Res Humanitariae

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.