List of Lithuanian gods explained

Lithuanian mythology had many different gods and deities. It is hard to reconstruct the full list of names because the sources are scant and contradictory.

Names from folklore myths and legends

This section includes the names of gods, divine or demonic beings, and other personages from Lithuanian myths, legends, folklore, and fairy-tales.

Gods and god-like beings

Heroes and Heroines

Local and nature spirits

Various lower beings

Demonic beings

Holy places and things

Names from various written sources

Here are mentioned names of deities mentioned in various sources from 13th to 19th centuries. Some of these deities are not confirmed by other sources (like most deities of T. Narbutt).

Russian chronicles

Some names from Lithuanian mythology are also found in Russian chronicles of the 13th century. These deities were supposedly worshiped by King of Lithuania Mindaugas secretly after baptizing. Russian chronicles are considered the best source of information about ancient Lithuanian pantheon worshiped by feodals and military.

There was a myth telling how Sovijus caught a boar. He cut out nine spleens of the boars and gave them to his sons to bake. But the sons ate the spleens. Sovijus got angry and went to the hell. He had to enter nine gates. Sovijus entered eight gates but entering the ninth ones was problematic.

One of his sons helped him.

Other brothers got to know this and said him to find the father in the hell. The son came to the hell, found the father and had a dinner with him. After dinner he buried him below ground. The following morning the son asked Sovijus if he slept well. Sovijus said that worms ate him. Then the son put the body of Sovijus to a tree (or box of tree). Following morning Sovijus said that his rest was terrible because bees ate him.

Then the son burned the body of Sovijus on the stake. Following morning father said that his rest was perfect.

The mediaeval chronicles tells that this custom is very old and was called Sovica. Sovica was practicated not only by Lithuanians but also by other pagan tribes (Livonians, Estonians and others).

Maciej Stryjkowski's list

Maciej Stryjkowski (1547-1586/1593) was a Polish-Lithuanian historian. He authored the highly valued historical record "Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia and all Russia" in 1582, when Pagan belief was still surviving perfectly in ethnic Lithuania. Maciej Stryjkowski lived in Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Samogitia for a long period of time and wrote about pagan Samogitians and Lithuanian customs.

Styjkovski's list of deities worshiped by Lithuanians could be considered to be the peasants' pantheon. As Gintaras Beresnevičius pointed out – all deities are undoubted except Didis Lado who was constructed by Stryjkowski from folk songs' onomatopoeic words, a feature common in Baltic and Slavic folklores.

Jan Łasicki's lists

A Polish Protestant activist of the 16th century, Jan Łasicki wrote a treatise on idolatry in Eastern Europe, where not only vestigial Lithuanian pagans but also contemporary Catholics are described as idolaters. This treatise, About gods of Samogitians, other Sarmatians, and false Christians (De diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum et falsorum Christianorum, 1615), contains a few lists of gods (including Catholic saints), with brief descriptions of every item. Łasicki's list is a treasure for mythologists. However, Łasicki's descriptions were sometimes criticised by later scholars as being irrelevant and biased (e.g., he gave as the names of gods words that obviously mean inanimate things, and should have been described at most as sacred utensils). Here are some deities from J. Łasicki's lists.

Deities mentioned by Jan Łasicki:

Lists by Jan Łasicki also include names of mythical creatures that aren't mentioned in any other independent sources.

Theodor Narbutt's reconstruction

The historian Theodor Narbutt (Lith.: Teodoras Narbutas) between 1835 and 1841 wrote the ten volume work History of the Lithuanian Nation (Dzieje starożytne narodu litewskiego), of which the first volume contained a description of Lithuanian mythology. However Narbutt was accused by later historians not only of adopting too speculative an approach, but also of some falsifications. Thus, statements by this author not confirmed by other sources are considered by many scholars to be dubious. On the other hand, there are admirers of Narbutt's ideas who argue that he could have had his own sources, unknown to us.

The following list comprises those names of gods that are known only from Narbutt:

Reconstructed structure of Lithuanian pantheon

The following reconstruction was formerly a separate Wikipedia article of the above title which now redirects here.

Supreme deity

Second level

Third level

alternative name – Žvorūna (13th ct.).

Other names mentioned in written sources

This section contains those names of Lithuanian and Prussian gods or other mythical beings that are mentioned in old treatises on history or philosophy, sometimes accompanied by brief descriptions, and which are known from a few independent sources or from their counterparts under different names in later collections of myths and tales.

Gods and god-like beings

Local and nature spirits

Other names

The names, that were more marginal in Lithuanian mythology or less known from existing sources are put here. In fact they denote some spirits or local deities, that don't play a main role in the mythology of Lithuanians.

See also

References