History Myth / BalticMythology

[[caption-width-right:350:Perkunas monument in Austria by the Lithuanian wood sculptor Algimantas Sakalauskas.]]

Baltic languages are regarded as the most archaic Indo-European languages, and it's theorised they split from Slavic languages from a common Proto-Balto-Slavic ancestor. Tracing Baltic prehistory is hard due centuries of isolation and lack of autochthonous written sources. What's important, however, is that their turning point arrived in TheLateMiddleAges, with the [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Northern Crusades]].

First the territories of Latvia and Estonia were conquered and merged by the Livonian Order, then UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights took over Prussia. The following centuries were characterised by intense missionary activity and German colonisation, with different results: Germans in Latvia and Estonia formed a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Germans dominant minority]]; in Prussia, wars had been so catastrophic that most native Prussians were dead or reduced to misery; Germanisation was much more intense, Prussians entirely assimilated and their language ceased to exist in the following centuries. Teutonic lands in Prussia were eventually secularised into a Duchy and acquired by the Hohenzollern rulers of Brandenburg, forming the base for the German Kingdom of UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}}, but that's another story...

Lithuanians instead resisted the Northern Crusades, which dragged for two other exhausting centuries. Meanwhile they formed a unified duchy and expanded over UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} and UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}, emerging as a regional power. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a multicultural and multiconfessional state, remained pagan up until the ''late 14th century'', when Grand Duke Jogalia converted to Christianity and obtained the crown of Poland. Here ends the history of the last pagan nation of Europe, and begins the history of the UsefulNotes/PolishLithuanianCommonwealth.

There's much uncertainty when it comes of Baltic mythology and contradictions between different sources. The earliest texts were all written by Christian foreigners; Baltic writers started treating their own paganism long after they abandoned it. How much authors were biased or knowledgeable is open to debate. Not to mention that many writers wrote by hearsay and speculated about Baltic mythology much more than they had the right to. Folklore collected in the modern age remains another important source, though it's expected that it mirrors only distantly ancient paganism and shouldn't be taken at face value.

* FieryStoic: Gabija was the spirit of fire, intended as protectress of home and familiy, and she manifested her power as the hearth of the household. If she was offended by the people mistreating her fire, [[HouseFire she would burn the house]] as punishment.
* GodOfTheDead: Velnias the chthonic god of the underworld, who is related to the cult of dead. He was HijackedByJesus and turned into the devil associated with all evil. In some tales Velnias (the devil) was the first owner of fire, with God sending a swallow (as in, the bird species) that managed to steal the underworld fire.
* GodOfThunder: Perkunas the god of thunder, whose name is directly taken from the Proto-Indo-European "Perkwunos". As with Velnias, he has connections to Slavic deites- Perun and Veles respectivelly.

** All sources concerning Baltic Mythology were only written by Christian authors: foreigners who might have or not held Baltic paganism in contempt, native Balts who wrote about their old paganism only after their conversion. It's hard to determine how exactly Christianity influenced what we know of Baltic Mytholgy. Among the rest, it seems that feminine figures such as Žemyna or Laima were conflated with the Virgin Mary; Velnias, god of the dead, was associated with Satan and his very own name assumed the meaning of "devil" in Baltic languages.
* HotGoddess: Aušrinė, daughter of Saulė and Mėnulis. She's described as a beautiful virgin woman and is associated with beauty, youth and health.

* LordOfTheOcean: Bangpūtys, god of sea and storm. He's described as TwoFaced, having wings, a fish in his left hand, a utensil in his right hand, and a rooster on the head. He's the father of Rytys, Pietys, Šiaurys and Vakaris, the four gods of wind.

* SnakesAreSinister: {{Inverted}}. Grass snakes were revered as benign household spirits. It was believed that keeping them as pets could protect from plagues and bring good harvests, while killing them would have brought misfortune upon the household.
* SolarAndLunar: Saulė and Mėnulis are wife and husband, and dieties of Sun and Moon respectively.

The whole Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of all the Baltic people, the ancestors of Latvia and Lithuania. While it originates in Baltic paganism, it continues to exist after Christianization and into Baltic folklore. Baltic mythology ultimately stems from Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Baltic region was one of the last regions of Europe to be Christianized, a process that began in the 15th century and continued for at least a century afterward. While no native texts survive detailing the mythology of the Baltic peoples during the pagan period, knowledge of such beliefs may be gained from Russian and German chronicles, from later folklore, from etymology and from the reconstructions of comparative mythology.

* TopGod: Dievas the supreme sky god, who is derived from the Proto-Indo-European "Dyeus". This name/word is also the root of both words "deity" and "divine" which is not a linguistic coincidence.