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, such as Prussians and Latvians, and is considered a part of Baltic mythology.
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.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 a 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. At the beginning of the 20th century, Michał Pius Römer noted - "Lithuanian folklore culture having its sources in heathenism is in complete concord with Christianity".
In 1883, Edmund Veckenstedt published a book Die Mythen, Sagen und Legenden der Zamaiten .
It is not easy to reconstruct Lithuanian mythology in its entirety, not least because it did not remain static, but developed constantly, undergoing considerable change during the centuries of its survival.
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 attestations of their time as well. Since Renaissance scholars were quite knowledgeable about the culture of ancient 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.
Interest in the language and mythology of the Lithuanians grew steadily among Indo-Europeanists, who were coming to appreciate the innate linguistic and cultural conservatism of the Baltic nations and the relevance of such archaic survivals to their attempts at reconstructing the remote, Indo-European past.
Italian linguist, 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 its entirety, since only fragments survived. Marija Gimbutas explored Lithuanian and Baltic mythology using her method - archaeomythology, where archeological findings are interpreted through known mythology. V. Ivanov and V. Toporov used a material related to the Lithuanian spells to restore the Indo-European myths.
The most modern academics exploring Lithuanian mythology in the second half of the 20th century were Norbertas Vėlius and Gintaras Beresnevičius.
Gods and mythological figures
The pantheon of Lithuania was formed during thousands of years by merging pre-Indo-European and Indo-European traditions. Feminine gods such as Žemyna are attributed to pre-Indo-European tradition, whereas the expressive thunder-god Perkūnas is considered to derive from 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 sky 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 Tiwaz. The name Dievas is being used in Christianity as the name of God.
Andajus is mentioned in chronicles as the most powerful and highest god of Lithuanians. Lithuanians cried its name in a battle. It might just be an epithet of the supreme god - Dievas.
Perkūnas, god of thunder, also synonymically called Dundulis, Bruzgulis, Dievaitis, Grumutis etc. It closely relates to other thunder gods in many Indo-European mythologies: Vedic Parjanya, Celtic Taranis, Germanic Thor, Slavic Perun. The Finnic and Mordvin/Erza thunder god named Pur'ginepaz shows in folklore themes that resemble the imagery of Lithuanian Perkunas. Perkūnas is the assistant and executor of Dievas's will. He is also associated 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 . After the introduction of Christianity, it was equated with evil, and Velnias became the 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 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.
Medeina – the goddess of forest and hunting. Researchers suggests that she and Žvėrinė could have been worshipped as the same goddess.
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. It was also known as Svaikstikas by Yotvingians.
Gabija is the spirit or goddess of the fire. She is the protector of the family fireplace and family. Her name is derived from – to cover, to protect. Nobody was allowed to step on firewood, since it was considered a food for the 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 or Laimė – 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 or the god of roads. 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.
Historiography
Pre-Christian Lithuanian mythology is known mainly through attested fragments 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 Sovij.The next period of Lithuanian mythology started in the 15th century and lasted until 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 of 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.