgeschichte. Tubingen, 1925.
5.
Dini P. U., Mikhailov N. Mitologia Baltica. Studi sulla mitologia dei popoli baltici. Antologia
("Studi slavi", Universita degli Studi di Pisa, n. 3). Genova-Pisa, 1995.
6.
Gimbutas M. The Balts. London, 1983.
7.
Gimbutas M. The Lithuanian God Velnias // Myth in Indo-European antiquity. Berkeley-Los
Angeles-London, 1974.
8.
Gimbutas M. Baltic and slavic Mythology. Indiana, 1989.
9.
Greimas A. J. Dit de Šovys, conducteur des ames // Lalies. Actes des sessions de
linguistique et de literature. N. 6, 1984.
10.
Greimas A. J. Des dieux et des hommes. Paris, 1985.
11.
Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Issledovanija v oblasti slavianskich drevnostei. Moskva, 1974.
12.
Jaskiewicz W. C. Study in Lithuanian mythology // Studi Baltici. N. 9, 1952.
13.
Kosman M. Zmierzch Perkuna: czyli ostatnie poganie nad Baltykiem. Warszawa, 1981.
14.
Meulen, van der V. Naturvergleich in den Liedern und Totenklagen der Litauer. Leiden,
1907.
15.
Puhvel J. Indoeuropean structure of the Baltic Pantheon // Myth in the Indo-European
Antiquity. Berkeley-Los Amgeles-London, 1974.
16.
Schroeder L. von. Arische Religion. Bd. 1-2. Leipzig, 1923.
17.
Szafranski W. Religija Baltow // Zarys dziejow religii. Warszawa, 1968.
18.
Toporov V. N. Vilnius, Wilno, Wilna: gorod i mif // Balto slavianskije etnojazykovyje
kontakty. Moskva, 1980.
19.
Toporov V. N. Indoevropeiskij ritualnyj termin SOUHL- ETRO- (-ETLO, -EDHLO) // Balto-
slavianskije issledovanija. 1984. Moskva, 1986.
20.
Toporov V. N. Zametki po pochoronnoj obriadnosti // Balto-slavianskije issledovanija.
1985. Moskva, 1987.
Translated by Lora Tamošiūnienė.
This text was taken from
http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/mythology/relmyth.html