Archaeologia Baltica

of the pre-Christian religion, performed various duties, including therapeutic activities. The descriptions in sources indicate that the nature of the therapeutic assistance they provided varied according to the magic activity they performed. The healing activities of vaidilučiai have not been systematically studied. This article analyses data on the therapeutic activities of different groups of vaidilučiai in 15th to 18th-century written sources, and identifies traces of these activities in 19th to 21st-century folk medicine based on archival records and the author’s healing faith records. The research helps us to trace the meaning and origins of some therapeutic methods of folk medicine, and the possible development of traditions.

According to 15th to 18th-century written sources, priests-vaidiluciai, successors to the servants of the cult of the pre-Christian religion, performed various duties, including therapeutic activities. Descriptions in sources indicate that the nature of the therapeutic assistance they provided varied according to the magic activity they performed. The healing activities of vaidiluciai have not been systematically studied. This article extends the analysis of data on the therapeutic activities of different groups of vaidiluciai in 15th to 18th-century written folk sources, and identifies the reflection of these activities in 15th to 18th-century folk medicine based on archive records and healing faith records. The research helps to trace the meaning and origin of some therapeutic methods of folk medicine, and the possible development of traditions.

The paper focuses on the swastika, artefacts of antler, wood, metal and clay marked with the swastika, and swastika-shaped items from the 13th and 14th centuries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. An answer is sought to the question what the swastika, a universal sign and symbol, represented in ancient Lithuanian culture and religion, and what kinds of shapes and accompanying mythological meanings it possessed. It is concluded that in the 13th and 14th centuries, the swastika did not have a canon of representation, and its perpendiculars on one-sided items faced in one or the other rotary direction (clockwise or anti-clockwise), while on two-sided ones they faced in both directions simultaneously. Two Lithuanian gods, Perkūnas (Thunder) and Kalvelis (Blacksmith), emerged in the explored contexts of items marked with a swastika. This confirms the genetic connection between the swastika and an equilateral cross, the sign of fire or Thunder, characteristic of the Baltic and ancient Lithuanian religious tradition. To date, there is no reason to believe that the perpendiculars could change the symbolic meaning.

This paper analyses some interconnected aspects of Lithuanian folk astronomy. The same mythical–poetic images linking sky luminaries, things in the natural world, and mythological beings as well as human beings are present in Lithuanian mythicalpoetic folklore and in the names of textile ornamentations. Their semiotic net generally comprises flowers, plants, wild and domestic animals, celestial luminaries and mythical people as well as human beings and their artefacts. The investigation of images reveals the mythical-poetic linkage between all the celestial luminaries and concepts of light, marriage and fertility that belong more generally to the Sun Maiden mythology complex.