Klaipėdos universitetas

This article examines a specific kind of sacrifice to the pagan Lithuanian and Prussian gods recorded in the written sources of the 16th and 17th centuries, sacrifices made in and by water. There is a total of just ten such records known. Both Lithuanian and Prussian tribes practiced this kind of sacrifice. It is noteworthy that sacrifices involving water were not made to a single deity, but rather to several different gods; that the kind of sacrifice varied and that the most diverse sorts of intentions were pursued in making the sacrifice.

The bog offerings of the Balts dating back to the period from the first century to the first half of the eighth century, and found in the Nemunas-Daugava interfluvia, are studied as part of the panhuman experience, and as a result of the influence of the Germanic culture of a period covering the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period. In the lands of the Balts, however, offerings in water turned into a self-contained phenomenon known until historic times. This article discusses the links between bog offering sites and sacred waters. It discusses the position of bog offerings in the archaeological complex, the composition of offerings and changes in them, and the main intentions of the offerings, which can be characterised as offerings of war booty (to the god of war, as proof of a warrior’s honour), the transfer of valuables into the transcendental space (give to get back), and communication with the gods and with ancestors (requests and tokens of gratitude).