Practices, cults, and institutions

Temples and other holy places

Archaeological excavations in the 20th century have indicated the existence of temples made of wood. The only remains of these temples are postholes. Such temples were circular, approximately 15 feet (five metres) in diameter, in the centre of which a statue of a god may have been erected. At present, however, the existence of such temples must be regarded only as conjecture within the realm of probability. On the other hand, the existence of open-air holy places or sites of worship among the Balts is confirmed by both the earliest historical documents and folklore. Such places were holy groves, called alka in Lithuanian. Later the word came to mean any holy place or site of worship (Lithuanian alkvietė). Considerable research has shown that the usual sites were little hills, where the populace gathered and sacrificed during holy festivals, all of which supports the idea that wooden buildings could have been built at these sites.

Other holy places were also recognized. The most important of these appear to be bathhouses, whose function some researchers have compared to that of churches in Christianity. A large amount of evidence indicates that religious–magical rites, from birth ceremonies to funerals, were performed in such bathhouses. There are various opinions as to whether the so-called holy corner (heilige Hinterecke)—i.e., the dark corner of a peasant’s house in which a deity or patron lives—belongs to pre-Christian concepts or not. On the other hand, various places in the house proper, such as the hearth and the doorstep, were considered to be abodes of spirits. In general, the more important work sites each had its own guardian spirit. Sacrifices were performed at each spot to assure successful completion of work. Because they supplied the farmstead with water, streams and rivers were also especially important.

Religious personages

There is no reliable information that the Balts had a priestly class, let alone religious hierarchy. The 11th-century German historian Adam of Bremen, in describing conflicts between Christian missionaries and Latvians, said that “every house is filled with seers, augurers, and necromancers,” which indicates that the Balts had sacral persons, probably the patriarchs of large extended families or heads of clans. As even 18th-century church inspection records show, the Christian church had great difficulty in curbing their influence, especially within their clans. Their religious functions were twofold. First, they were responsible for the welfare and means of existence of the people through the performance of appropriate rites both at work sites and during the holy festivals. Second, they assured that the proper procedure would be followed in rituals connected with the important occasions of human life, such as birth, marriage, and death. In the syncretistic amalgam of Christianity and the religion of the Balts, those persons were called sorcerers (Zauberer) and, according to church records, were treated by the Balts with the same reverence as bishops were treated by Christians.

Sacred times

Special rites evolved for the festivals of the summer solstice and the harvest, while other rites were used specifically for beginning various kinds of spring work. Such spring work included sending farm animals to pasture or horses to forage for the first time, plowing the first furrow, and starting the first spring planting. The birth of a child was especially noted; it usually took place in the bathhouse or some other quiet spot. Laima was responsible for both mother and child. One birth rite, called pirtīžas, was a special sacral meal in which only women took part. Marriage rites were quite extensive and corresponded closely to similar Old Indian ceremonies. Fire and bread had special importance and were taken along to the house of the newly married couple. These rites persisted until quite late and were to be seen even at the end of the 19th century, though in many cases only as games. In this connection, fire in general occupied a central place in Baltic religion. Considered holy, it was worshiped, and sacrifices were offered to it.

It seems unbelievable that even as late as 1377 and 1382, respectively, the Lithuanian king Algirdas and his brother Kęstutis could still be buried according to the old traditions in a Christian Europe; dressed in silver and gold, they were burned in funeral pyres together with their best possessions, horses, hunting dogs, birds, and weapons. In spite of a ban by the church and subsequent persecution, this rite still persisted in the 15th century. The tenacious preservation of this ancient Indo-European ritual casts light on other features of Baltic religion. Chronicles relate that Lithuanians, after losing a battle, joyfully committed suicide; this was also true of the widows of soldiers killed in battle. Such voluntary immolation and the articles buried with the dead are evidence of a belief in life after death. It is said that at the funeral of a nobleman his companions threw lynx and bear claws into the fire to aid his climb up the mountain to God, an indication of Christian influence. Archaeological excavations have also yielded evidence of fire funeral rites: the bones of humans and animals, metal jewelry, and weapons found at the sites of the funeral pyres.

In funeral rites several different phases are discernible during the period between death and burning. The deceased was laid out in his house for a longer or shorter period depending on his social position and the size of his estate. During this time a meal lasting several days was held for the deceased’s relatives and friends. In the course of the festivities the participants conducted fights on horseback. Lamentations, leave-takings, and praises of the deceased, as well as wishes for a safe journey to the world of the dead, accompanied the corpse on the way to the funeral pyre. In spite of persecution by the church, the tradition of lamentation has lasted until modern times, though in a somewhat modified form. One of the peculiarities of Baltic funeral rites was their similarity to wedding ceremonies. The corpse and a partner selected from the living were dressed in elaborate wedding costumes, wedding songs were sung, and dancing took place. The basis of these ceremonies was the belief that the dead anticipate a new companion with the same joy as the living do a new in-law. The corpse’s living partner was a symbolical substitute for the new comrade awaited by the dead.

The use of living people to represent symbolically the companions of the dead in funerary practices suggests a dominant concept in Baltic religious thought, namely, that the boundary between the worlds of the dead and the living was not real. The dead continued to live invisibly and were present at all important occasions. A place was set for them at the festival table and no one else might sit there. The extensive practice of feeding the dead was a consequence of the concept that the living were responsible for their welfare. Originally, their food must have been placed at the hearth. In later development, meals for the dead were also placed in other buildings, such as the threshing house or the bathhouse. Under the influence of Christianity, these living dead (Latvian velis, Lithuanian vėlė) have been confused with the Devil. A widespread view was that the souls of the dead dwell in the zalktis (Latvian; Lithuanian žaltys; “green snake”); thus special care was taken in its feeding. But the zalktis was also closely associated with fertility and sexual symbolism.