Lithuanian gods and goddesses

Aitvaras is a Lithuanian mythical household spirit who in legends flies as a ball of fire and brings its owner grain, money, or abundance, often taken from other people, so keeping one was judged ambivalently.

Andajus (Andojas) is mentioned in the 1261 insertion in the Slavic translation of John Malalas' Chronicle among the most important Lithuanian gods. Researchers treat him as one of the highest gods, often identified with Nunadievis, and as a possible euphemism for the heavenly Dievas.

Ašvieniai is a scholarly name for the Baltic divine twins, heavenly horses who draw the Sun and protect her daughters. The name itself is a twentieth-century reconstruction; the actual folklore name is Dievo sūneliai, with the Latvian parallel Dieva dēli.

Aukštėjas Visagalis (Auxtheias Vissagistis) opens Jan Łasicki's list of Samogitian gods. The name means the highest, all-powerful god, but his place is assessed cautiously because the source itself is disputed.

Aušautas is an Old Prussian god of healing, guardian of the sick and the healthy, compared in sources with the classical healing god Asclepius. In Prussian god lists he appears high in the hierarchy, after the supreme Okopirmas and the light god Svaikstikas.

Bangpūtys is a western Lithuanian and Old Prussian sea god, close to Vėjopatis. Matthäus Prätorius described him as a storm god; later writers compared him with Neptune, and his name also appears in a folk song recorded by Liudvikas Rėza.

Bardaitis (Prussian Bardoayts) is an Old Prussian god of seafaring, patron of sailors, fishers, and ships, to whom fish were offered. According to Kazimieras Būga, his original name may have been Gardaitis, from garda, meaning ship.

Bubilas is mentioned in sixteenth-century sources as a Lithuanian bee god to whom honey was offered so that bees would swarm better. Algirdas Julius Greimas compared him with the drone and treated him as the counterpart of the bee goddess Austėja.

In old Lithuanian religion Dievas is the supreme sky deity, often thought to correspond to Andajas; in folklore he becomes Dievas senelis, the old God who creates the world, walks the earth, and rewards or punishes people.

Dimstipatis is mentioned in sources as a Lithuanian god of home and fire: lord of the homestead, protecting the house from fire and guarding housewives. His name is derived from dimstis, 'yard, homestead', and pats, 'lord'.

Ežerinis is the Lithuanian god of lakes, mentioned by Jan Łasicki in the sixteenth century. Folklore preserves stories about a mythical being living in a lake, and a custom of offering animals to a lake was still known into the twentieth century.

Ganiklis is recorded in Maciej Stryjkowski's list as a god of shepherds, Goniglis Dziewos. His name comes from ganyti, 'to herd or graze', and his field is the protection of grazing herds and livestock in pasture.

The God of Roads (Kielu Dziewos) is mentioned in Maciej Stryjkowski's list of gods as a guardian of roads, a deity connected with journeys, crossroads, and movement in the peasant worldview.

Kovas (Karorius) is a deity reconstructed from Maciej Stryjkowski's list of gods whose function is disputed: in some readings the entry is a horse god (Chaurirari), while W. E. J. Mannhardt's etymology from karas, war, makes it a war-related Karorius.

Kremata is a deity known from Jan Łasicki's list of Samogitian gods, connected with pigs and the protection of domestic animals. It is one of the late list names that must be evaluated cautiously.

Krukis is a deity known from Jan Łasicki's list of Samogitian gods, connected with pigs and domestic animals. The name onomatopoeically echoes a pig's grunt, while the evidence is late and must be evaluated cautiously.

Kurkas, recorded as Curche, is the earliest documented Baltic deity, first mentioned in the 1249 Treaty of Christburg as an idol that Prussians made each year after harvest from the last ears of grain. His nature is disputed: he may be a harvest god, a grain spirit of the last sheaf, or a ritual idol.

Lietuvonis (Lituwanis) appears in Maciej Stryjkowski's list as a deity who sends rain. His name comes from lietus, rain, not from Lietuva, Lithuania, and his field is the water from the sky needed for harvest.

Mėnuo or Mėnulis is the Lithuanian god of the moon, married to Saulė in folklore and punished by Perkūnas for infidelity with Aušrinė. He is linked with night light, timekeeping, and the changing phases of the moon.

Nunadievis is named first among the gods secretly worshipped by King Mindaugas in the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle. Researchers treat him as one of the highest Lithuanian gods and a possible euphemism for the Sky God, though his functions are reconstructed cautiously.

Patrimpas is one of the most important Prussian gods, described unevenly in the sources: either as a god of success and grain, shown as a beardless youth with a wreath of ears of grain, or as a god of flowing waters, rivers, and springs, compared with Neptune.

Pergrubrijus is an old Prussian god of spring, vegetation, and fertility who grows leaves and grass and drives out winter. The spring offering festival dedicated to him before plowing was one of the most important rites in the Prussian agricultural year.

Perkūnas is one of the clearest gods in Lithuanian and broader Baltic mythology: lord of thunder, lightning, storm, and rain, a pursuer of Velnias in folklore, guardian of cosmic order, and a figure associated with the oak, hill, stone, axe, and sacred fire.

Pikulas (Patulas) is a Prussian god of the underworld and darkness, listed after Perkūnas in the Prussian divine triad. He is associated with death, fear, and misfortune, and in later sources his name began to be used for the devil.

Pilvytis, called Pilnytis in the Sudovian Book, is an old Prussian god of wealth and abundance who enriches people and fills barns. Sources compare him with the Roman god Pluto and place him high in Prussian lists of gods.

Prakorimas (Prokorimos) is named by Maciej Stryjkowski as the supreme god in his list of gods. The reconstructed form, linked with kurti, to create, connects him with the idea of beginnings and creation.

Pušaitis (Puškaitis) is mentioned in sixteenth-century sources as a deity connected with earth and the underworld, living beneath a sacred elder tree and ruling small underworld beings, the barstukai or kaukai, who brought household prosperity when given bread and beer.

Rūgutis, recorded by Maciej Stryjkowski as Ruguczis, is named as a god of fermented foods. His name comes from rūgti, 'to ferment or sour', and his field includes leaven, fermentation, beer, and bread, the foods and drinks transformed through fermentation.

Sutvaras (Sotwaros) is described in Maciej Stryjkowski's list as a god protecting cattle. Later, the reconstructed name, linked with sutverti, encouraged associations with forming, creation, and ordering, so the source function and the etymology point in different directions.

Svaikstikas is an old Prussian god of light, believed to promote the growth of grain, grass, and livestock. In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Prussian god lists he is usually second after Okopirmas, and his name is derived from Prussian swāikstan, light.

Teliavelis is mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle among the gods of King Mindaugas, and in the 1261 Malalas Chronicle insertion he is called a smith who forged the Sun and threw it into the sky. Researchers connect him with an earth god and the folklore devil-smith.

Upinis Dievas (Upinis Dewos) is mentioned by Maciej Stryjkowski as a deity ruling rivers, to whom white piglets were offered so that river water would be clear. He is a local deity of flowing water.

Vėjopatis is the Lithuanian god of wind, worshipped by fishers according to Prätorius. His idol was described as two-faced, winged, with a small barrel and a fish in its hands and a rooster on its head, while his functions are close to those of the sea god Bangpūtys.

Velnias in Lithuanian folklore is the most common chthonic mythical being, whose prototype is linked with the older underworld god Vėlinas: a figure of the dead, livestock, wealth, water, magic, and the eternal opponent of Perkūnas.

Žemėpatis is an old Lithuanian god of earth and homestead: the lord of the farmstead, on whom household prosperity depends. Offerings were made to him or to his sister Žemyna at the beginning and end of farm work, and at birth, marriage, and funerals.

Žemininkas, recorded by Maciej Stryjkowski as Ziemiennik, is an earth god in whose honor sacred grass snakes were fed with milk. The largest Lithuanian autumn festival, with abundant offerings, was dedicated to him.

Aušrinė is the goddess of the Morning Star, the Lithuanian name for the planet Venus when it is visible in the east before sunrise. In folklore she is linked with dawn, Saulė's retinue, and heavenly-family stories.

Austėja is mentioned in sixteenth-century sources as a Lithuanian bee goddess. According to Algirdas Julius Greimas, she forms a pair with the bee god Bubilas, while bee swarming is mythologically compared with the growth of a family.

Gabija is the Lithuanian guardian goddess of domestic fire, the hearth, and sacred flame. In folklore she protects the family hearth, demands respect for fire, and shows that household fire was not only a practical tool but a living power that had to be tended.

Giltinė is the Lithuanian goddess of death and a personification of death: in folklore she is a threatening, often blind being who kills by touch or with a poisonous tongue. Her name is linked with words for stinging and yellow, and her counterpart is Laima, the goddess of life.

Javinė is a deity of grain and the jauja, the drying and threshing barn, mentioned in late sources. Her name comes from javai, 'grain crops', and the testimony is modest, so she should be treated cautiously.

Krūminė is mentioned by Maciej Stryjkowski in 1582 as a deity who gives grain, Kruminie pradziu warpu. Low-combed hens were offered to her so that rye would grow dense and bear large ears; most mythologists treat her as a possible grain goddess.

Laima (Laimė, Laimės Motė) is the Baltic goddess of birth and fate: she cares for pregnant women, helps at childbirth, and determines a newborn's lot. It was believed that every person and even every domestic animal has its own laimė.

Laumė is one of the mythical female beings most often mentioned in Lithuanian legends: she is associated with water, weaving and spinning, protecting or stealing children, and, in scholarly reconstructions, with a thunder god's wife who was punished and descended to earth.

Lazdona is a goddess of hazel trees and hazelnuts mentioned in Jan Łasicki's list of Samogitian gods. Her name comes from lazdynas, hazel, and her image belongs to the field of plant and tree guardians.

Medeina, associated with Žvorūna, is a goddess of forests, animals, and hunting, first mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle among the gods secretly worshipped by King Mindaugas. She is one of the few Lithuanian goddesses attested in early sources.

In Lithuanian folklore, Ragana is a being with special powers, supposedly allied with evil forces: she can cast spells, fly, turn into an animal or object, and judge a person's fate. The name is also linked with regėti, to see or foresee.

Saulė is the Lithuanian and Baltic goddess of heavenly light, warmth, life, and the daily cycle. She is strongly preserved in songs, legends, riddles, and calendar symbolism, where the Sun is imagined as a motherly, traveling, life-giving heavenly being.

Vakarinė is the Lithuanian goddess of the Evening Star, connected with Aušrinė and Saulė. In folklore motifs she escorts the Sun to sleep, and according to Matthäus Prätorius, Vakarinė and Aušrinė were considered independent of the star god.

Žemyna is the old Lithuanian earth goddess, making the land fertile and protecting grain, fruit, livestock, and people. Offerings were made to her at the beginning and end of agricultural work and, during wakes, to ask protection for the soul of the dead.