Milda, in the Lithuanian mythology, is the goddess of love. [1] However, her authenticity is debated by scholars. Despite the uncertainty, Milda became a popular female given name in Lithuania. Neo-pagan societies and communities, including Romuva, organize various events in honor of goddess Milda in May. [2] The Milda Mons, a mountain on Venus, is named after her. [3]
Milda was first mentioned by Teodor Narbutt in his 1835 work on the history of Lithuania. [4] According to Narbutt, Milda was also known as Aleksota. Her temples stood in Aleksotas, Kaunas and in Antakalnis, Vilnius, where the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul now stands. The month of April was dedicated to Milda. [4] In a December 1835 letter to Narbutt, Szymon Ławrynowicz (a teacher from Kaunas) described two figurines found at the House of Perkūnas at the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th centuries. Narbutt identified the figurines as those of Perkūnas, the god of thunder, and Milda. [5] Another bronze figurine was found at Vilnius Castle Complex and acquired by Adam Honory Kirkor and Władysław Syrokomla who with the help from Narbutt identified it as that of Milda. This figurine was later held at the Museum of Antiquities in Vilnius. [5]
However, other authors, including Aleksander Brückner, Norbertas Vėlius, Gintaras Beresnevičius, expressed serious doubts whether such goddess actually existed in the Lithuanian mythology due to lack of evidence. [4]
According to Norbertas Vėlius, Narbutt invented Milda borrowing the idea of a beautiful Roman nymph Alexothe from the writings of Dominik Szybiński. As one of Kaunas' suburbs is Aleksotas, it was only natural that Milda's temple stood there. There is no evidence, either in written documents, archaeological research, or folklore, to support Narbutt's claims. [4] In the same vein, Latvian ethnographer Pēteris Šmits argues that Milda is a fabrication by Narbutt, since there are no traces of her as a deity either in the languages, the historical chronicles, or in Baltic folk tradition. [6]
Narbutt's information was later repeated and popularized by many other writers and historians, including Dionizas Poška, Jonas Totoraitis, Pranė Dundulienė. Milda owes her popularity to Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. In 1840, he wrote Anafielas, a three-part epic poem in Polish. The first part, Witolorauda, mentioned Milda and her festival in early May. The poem was translated into Lithuanian and published several times popularizing the goddess. Its Polish publication in 1846 was illustrated with 50 woodcuts by Wincenty Smokowski. [4] His image of Milda continues to influence Milda's representations. [2] In 1918, Petras Vaičiūnas wrote a poetic play dedicated to Milda. [4]
In Latvian mythology, the term ' stands for "mother", sometimes written in English as Mhte'. It was an epithet applied to some sixty-seventy goddesses. were clearly distinct goddesses in most or all cases, so the term definitely referred to the mother-goddess of specific phenomena. According to professor Lotte Motz, scholar Haralds Biezais mentioned there were at least 70 characters in Baltic religion identified with the title of Mate.
Auseklis is a Latvian god, a stellar deity that represents a celestial body, but possibly not the same as Venus - the first "star" to appear in the mornings on the east side of the sky. He is the third most popular deity in Latvian mythology after Saulė and Mēness, but is almost exclusively mentioned in folk songs.
Lada and Lado are alleged Slavic deities. Lada was first mentioned around 1405-1412 in the sermons of Lucas of Wielki Koźmin, which warned against worshipping Lada and other gods during spring ceremonies and folk performances. They owe their popularity to Długosz, who in one of his sources recognized Lada as a goddess and in another as a god of war, the Polish equivalent of the Roman god Mars, to Aleksandr Faminstyn, who recognized the word Lada in Russian songs as the goddess of marriage, and to scholar Boris Rybakov, who insisted on recognizing her historicity. However, the vast majority of religious scholars and Slavists reject the historicity of these deities, believing that they owe their divine status to a misunderstanding of the song refrains by medieval scribes.
Māra is the highest-ranking goddess in Latvian mythology, Mother Earth, a feminine counterpart to Dievs. She takes spirits after death. She may be thought as the alternate side of Dievs. Other Latvian goddesses, sometimes all of them, are considered her assistants, or alternate aspects. Māra may have been also the same goddess as Lopu māte, Piena Māte, Veļu māte or Vélių motę, Zemes māte, and many other "mothers", like of Wood, Water, Sea, Wind.
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.
Aušrinė is a feminine deity of the morning star (Venus) in the Lithuanian mythology. She is the antipode to "Vakarinė", the evening star.
Saulė is a solar goddess, the common Baltic solar deity in the Lithuanian and Latvian mythologies. The noun Saulė/Saule in the Lithuanian and Latvian languages is also the conventional name for the Sun and originates from the Proto-Baltic name *Sauliā > *Saulē.
Žemyna is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian religion. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. Žemyna personifies the fertile earth and nourishes all life on earth, human, plant, and animal. All that is born of earth will return to earth, thus her cult is also related to death. As the cult diminished after baptism of Lithuania, Žemyna's image and functions became influenced by the cult of Virgin Mary.
Latvian Lauma or Lithuanian Laumė, or Yotvingian Łauma is a fairy-like woodland spirit, and guardian spirit of orphans in Eastern Baltic mythology or Yotvingian mitology. Originally a sky spirit, her compassion for human suffering brought her to earth to share our fate.
Potrimpo was a god of seas, earth, grain, and crops in the pagan Baltic, and Prussian mythology. He was one of the three main gods worshiped by the Old Prussians. Most of what is known about this god is derived from unreliable 16th-century sources.
Rambynas is a hill on the right bank of the Neman River in Rambynas Regional Park, Pagėgiai Municipality, western Lithuania. The current hill, about 46 metres (151 ft) above sea level and about 40 metres (130 ft) above the Neman, is a remnant of the larger hill that was destroyed by erosion. The hill was known as sacred among locals and played a role in the ceremonies of pagan Lithuanians. It is featured in many local legends and is protected by the state as a mythological object. A large stone at the top of the hill, known as the altar stone, was destroyed by a miller in 1811. Rambynas became popular with Prussian Lithuanians at the end of the 19th century who organized various events, most notably celebrations of the Saint Jonas' Festivals or Rasos, on the hill. They rebuilt the altar in 1928. The hill is popular with Lithuanian neo-pagans and hosts the annual celebrations of the summer solstice on 23 June.
Jūratė and Kastytis is one of the most famous and popular Lithuanian legends and tales. The first time it was recorded was in 1842, in the writings of Liudvikas Adomas Jucevičius. Since then it has been adapted many times for modern poems, ballets, and even rock operas. The authenticity of the entire story is questioned due to the possible influence of popular contemporary romantic tales.
Mikalojus Akelaitis was a prominent Lithuanian writer, publicist and amateur linguist, one of the early figures of the Lithuanian National Revival and participant in the Uprising of 1863.
Martin Ludwig Jedemin Rhesa was a Lutheran pastor and a professor at the University of Königsberg in East Prussia. He is best remembered as publisher of Lithuanian texts. He was the last prominent prominent advocate of the Lithuanian language in Lithuania Minor.
The Prussian mythology was a polytheistic religion of the Old Prussians, indigenous peoples of Prussia before the Prussian Crusade waged by the Teutonic Knights. It was closely related to other Baltic faiths, the Lithuanian and Latvian mythologies. Its myths and legends did not survive as Prussians became Germanized and their culture extinct in the early 18th century. Fragmentary information on gods and rituals can be found in various medieval chronicles, but most of them are unreliable. No sources document pagan religion before the forced Christianization in the 13th century. Most of what is known about Prussian religion is obtained from dubious 16th-century sources.
Motiejus Gustaitis was a Lithuanian Symbolist poet, who used numerous pseudonyms. He was also a translator and educator, as well as a Catholic priest. A long-term chairman of the Žiburys Society, Gustaitis worked to establish Lithuanian schools and advocated girls' education. He worked as principal of girls' pro-gymnasium in Marijampolė and coed gymnasium in Lazdijai.
Šventaragis' Valley is a valley at the confluence of Neris and Vilnia Rivers in Vilnius, Lithuania. According to a legend recorded in the Lithuanian Chronicles, it was where Lithuanian rulers were cremated before the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387. Maciej Stryjkowski further recorded that it was the location of a pagan temple dedicated to Perkūnas, the god of thunder. While the legends are generally dismissed as fiction by historians, they have been studied and analysed from the perspective of pre-Christian Lithuanian mythology by Vladimir Toporov, Gintaras Beresnevičius, Norbertas Vėlius, Vykintas Vaitkevičius, and others.
The Museum of Antiquities in Vilnius was a museum of archaeology and history established by Count Eustachy Tyszkiewicz in 1855 at the premises of the closed Vilnius University. It was the first public museum in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania and is considered a predecessor of the National Museum of Lithuania even though only a handful of items from the Museum of Antiquities ended up at the National Museum. Together with the Archaeological Commission which functioned as a de facto learned society, the museum was the most prominent cultural and scientific institution in all of Lithuania and displayed many historical items that reminded of the old Grand Duchy and served romantic nationalism of Lithuanian nobles at the time when Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire. The museum collections rapidly grew to over 67,000 items in 1865 by absorbing large collections of minerals and zoological specimens from the closed Vilnius University, libraries of various closed Catholic churches and monasteries, and various donations from local nobles.
Kriwe Kriwaito or simply Kriwe was the chief priest in the old Baltic religion. Known primarily from the dubious 16th-century writings of Simon Grunau, the concept of kriwe became popular during the times of romantic nationalism. However, lack of reliable written evidence has led some researchers to question whether such pagan priest actually existed. The title was adopted by Romuva, the neo-pagan movement in Lithuania, when Jonas Trinkūnas was officially installed as krivių krivaitis in October 2002.