Lithuanian mythology


Lithuanian mythology is the mythology of Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-Europeans, ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. In pre-Christian Lithuania, mythology was a part of polytheistic religion; after Christianisation mythology survived mostly in folklore, customs and festive rituals. Lithuanian mythology is very close to the mythology of other Baltic nations - Prussians, Latvians, and is considered a part of Baltic mythology.

History of scholarship

Surviving information about Baltic mythology in general is fragmented. As with most ancient Indo-European cultures, the original primary mode of transmission of seminal information such as myths, stories, and customs was oral, the then-unnecessary custom of writing being introduced later during the period of the text-based culture of Christianity. Most of the early written accounts are very brief and made by foreigners, usually Christians, who disapproved of pagan traditions. Some academics regard some texts as inaccurate misunderstandings or even fabrications. In addition, many sources list many different names and different spellings, thus sometimes it is not clear if they are referring to the same thing.
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Lithuania became Christianized between the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century, but Lithuanian polytheism survived for another two centuries, gradually losing influence and coherence as religion. The last conceptions of the old religion survived approximately until the beginning of the 19th century. The relics of the old polytheistic religion were already interwoven with songs, tales and other mythic stories. Gradually Lithuanian polytheism customs and songs merged with the Christian tradition. In the beginning of the 20th century Michał Pius Römer noted - "Lithuanian folklore culture having its sources in heathenism is in complete concord with Christianity".
It is not easy to reconstruct the Lithuanian mythology in its full form. Lithuanian mythology was not static, but constantly developed, so it did not remain in the same form over the longer periods.
J. Dlugosz tried to research myths and religion of ancient Lithuanians. He considered it close to the ancient culture of Rome. Almost all authors of Renaissance - J. Dlugosz, M. Stryjkowski, J. Lasicki, M. Prätorius and others, relied not only on previous authors and chroniclers, but included facts and attestments of their time as well. Since Renaissance scholars were quite knowledgeable about the culture of antique world, their interpretation of Lithuanian religion was affected by Roman or Greek cultures.
Many scholars preferred to write their own reconstructions of Lithuanian mythology, based also on historical, archaeological, and ethnographic data. The first such reconstruction was written by the Lithuanian historian Theodor Narbutt at the beginning of the 19th century.
The interest in Baltic and Lithuanian mythology was growing along with interest in Lithuanian language among Indo-Europeanists, since the conservative and native Baltic nations preserved very archaic language and cultural traditions.
Italian linguist Vittore Pisani along with his research of Baltic languages, studied Lithuanian mythology.
Two well-known attempts at reconstruction have been attempted more recently by Marija Gimbutas and Algirdas Julien Greimas. According to G. Beresenevičius it is impossible to reconstruct the Lithuanian mythology in entirety, since there were only fragments which survived. Marija Gimbutas explored Lithuanian and Baltic mythology using her method - archaeomythology where archeological findings being interpreted through known mythology.
The most modern academics exploring Lithuanian mythology in the second half of the 20th century were Norbertas Vėlius and Gintaras Beresnevičius.

Pantheon of Lithuanian gods

The pantheon of Lithuanian was formed during thousands of years by merging pre-Indo-European and Indo-European traditions. Feminine gods such as Žemyna - the god of Earth attributed to pre-Indo-European tradition. Very expressive thunder-god Perkūnas came with Indo-European religion. The hierarchy of the gods depended also on social strata of ancient Lithuanian society.
Dievas also called Dievas senelis, Dangaus Dievas - the supreme god. It is descended from Proto-Indo-European *deiwos, "celestial" or "shining", from the same root as *Dyēus, the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon. It relates to ancient Greek Zeus, latin Dius Fidius, luvian Tiwat, German Tivaz. The name Dievas is being used in Christianity as the name of God.
Andajus was mentioned in chronicles as the most powerful and highest god of Lithuanians. Lithuanians cried its name in a battle. It might just an epithet of the supreme god - Dievas.
Perkūnas, god of thunder, also synonimically called Dundulis, Bruzgulis, Dievaitis, Grumutis etc. It closely relates to many Indo-European mythologies - the Vedic Parjanya, Celtic Taranis, Germanic Thor. There is a Finnic Mordvin/Erza thunder god named Pur'ginepaz which in folklore has themes resembling Lithuanian Perkunas.. Perkūnas is the assistant and executor of Dievas‘s will. It also associates with the oak tree.
Dievo sūneliai - Ašvieniai, pulling the carriage of Saulė through the sky. Like the Greek Dioscuri Castor and Pollux, it is a mytheme of the Divine twins common to the Indo-European mythology. Two well-accepted descendants of the Divine Twins, the Vedic Aśvins and the Lithuanian Ašvieniai, are linguistic cognates ultimately deriving from the Proto-Indo-European word for the horse, *h₁éḱwos. They are related to Sanskrit áśva and Avestan aspā, and to Old Lithuanian ašva, all sharing the meaning of "mare".
Velnias – chthonic god of the underworld, related to the cult of dead. The root of the word is the same as of vėlė – soul of the deceased. After the introduction of Christianity it was equated with evil and Velnias became a Lithuanian name for devil. In some tales, Velnias was the first owner of fire. God sent a swallow, which managed to steal the fire.
Žemyna is the goddess of the earth. It relates to Thracian Zemele, Greek Semelē. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods. Žemyna personifies the fertile earth and nourishes all life on earth, human, plant, and animal. The goddess is said to be married to either Perkūnas or Praamžius. Thus the couple formed the typical Indo-European pair of mother-earth and father-sky. It was believed that in each spring the earth needs to be impregnated by Perkūnas - the heavens rain and thunder. Perkūnas unlocks the Earth. It was prohibited to plow or sow before the first thunder as the earth would be barren.
Žvėrinė – is the goddess of hunting and forest animals. Medeina is the name in other sources.
Žemėpatis - god of the land, harvest, property and homestead. Martynas Mažvydas in 1547 in his Catechism urged to abandon cult of Žemėpatis.
Žvaigždikis – the god of the stars, powerful god of light, who provided light for the crops, grass and the animals. He was known as Svaikstikas by Yotvingians.
Gabija is the spirit or goddess of the fire. She is the protector of family fireplace and family. Her name is derived from. It was no allowed to step on firewood, since it was considered a food for fire goddess. Even today there is a tradition of weddings in Lithuania to light a new symbolic family fireplace from the parents of the newlyweds.
Laima - is the destiny-giver goddess.
Bangpūtys - god of the sea, wind, waves and storm. Was worshipped by fishermen and seamen.
Teliavelis/Kalevelis - a smith-god. First mentioned in a 1262 copy of Chronographia of John Malalas as Teliavel. Lithuanian linguist Kazimieras Būga reconstructed a previous form - Kalvelis. Teliavelis/Kalevelis freed Saulė from the dark using his iron hammer.
In Lithuanian fairy-tales recorded much later, there is very frequent opposition of kalvis and velnias.

The periods of Lithuanian mythology and religion

Pre-Christian Lithuanian mythology is known mainly through attested bits recorded by chroniclers and folks songs; the existence of some mythological elements, known from later sources, has been confirmed by archaeological findings. The system of polytheistic beliefs is reflected in Lithuanian tales, such as Jūratė and Kastytis, Eglė the Queen of Serpents and the Myth of Sovijus.
The next period of Lithuanian mythology started in the 15th century, and lasted till approximately the middle of the 17th century. The myths of this period are mostly heroic, concerning the founding of the state of Lithuania. Perhaps two the best known stories are those of the dream of the Grand Duke Gediminas and the founding of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and of Šventaragis' Valley, which also concerns the history of Vilnius. Many stories of this kind reflect actual historical events. Already by the 16th century, there existed a non-unified pantheon; data from different sources did not correspond one with another, and local spirits, especially those of the economic field, became mixed up with more general gods and ascended to the level of gods.
The third period began with the growing influence of Christianity and the activity of the Jesuits, roughly since the end of the 16th century. The earlier confrontational approach to the pre-Christian Lithuanian heritage among common people was abandoned, and attempts were made to use popular beliefs in missionary activities. This also led to the inclusion of Christian elements in mythic stories.
The last period of Lithuanian mythology began in the 19th century, when the importance of the old cultural heritage was admitted, not only by the upper classes, but by the nation more widely. The mythical stories of this period are mostly reflections of the earlier myths, considered not as being true, but as the encoded experiences of the past.

Elements and nature in the Lithuanian mythology

Elements, celestial bodies and nature phenomena

Stories, songs, and legends of this kind describe laws of nature and such natural processes as the change of seasons of the year, their connections with each other and with the existence of human beings. Nature is often described in terms of the human family; in one central example, the sun is called the mother, the moon the father, and stars the sisters of human beings. Lithuanian mythology is rich in gods and minor gods of water, sky and earth. Holy groves were worshipped, especially beautiful and distinctive places - alka were selected for sacrifices for gods.

Fire

Fire is very often mentioned by chroniclers, when they were describing Lithuanian rituals. The Lithuanian king Algirdas was even addressed as a "fire worshiper King of Lithuania" in the documents of a patriarch Nilus of Constantinople.

Water

Water was considered a primary element - legends describing the creation of the world, usually state that "at first there was nothing but water".
Springs were worshiped - they were considered holy. The river was seen as separating the areas of alive and death. If the settlement was placed at the river, then the deceased were buried in another side of the river. Water sources were highly respected and was tradition to keep any water - spring, well, river, lake clean. Cleanliness was associated with holiness.

Holy groves

Holy groves were considered not holy in itself, but as a home of gods. Jerome of Prague was an ardent missionary in Lithuania, and was leading the chopping of the holy groves and desecration of Lithuanian sacred heathen places. Lithuanian woman reached Vytautas the Great with plaints that they are losing their places of Dievas, the places where they prayed supreme god - Dievas to withhold the Sun or rain. Now, when the holy groves are destroyed they don't know where to search for Dievas since it lost its home. Jerome of Prague was finally sent out of the country.

Celestial bodies

Celestial bodies - planets were seen as a family. Mėnulis married Saulė and they had seven daughters: Aušrinė, Vakarinė, Indraja, Vaivora or son Pažarinis in some versions, Žiezdrė, Sėlija, Žemė. Three daughters lived close to their mother Saulė, another three were traveling.
Grįžulo Ratai was imagined as a carriage for the Sun which was travelling through the sky, Ursa Minor - a carriage for the daughter of Sun.
Zodiac or Astrological signs were known as liberators of the Saulė form the tower in which it was locked by the powerfull king - the legend recorded by Jerome of Prague in 14-15th century.

Lithuanian myths

Lithuanian mythology serves as a constant inspiration for Lithuanian artists. Many interpretations of Eglė - the Queen of Serpents were made in poetry and visual art. In modern Lithuanian music polytheistic rituals and sutartinės songs were source of inspiration for Bronius Kutavičius. Old Lithuanian names, related to nature and mythology are often given to the children. Many pagan traditions slightly transformed were adopted by the Christian religion in Lithuania. Oaks are still considered a special trees, and grass snakes are treated with care.