The Cult of the Balts: Mythological Impulses and

Neo-Pagan Practices in the Touristic Clubs of the

Lithuanian SSR of the 1960s and 1970s1

Odeta Rudling

In the 1960s, Soviet Lithuania witnessed the rise of an intensified interest in

paganism. Aiming to diminish the influence of the Roman Catholic Church,
the Communist Party promoted Lithuanian pre-Christian customs and rituals
that, in turn, not only became a successful instrument against Catholicism but
also an effective stimulus of nationalism. Arising within the framework of aca-
demic touristic clubs, this interest turned into a deep study of the proto-Balts,
their mythology, and their way of life, soon becoming the basis for an entire
system of values based upon the superiority of Lithuanian ancestors. The bi-
ography and works of Vilhelmas Storostas (German: Wilhelm Storost), a.k.a.
Vydnas, a writer, theosophist, and nationalistic activist in the late 19th and
early 20th century in Eastern Prussia, played a central role in the development
of their world views. The newfound popularity of Vydnass thinking as well
as the influential writings on the proto-Balts and their Indo-European links
by the American scholar Marija Gimbutas (Lithuanian: Gimbutien) were es-
sential in the creation of a new, primordialist concept of Lithuanianhood. The
influence of their work was felt not only in the self-reflection of the movement
but also in the construction of their religious neo-pagan practices.

Introduction

In the course of the 1960s, an intensified interest in paganism arose among the
population of the Lithuanian SSR. Resulting from the communist populariza-
tion of the pre-Christian traditions on the one hand and from the post-Stalinist
historical treatment on the other, the affection towards the ancient Balts and
their daily life gradually spread among students in university clubs and circles

* The author gratefully acknowledges the constructive criticism and suggestions by

two anonymous reviewers.
REGION: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia 6(1): 87108, 2017.
88 Odeta Rudling

of the Republic. Utilizing the institutional framework of Soviet tourism1 and

kraevedenie,2 this academic intelligentsia went on an antimodernist mission to
the countryside, pushing Lithuanian roots to the center of attention and dis-
covering itself. A constructed self-discovery was achieved through the discov-
ery of the other, which is why the foundation of the Society of the Friends of
India (Indijos biiuli draugija) in 1967 became a starting point in the develop-
ment of Soviet Lithuanian neo-paganism. As soon as this institution was split
into multiple kraevedenie clubs, their members turned towards ancient Baltic
spirituality, gathering around themselves a number of tourists with national-
istic and Baltophilian sentiments. Their awareness of the linguistic Indo-Lithu-
anian-ties and Lithuanian pre-Christian past brought their attention to the bi-
ography and works of Vilhelmas Storostas, also known under the pseudonym
Vydnas. This Lithuanian writer, philosopher, and nationalist activist of the
late 19th and early 20th century became the main source of inspiration in the
development of the world views and rituals of Lithuanian neo-pagans. Vy-

1
The Soviet understanding of the concept of tourism differs from the contempo-
rary Western definition of this concept. Tourist, or Russian turist, implicates two
distinguished meanings. A tourist could be a leisure traveler seeking to see sights.
Yet, for the activists of so-called proletarian tourism of interest for this study, a
proper tourist could be only someone who embarked on a purposeful journey
using his or her own physical locomotion. Proletarian tourism was a politicized,
active form of tourism that can be understood as a social movement inviting broad
masses of workers, peasants, students, and intellectuals to take part. Essential
characteristics of proletarian tourism were purposefulness, collectiveness, mas-
siveness, and disciplinary function as well as education, culture, and local knowl-
edge. See Diane P. Koenker, Club Red: Vacation and Travel and the Soviet Dream
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013), 5354; Diane P. Koenker, Proletarian
Tourist in the 1930s: Between Mass Excursion and Mass Escape, in Turizm: The
Russian and East European Tourist under Capitalism and Socialism, ed. Anne Gorsuch
and Diane P. Koenker (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006), 11940, here
12931.
2
Kraevedenie was a particular branch of Soviet tourism, also known as a school dis-
cipline, rooted in the prerevolutionary school excursion practice; see Christian
Noack, Building Tourism in One Country? The Sovietization of Vacationing,
191741, in Touring beyond the Nation: A Transnational Approach to European Tour-
ism History, ed. Eric G. E. Zuelow (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2011), 175. According
to Emily Johnston, it can be understood as a modern geography of a particular
region or smaller geographic entity that can be best described with the German
concept Heimatkunde; see Emily D. Johnston, How St. Petersburg Learned to Study
Itself: The Russian Idea of Kraevedenie (University Park: Pennsylvania State Univer-
sity Press, 2006), 45. Kraevedenie institutions served to encourage the conservation
of the local cultural heritage and the usage of local resources; see Victoria Dono-
van, Going Backwards, We Stride Forwards, Antropologicheskii forum/Forum for
Anthropology and Culture 7 (2011): 213. Kraevedenie encompassed natural science,
geography, history, archaeology, and ethnography already in the 1920s, involv-
ing the contributions of professionals as well as amateurs. See Kraevedenie, in
Bolshaia sovetskaia entsiklopediia, vol. 23, ed. B. A. Vedenskii (Moscow: Gosudarst-
vennoe nauchnoe izdatelstvo, 1953), 19294.
The Cult of the Balts 89

dnass thinking as well as the groundbreaking studies on the proto-Balts and

their mythology by American researcher Marija Gimbutas contributed to the
development of the pagan ideas and activities among the Soviet Lithuanian
tourists. These sources of inspiration became essential in the creation of a new,
primordialist understanding of Lithuanianhood.
This article will discuss the background, development, and values of the
neo-pagan ideas and practices, not only important in the context of the Lithua-
nian SSR but also in that of the entire Soviet Union. Demonstrating the connec-
tion between Soviet tourism and kraevedenie, on the one hand, and nationalism,
on the other, this research contributes to the knowledge of a field that has hith-
erto received only scant attention.3 Furthermore, it also aims to draw a more
precise picture of the Lithuanian kraevedenie movement (kratotyrinis judjimas)
focusing on its thinking and value system,which have also been little studied
by historians. Initially, it will demonstrate that and in what way the sanctioned
introduction of pre-Christian customs and rituals stimulated the rise of nation-
alist and neo-pagan sentiments. Looking at the touristic activities in academic
student clubs throughout the Republic, it will furthermore show how far this
phenomenon spread and what kind of people and institutions were involved
in it. Finally, this article will focus on the main sources of inspiration, devoting
to Vydnas and Marija Gimbutas each an extra section, while the last part will
provide a description of the neo-pagan rituals that formed from the late 1960s
onwards.

Soviet Post-Stalinist Culture as an Impulse from the Top

The rise in the interest in mythology among the population of the Lithuanian
SSR cannot be seen as a coincidence or only as a result of certain actions of lo-
cal Soviet-Lithuanian members of the underground. It can rather be described
as a consequence of concrete state-sponsored measures that determined the
everyday life experiences of the Soviet Lithuanian citizen during and after the
thaw.
The official treatment of Lithuanian history had changed dramatically
by the late 1950s, when the teaching of Lithuanian history prior to 1940 came
back into classrooms4 and the influential textbook written by Juozas Jurgi-

3
Exceptions include a short study by Ingeborg Baldauf writing about Uzbek na-
tionalism and kraevedenie as well as the recent article by Victoria Donovan about
kraevedenie and Soviet patriotism policy. See Ingeborg Baldauf, Kraevedenie and
Uzbek National Consciousness (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992); Victo-
ria Donovan, How Well Do You Know Your Krai? The Kraevedenie Revival and
Patriotic Politics in Late Khrushchev-Era Russia, Slavic Review 74, no. 3 (2015):
46483.
4
Arnas Streikus, Soviet reimo pastangos pakeisti Lietuvos gyventoj tautin
identitet, Genocidas ir rezistencija 21, no. 1 (2007): 9.
90 Odeta Rudling

nis came into use. Especially engaged with the Lithuanian national question
and representing primordial views, this book became a point of departure in
the formation of national historical awareness in the LSSR.5 Furthermore, the
Communist Party simultaneously started to exploit the feudal past of Lith-
uania as a source of antifascist propaganda. The reconstruction of the Trakai
castle, the former residence of the Lithuanian grand dukes, in the late 1950s6
was followed by various forms of popularization of Lithuanias medieval
past. While the performance of Vytautas Klovas opera Pilnai (1956), Juozas
Gruas drama Herkus Mantas (1957), and the movie with the title of the latter
(1972) romanticized the lost medieval state and its heroes, the anniversary of
the Grnewald battle was perceived as a symbol of the victory against fas-
cism.7 Developing into significant elements of national pride, these aspects of
Lithuanian history supported the later development of nationalism and the
primordial understanding of the Lithuanian nation.
Aside from this new historical awareness, the increase of atheistic propa-
ganda in the post-Stalin years8 played a significant role in the growing interest
in alternative religiosity and non-Christian forms of spirituality. From the late
1950s onwards, the Communist Party started to promote so-called new tradi-
tions, customs and rituals with pre-Christian roots, combining traditional el-
ements with new Soviet inventions. Thus the midsummer solstice festival, the
harvest celebration, and traditional village wedding rites were revived in the
late 1950s,9 while their Christian forms became prohibited. At approximately
the same time, alternatives for other Christian holidays were introduced. Thus,
the spring feast (pavasario vent) replaced Easter, new year (naujieji metai)
appeared instead of Christmas, and the winter farewell (iemos ivarymo
vent) was celebrated instead of the traditional carnival (ugavns). Sched-
uled for the same days as the Christian holidays, these new holidays were
supposed to distract the population from the Church. For this reason, these
secular events replaced the popular Christian events and turned the coloring
of Easter eggs (marguiai) into an element of the spring feast10 or the traditional

5
Aurimas vedas, Matricos nelaisvje: Sovietmeio lietuvi istoriografija (19441985)
(Vilnius: Aidai 2009), 13639.
6
Romualdas J. Baguauskas and Arnas Streikus, Pagrindiniai soviet valdios
kultrins politikos bruoai Lietuvoje 19401990, in Lietuvos kultra sovietins ide-
ologijos nelaisvje 19401990: Dokument rinkinys, ed. Romualdas J. Baguauskas
and Arnas Streikus (Vilnius: Lietuvos gyventoj genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo
centras, 2005), 18.
7
Streikus, Soviet reimo pastangos, 1112.
8
Christopher A. P. Binns, The Changing Face of Power: Revolution and Accom-
modation in the Development of the Soviet Ceremonial System. Part II, Man,
New Series, 15, no. 1 (1980): 172.
9
Arnas Streikus, Apie antikrikionikus sovietini veni ir apeig tikslus,
Naujasis idinysAidai, no. 10 (2003): 514.
10
Ibid., 515.
The Cult of the Balts 91

characters of Lithuanian carnival, Laininis and Kanapinis, into a part of the

winter farewell.11
While the new traditions gained ground in numerous regions of the
Republic, the Communist Party provided the population with the necessary
knowledge about their origin and organization. The press published a series of
articles reporting the first attempts to stage these festivals in various regions of
the LSSR.12 Numerous books and press articles informed the population about
the holidays and their pagan background.13 Some of them even provided ex-
act descriptions of how these feasts were supposed to be celebrated and what
rituals and customs belonged to them. In 1958, for example, the House of Folk
Creation (Liaudies krybos namai)14 prepared detailed instructions for the
midsummer festival, including pagan rituals and the typical mythological ac-
tors.15 At the same time, these publications tried to discredit the Catholic faith
in favor of paganism.16 The main ideologist and propagator of the new tra-
ditions, Petras Peira, for instance, devoted 31 pages of his book Tradicijos
vakar ir iandien (Traditions, yesterday and today) to a description of the pagan
customs and rites and to the damage that the Catholic church had done to
them over the last centuries.17 All of this meant, though, that while trying to
compromise Catholicism, the Communist Party inadvertently put paganism

11
Petras Peira, Kad varpai nutilt, Literatra ir menas, 26 January 1963.
12
See, among others, Ms jaunimo vent, Socialistiniu keliu, 29 June 1958; Z.
Starkus, Pavasario vent, Socialistiniu keliu, 27 March 1959; P. Pankratjevas, Ir
praydo papario iedas, Socialistiniu keliu, 6 July 1960; M. Valaitis, Diugi
vent, Socialistiniu keliu, 6 September 1959; Pavasario vent mokykloje, So-
cialistiniu keliu, 1 April 1960; A. Bernardnas, Senelis altis Kaerginje, Social-
istiniu keliu, 5 January 5 1958; Z. Serapinas, Pagal senovin liaudies paprot,
Socialistiniu keliu, 4 April 1958; Angel Vyniauskait, Senosios jonins iandien,
Socialistiniu keliu, 13 June 1958.
13
See, among others, Petras Peira, Religini veni ir apeig esm: Mediaga lektoriui
(Vilnius: Lietuvos TSR inijos draugija, 1964); Petras Peira, venti ir ukeikti
akmenys (Vilnius: Vaga, 1971); Angel Vyniauskait, Lietuvos etnografijos bruoai
(Vilnius: Valstybin politins ir mokslins literatros leidykla, 1964); See also vari-
ous articles in the daily press: Vyniauskait, Senosios jonins iandien; J. Raila,
Velyk veni kilm, Socialistiniu keliu, 30 March 1958; V. Bystrovas, Kaip at-
sirado religins vents bei apeigos ir kokia j esm: Pirmasis pasikalbjimas, So-
cialistiniu keliu, 14 January 1960; V. Bystrovas, Kaip atsirado religins vents bei
apeigos ir kokia j esm: Antrasis pasikalbjimas, Socialistiniu keliu, 21 February
1960.
14
House of Folk Creation was an organizational center for all kinds of creative lay-
men activities known in the Soviet Union under the generic term samodeiatelnost.
See Liaudies meno rmai, in Lietuvikoji tarybin enciklopedija, vol. 6, ed. Jonas
Anias et al. (Vilnius: Mokslas, 1980), 496.
15
Streikus, Apie antikrikionikus tikslus, 51415.
16
Peira, venti ir ukeikti, 10210; J. Vprauskas, Krikioni dievai ir apeigos
senj religij skolinys, Socialistiniu keliu, 26 November 1961.
17
Petras Peira, Tradicijos vakar ir iandien (Vilnius: Mintis, 1974), 2657.
92 Odeta Rudling

into a positive light. An unintentional by-product of the atheistic fight against

Christianity therefore created indirect support for the pagan alternative.
In any case, the revival of these ancient customs and rituals were the ini-
tial sources that awakened the interest in paganism as a significant part of the
Lithuanian past from the days of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and before.18
The fact that new traditions developed into a very successful atheistic in-
strument, which drove people away from the Church,19 shows how much it
influenced the population of the Lithuanian SSR. In relation to paganism, the
revival of the summer solstice festival was of particular importance since it
became very popular within a short time. Very soon after the first attempt in
1958,20 this festival was celebrated in all regions of the Lithuanian SSR while
its traditional Christian name, Jonins (St. John), was still in use.21 It was filled
with pagan elements, such as the lighting of a traditional bonfire,22 the floating
of the floral wreaths,23 and the search for the legendary fern flower (papario
iedas) that was supposed to bring happiness and luck to those who find it.24 In
some cases, the mythologization of the event went so far that it could even in-
clude the appearance of the highest pagan priest (krivi krivaitis) and his assis-
tants, young female priests (vaidiluts) who guarded the fire. Including the lo-
cal Grand Dukes and their attributes into the stagings intensified the portrayal
of the spirit of ancient Lithuania.25 In the press this festival was represented
as a mysterious and magical event, wherein the creatures of ancient Lithua-
nian mythology came alive.26 As soon as the interest of the young citizens was

18
Dalia Senvaityt, Lietuvik tradicini metini veni krimo klausimu, Lith-
uanian Journal of Anthropology, no. 1 (2014): 83.
19
Nerija Putinait, Nugenta puis: Ateizmas kaip asmeninis apsisprendimas taryb Lietu-
voje (Vilnius: Lietuvos katalik mokslo akademija, Naujasis idinys- Aidai, 2015),
22224.
20
Streikus, Apie antikrikionikus tikslus, 514.
21
Vytautas Jakelaitis, Die Liederfeste (Vilnius: Mintis, 1984), 51.
22
P. Pechura [Peira] and A. Serdant, Novaia zhizn, novye traditsii (Iz opyta vnedreniia
novykh traditsii v Litovskoi i Latviiskoi SSR) (Moscow: Znanie 1960), 15.
23
Vilija ulcait, PiliakalniuoseRasos vents lauai, Literatra ir menas, 29
June 1968.
24
Pechura and Serdant, Novaia zhizn, 15.
25
Liudgardas Maculeviius, Jonins (Lietuvos kino studja, 1958), documentary film,
available at http://www.e-kinas.lt/objektas/kinas/0900/jonines, accessed 8 April 2016. See
also Egidija Ramanauskaite, Lithuanian Youth Culture Versus Soviet Culture: On
the Path of Cultural Liberalization toward Post Modernism, in The Baltic Coun-
tries under Occupation: Soviet and Nazi Rule 19391991, ed. Anu Mai Kll (Stock-
holm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2003), 30934, here 32425.
26
Vyniauskait, Senosios jonins iandien; J. Tamulaitis, Ant senojo Altoniki
piliakalnio, Socialistiniu keliu, 1 July 1959.
The Cult of the Balts 93

piqued, it drove them further and further into the study of these festivals and
their backgrounds, finally leading to unexpected effects on the youth.27

Tourism Clubs and Paganism

Besides the sanctioned cultural policy of the Communist Party, the institution-
alization of Soviet tourism played an important role in the development of
alternative ideas and religiosity based on the admiration of Baltic ancestors.
Proletarian tourism and the related tourism branch kraevedenie reached the
Lithuanian SSR only after Stalins death28 and, in turn, established the conven-
tional touristic institutions with considerable delay, between the late 1950s and
early 1960s.29 The fact that these institutions were founded during the time of
the political and cultural thaw made them attractive to people who wanted
to achieve more than merely to follow in the footsteps of the Soviet heroes
of the revolution and the Great Patriotic War.30 By the late 1950s a tourism
club and the first kraevedenie circle were founded at the University of Vilnius.31
They were followed by a number of other complementary clubs and sections at
schools, academic institutions, and factories.32 Aside from the Soviet glorious
past, the members of these clubs were allowed to dedicate themselves to local
history, language, and culture,33 and this led to nationalistic moods (natsion-

27
Ieva Urbonait, Naujosios Jonini tradicijos: alykai, fejerverkai ir alus, 24 June
2010, available at http://www.delfi.lt/archive/print.php?id=33829955, accessed 7 April
2016.
28
Turizmas, in Maoji lietuvikoji tarybin enciklopedija, vol. 3, ed. J. Matulis et al.
(Vilnius: Mintis, 1971), 587.
29
Lietuvos Ypatingasis Archyvas (LYA), f. K-1, ap. 46, b. 1688, l. 12, I Lietuvos jau-
nimo sjdi istorijos, undated, but no later than 1970s. See also LKP CK biuro
nutarimas dl darbo moni poilsio organizavimo ir jo panaudojimo ideologin-
iam aukljimui, 4 June 1962, in Baguauskas and Streikus, eds., Lietuvos kultra,
296; Monika Henningsen, Der Freizeit- und Fremdenverkehr in der (ehemaligen) Sow-
jetunion unter besonderer Bercksichtigung des Baltischen Raums (Frankfurt am Main:
Peter Lang, 1993), 139.
30
Antanas Stravinskas, T dien lov niekad neibls, in Kratotyra: Leidinys skir-
tas taryb valdios penkiasdeimtmeiui, ed. Bronius Vaitkeviius and Juozas Barsaus-
kas (Vilnius: LTSR Paminklu apsaugos ir krastotyros draugija, 1967), 4748.
31
LYA, f. K-1, ap. 46, b. 1688, l. 12. See also Vladas Brainas, Vilniaus universiteto
kratotyrinink ramuvos itakos, 2 March 2010, available at http://www.ramuva.lt/
index.php/istorijos/itakos, accessed 8 August 2013.
32
LYA, f. K-18, ap. 1, b. 134, l. 5556, 59, Dokladnaia zapiska o nekotorykh na
tsionalisticheski nastroennykh litsakh iz chisla chlenov turisticheskikh sektsii
goroda Kaunasa, 18 August 1962.
33
Aside of the sections devoted to Soviet history and the current achievements, the
kraevedenie institutions had a section of archeology, ethnography, architecture, and
art as well as a folkloristic section. See Klemensas erbulnas, Darbas su per-
94 Odeta Rudling

alisticheskie nastroeniia) within the touristic framework even in the early 1960s.34
After the foundation of the Association of Monument Protection and kraevedenie
of the LSSR (Lietuvos TSR paminkl apsaugos ir kratotyros draugija) in 1961,35
the number of members in tourism and kraevedenie institutions grew rapidly,36
as did their ambitions. The academic advisors of the association, Norbertas
Vlius and Vacys Milius, gathered a number of university students that would
follow them on their expeditions to the countryside to collect ethnographic
material and recordings and write down various genres of Lithuanian folk-
lore.37 This activity was not only a Lithuanian expression of the global back to
the roots movement38 but also a reaction to Soviet-style modernization, which
directed the attention of the rapidly urbanized Soviet population towards the
countryside.39 With the appearance of the so-called hikers (ygeiviai)40 pur-
suing explicitly ethnonationalistic goals,41 the tourist movement started to rad-
icalize. In this context, the foundation of further kraevedenie clubs that were

spektyva, in Kratotyra: Vienkartinis leidinys, ed. E. Dirvel et al. (Vilnius: LTSR

kratotyros draugija, 1963), 14041.
34
LYA, f. K-18, ap. 1, b. 134, l. 55.
35
LKP CK biuro nutarimas dl kultros paminkl apsaugos pagerinimo ir j
panaudojimo propagandos tikslams, in Baguauskas and Streikus, eds., Lietuvos
kultra, 263.
36
Lietuvos centrinis valstybs archyvas (LCVA), f. R-632, ap. 1, b. 66, l. 190, Lietu-
vos respublikins turizmo tarybos prezidiumo nutarimas: Dl turistini organi-
zacij kadr darbo, j ruoimo, kvalifikacijos klimo ir panaudojimo praktiniame
darbe, 10 April 1968.
37
Jonas Trinknas, Autentikos liaudies kultros paiekos septintjame-
atuntjame deimtmetyje, in Priklausomybs met (19401990) lietuvi visuomen:
Pasiprieinimas ir/ar prisitaikymas, ed. Albertas Zalatorius (Vilnius: Pasaulio litu-
anist bendrija, 1996), 63.
38
Mats Lindqvist, Giving Voice to the Nation: The Folklorist Movement and the
Restoration of the Latvian Identity, in Re-inventing the Nation: Multidisciplinary
Perspectives on the Construction of Latvian National Identity, ed. Mats Lindqvist
(Tumba: Mangkulturellt centrum, 2003), 195; Mark Slobin, Retuning Culture: Mu-
sical Changes in Central and Eastern Europe (Durham, NC: Duke University Press,
1996), 195.
39
Laura Olson, Performing Russia: Folk Revival and Russian Identity (London: Rout-
ledge Curzon, 2004), 7071; Violeta Davolit, Making and Breaking of Soviet Lithu-
ania: Memory and Modernity in the Wake of War (London: Routledge, 2013), 12628.
40
Calling themselves hikers had nothing to do with a passion to hike but was
rather a statement aiming to delineate the hikers from the usual Soviet tourists
popularizing the ideas and practices of the proletarian tourism. Being a hiker
meant to be different from tourists of the Soviet model, to be explicitly pro-Lith-
uanian. See Ain Ramonait, Paralelins visuomens uuomazgos sovietinje
Lietuvoje: Katalikikojo pogrindio ir etnokultrinio sjdio simbioz, in S-
jdio itak beiekant: Nepaklusnij tinkliavos galia, ed. Jrat Kavaliauskait and
Ain Ramonait (Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 2011), 47.
41
ygeiviai, for example, took care of distinguished Lithuanian monuments and
looked after the birth places and graveyards of famous personalities of Lithuanian
The Cult of the Balts 95

in one or another way related to the main ideologist of neo-paganism, Jonas

Trinknas was of particular importance. The Society of the Friends of India
(Indijos biiuli draugija) at the Association of Cultural Relations and Friend-
ship with Foreign Countries of the LSSR (LTSR Kultrini ryi ir draugysts
su usienio alimis draugija) in 196742 is one prominent example of such a
foundation. Gathering students from the expeditions of Norbertas Vlius,43
this institution at first focused on eastern civilizations, Indian mythology, and
Sanskrit,44 before turning towards ancient Baltic spirituality.45 According to the
words of Jonas Trinknas, the transitional moment of the secretly neo-pagan
institution was marked by the solemn celebration of the midsummer solstice
festival in the year 1967.46 Consequently, the Ramuva of the Kraevedy of Vilnius
(Vilniaus kratotyrinink ramuva) was formally established in 1969.47 Almost
at the same time, between 196970, Trinknas initiated the foundation of the
Ramuva club at the University of Vilnius,48 while a Catholic branch of the club
was established in the underground of the city Kaunas.49 Yet, despite the fact
that only the members of the Vilnius Ramuva club today claim that they were
pagan, the entire touristic kraevedenie movement at least sympathized with the
ideas and practices of ancient Baltic religiosity. This claim is supported by the
fact that a number of clubs were in one way or another related to paganism.
The name Ramuva itself refers to the concept romuva, meaning sanctuary and
peace, and is, at the same time, the name of an ancient Prussian religious
site.50 The name of the humanities and leisure club Alkas, which closely inter-
acted with people from the network of hikers and Ramuva,51 also referred

political and cultural life, and often visited Lithuanian villages in the Belorussian
SSR. See LYA, f. K-1, ap. 46, b. 1688, l. 1417.
42
Vacys Bagdonaviius, Vilniaus kratotyrinink Ramuva, in Kratotyra: Leidinys
skirtas taryb valdios penkiasdeimtmeiui, ed. Bronius Vaitkeviius (Vilnius: Lietu-
vos TSR Paminklu Apsaugos ir Krastotyros Draugija, 1969), 331.
43
Ramonait, Paralelins visuomens, 4243.
44
Svetlana Igorevna Ryzhakova, Romuva: Etnicheskaia religioznost v Litve (Moscow:
Institut etnologii i antropologii RAN, 2000), 9.
45
Bagdonaviius, Vilniaus kratotyrinink Ramuva, 331.
46
Trinknas, Autentikos, 64.
47
Bagdonaviius, Vilniaus kratotyrinink Ramuva, 331.
48
Venantas Maiekus, Vilniaus universiteto kratotyrinink Ramuvos komplek-
sins ekspedicijos: Folkloro rinkimo ir tautikumo ugdymo patirtys, Tautosakos
darbai 37 (2009): 19899.
49
Apie Ramuv, tvynikum ir neperiangiamas ribas: Pauliaus Subaiaus inter-
viu su Algirdu Patacku, in Pastogs Lietuva: Pogrindio, sjdio ir laisvs kronika,
ed. Algirdas Patackas (Vilnius: Aidai, 2011), 18.
50
Michael Strmiska, The Music of the Past in Modern Baltic Paganism, Nova Reli-
gio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 8, no. 3 (2005): 4142.
51
Steponas Lukoeviius, Alko klubas, Naujasis idinysAidai, no. 5 (2011): 343.
96 Odeta Rudling

to a sacred pagan ritualistic place.52 Other clubs named themselves after gods
and goddesses in Lithuanian mythology. The hiking club at the Faculty of Nat-
ural Sciences at the University of Vilnius, for example, named itself Gabija,53
after the goddess of fire54 and the kraevedenie circle at the Faculty of Economics
was called Patrimpa,55 after the god of the harvest.56 Two hiking clubs at the
Polytechnic Institute in Kaunas chose the names Perknas and ilvinas,57 both
referring to significant figures in the ancient Baltic mythological pantheon.58
In addition to the names of these clubs and circles, the vivid interaction be-
tween the hikers, the tourists, the Ramuva clubs, and the Catholic oppositional
movement59 indicates that Baltophilian and pagan ideas had spread among all
of the tourists. According to testimonies of the movements members, people
from various Lithuanian cities attended Ramuvas midsummer celebrations.
Moreover, they were often visited by members of Catholic organizations, some
of whom later even became priests or activists in the publication of the samiz-
dat journal Lietuvos katalik banyios kronika (The Chronicles of the Lithuanian
Catholic Church).60 Engineer and dissident Algirdas Patackas, for example,
was a member of the Catholic branch of Ramuva in Kaunas,61 but his Catholic
faith did not stop him from focusing on Indo-Europeanness and the lifestyle
and world views of the ancient Balts in his research. He published a number of

52
Marija Gimbutas, Die Balten: Volk im Ostseeraum (Munich: Herbig, 1983), 219. (Ger-
man translation of Marija Gimbutas, The Balts: Ancient People and Places [London:
Thames and Hudson, 1963].)
53
LYA, f. K-1, ap. 46, b. 1688, l. 15.
54
Gimbutas, Die Balten, 237.
55
Gyvenimas kratotyros ekspedicij ritmu: Daivos ervokiets interviu su
Venantu Maiekumi, iaurs Atnai, 16 November 2012, available at http://
www.satenai.lt/2012/11/16/gy%C2%ADve%C2%ADni%C2%ADmas-kras%C2%ADto%
C2%ADty%C2%ADros-eks%C2%ADpe%C2%ADdi%C2%ADci%C2%ADju-rit%
C2%ADmu/, accessed 29 April 2013.
56
Gimbutas, Die Balten, 323.
57
LYA, f. K-1, ap. 46, b. 1688, l. 15.
58
Gimbutas, Die Balten, 228, 23536.
59
Ramonait, Paralelins visuomens, 5056; Arnas Streikus, Tikinij teisi
sjdis Lietuvoje: Didiausio aktyvumo deimtmetis (19721982 m.), Genocidas ir
rezistencija 13, no. 1 (2003): 90.
60
Rasos Kernavje: Sauls Matuleviiens pokalbiai su Jonu Trinknu, Vaclovu
Bagdonaviium, Antanu Gudeliu, Rimantu Matuliu ir Viktorija Daujotaite, Liau-
dies kultura 114, no. 3 (2007): 7079; Streikus, Tikinij teisi sjdis, 88.
61
Apie Ramuv, 1718.
The Cult of the Balts 97

articles in this area62 including a passionate study on the Indo-European origin

of the Rasa festival (midsummer) published in a samizdat journal Ethos. 63

Vydunas and Indo-Baltic Ties

According to Lithuanian historian and philosopher Nerija Putinait, the years

of the intense atheistic policy after Stalin led to the development of an indiffer-
ent attitude towards Catholicism among the majority of the Soviet Lithuanian
population. This, in turn, brought up an increased interest in spiritual alterna-
tives, such as nontraditional religiosities, mysticism, and parapsychology, a
development not only characteristic of the LSSR but of the neighboring repub-
lics such as Latvia and Estonia as well.64
This circumstance most likely contributed to a growing academic interest
in Asian studies between the 1960s and 1990s. The absence of institutionalized
research in this field did not stop scholars from studying it. Those genuinely
interested were able to gain access to the Asian studies institutes in Moscow,
St. Petersburg, and Ulan-Ade (Buriatiia), making Oriental Studies an import-
ant instrument of opposition during the 1960s. Asian topics were circulated
through official channels as well as through samizdat publications.65
India was at the center of Soviet Lithuanian interest in Asia, at least from
the perspective of the touristic kraevedenie movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
This interest was based on an awareness of a strong connection between an-
cient Baltic and ancient Indian (Indo-Aryan) cultures, also explaining why
the Ramuva clubs arose from the Society of the Friends of India. According
to Russian anthropologist Svetlana Igorevna Ryzhakova, Ramuvas peculiar
sympathy for India had three connected issues: the relationship between the
Baltic and Indian languages, the parallels between the national revivals of In-
dia and Lithuania, and eastern theosophy, later adapted in New Age philos-
ophy and its practices.66 The strong interest in local folklore traditions as well
as the emergence of comparative linguistics in the 19th century strengthened

62
See Algirdas Patackass webpage on the website of Lithuanian Seimas, available at
http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter/w5_show?p_r=8969&p_k=1&p_a=5&p_asm_id=7196&p_kade_
id=7, accessed 26 April 2016. See also Patackass articles in his latest anthology,
Pastogs Lietuva.
63
Algirdas Patackas, Rasa (balt kalendorins vents kaip indoeuropietikos pas-
aulvydos ays), available at http://www.vydija.lt/straipsniai/Rasa%20-%20Patacko.htm,
accessed 25 April 2016.
64
Putinait, Nugenta puis, 33032.
65
Antanas Andrijauskas, Searching for Lithuanian Identity between East and
West, in Lithuanian Identity and Values, ed. Aida Savicka (Washington, DC: The
Council for Research and Values and Philosophy, 2007), available at http://www.
crvp.org/book/series04/iva-31/chapter-4.htm, accessed 26 March 2016.
66
Ryzhakova, Romuva, 56.
98 Odeta Rudling

the discovery of links between the Indo-European languages and India. Schol-
ars like Franz Bopp (18491967), Rasmus Rask (17871832), August Schleicher
(182168), Karl Brugmann (18491919), and Kazimieras Bga (18791924)
demonstrated that the Lithuanian language was strongly related to Sanskrit,
the classical language of ancient India.67 Reviving the ideas of the Baltic na-
tional movements of the 19th century,68 the youth of the 1960s and 1970s dis-
covered an analogy between Lithuania and India, becoming aware of the pe-
culiarities of the Lithuanian language as an Indo-European proto-language. In
the eyes of the tourists, this linguistic distinctiveness seemed to have granted
Lithuania a special primordial status comparable to that of Greece and Rome.69
The linguistic discoveries of the 19th century as well as the tourist affection
for India led the movement to its biggest source of inspiration: the thinker,
philosopher, and activist of the Lithuanian national movement, Vilhelmas Sto-
rostas, also known under the pseudonym Vydnas.70 His importance is shown
by the fact that he was a member of the Lithuanian Hinduism movement at the
end of the 19th century and beginning of 20th century.71 But Vydnass rela-
tionship with India does not end there. The members of the movement drew a
parallel between Vydnas and Gandi, relating them not only as the represen-
tatives of the same epoch and as leading personalities in national movements,
but also as philosophers, sharing the same theoretical ground, namely the old
Indian philosophy.72 During his studies in Greifswald, Halle, Leipzig, and Ber-
lin, Vydnas learned English, French, and Sanskrit and familiarized himself
with eastern philosophy and religions, discovering numerous parallels with
the ancient Lithuanian faith. During his studies in Leipzig, he joined the Ger-
man Theosophical Society, and by 1902 he had founded his own theosophical
circle in Tilsit.73 Under the influence of the theosophists Rudolf Steiner, Franz
Hartmann, and Helena Blavacka, he published his works Slaptinga mogaus
didyb (The mysterious greatness of man), Visatos sranga (The structure of the
universe), Mirtis, ir kas toliau? (Death, and thereafter?), as well as other publica-
tions.74 He spread his theosophical knowledge by giving philosophical lectures
in Klaipda, ilut, Tilsit, and other surrounding places in Eastern Prussia.

67
Michael Strmiska, Eastern Religions in Eastern Europe: Three Cases from Lithu-
ania, Journal of Baltic Studies 44, no. 1 (2013): 4982, here 52.
68
Vytis iubrinskas, Sovietmeio iukiai Lietuvos etnologijai: Disciplina, ide-
ologija, patriotizmas, Lietuvos etnologija 10, no. 1 (2001): 107.
69
Strmiska, Eastern Religions, 51.
70
Ibid., 52
71
Ryzhakova, Romuva, 5, 9.
72
Ibid., 68.
73
Vacys Bagdonaviius, Vydnas: The Essential Features of His Philosophy, in
Lithuanian Philosophy: Persons and Ideas, ed J. Baranova (Washington, DC: The
Council for Research and Values and Philosophy, 2000), available at http://www.
crvp.org/book/Series04/IVA-17/chapter_vii.htm, accessed 11 March 2016.
74
Vaclovas Bagdonaviius, Vydn prisiminus, Literatra ir menas, 23 March 1968.
The Cult of the Balts 99

From 1905 onwards, he started publishing the bimonthly theosophical journal

altinis (Source), and later philosophic treatises in separate books. At about
the same time, in the early 1900s, Vydnas started to develop a cosmic-moral
Lithuanian vision that formulated the ideas and the philosophy of the new
Lithuanianness, in the middle of which he placed the ancient Lithuanian
faith.75 He formulated these ideas in his three most important books, Praboi
eliai (The shadows of the ancestors), Aminoji ugnis (The eternal flame), and
Pasaulio gaisras (The worlds fire). In The shadows of the ancestors he dis-
cussed the Lithuanian liberation and national awakening during World War I,
which he interpreted as the worlds fire when Lithuania became the object
of the predacious goals of the kulturtrger76 nations.77 The trilogy Aminoji
ugnis (Eternal flame, 1913), the central work of Lithuanian neo-paganism, in-
troduced the movement to the divine secret and the main element of the Baltic
faith, the eternal flame.78 It represented the ancient Lithuanian faith, values,
and culture through the eyes of Vydnas, placing the eternal flame at its
center.79 For Vydnas, this fire was a cosmic principle, a central symbol for
the survival of the nation.80 It was for this reason that the members of the krae-
vedenie movement were searching for confirmation of this centrality of fire in
the ethnography, explaining the honoring of fire in the villages as an echo of
ancient Baltic culture.81
Vydnas was interesting for the movement not only because of his rela-
tionship with Hinduism and theosophy. He also became meaningful as a hero
of the Lithuanian national awakening in Eastern Prussia, devoting special
attention to the popularization of the Lithuanian language.82 In addition, it was
Vydnas and other activists of Eastern Prussian nationalism who revived the
ancient midsummer festival tradition as early as the beginning of the 20th cen-
turywhich would later become an important moment in the activity of the
kraevedenie movement.83 Vydnas furthermore popularized the ancient Baltic
faith under his contemporaries, so that even Catholics founded an association

75
Ibid.
76
The term Kulturtrger can be understood as carriers or transmitters of culture.
77
Bagdonaviius, Vydn prisiminus.
78
Ryzhakova, Romuva, 8.
79
Bagdonaviius, Vydn prisiminus.
80
Jonas Trinknas, Vydno Aminos Ugnies imtmetis, Alkas.lt, March 2013,
available at http://alkas.lt/2013/03/15/j-trinkunas-vyduno-amzinos-ugnies-simtmetis/, ac-
cessed 6 August 2016.
81
Ibid.
82
Ryzhakova, Romuva, 67.
83
Jonas Trinknas, Senosios religijos kelias (Vilnius: Lithuania, 2009), 197, available
at http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/Literatura/relig%20istorija%207%20gr.pdf, accessed 6
August 2016.
100 Odeta Rudling

called Romuva and kept popularizing this name after they started to publish
the journal Naujoji Romuva with rather secular content.84
It is not quite clear how all of these ideas and the knowledge about Vy-
dnas reached the young Soviet Lithuanian public. Yet, it becomes obvious
that party policy played a significant role in spreading interest in Eastern civ-
ilizations and mythologies. The foundation of the Society of the Friends of
India as a legal institution promoting the idea of the friendship between the
nations85 says a lot about the Communist Partys attitude towards Eastern
cultures. In turn, this organization launched a series of events on the occasion
of Vydnass 100th birthday in 1968 devoted to him and his work.86 Similar
events promoting Hinduism as well as Vydnas and his work were still taking
place as a part of atheistic programs during the 1980s.87 Furthermore, the pub-
lishing house Vaga released a collection of Vydnass work including the most
significant dramas for the neo-pagans (The shadows of the ancestors, The
eternal flame, and The worlds fire) in 1968,88 at the same time as the Society
of the Friends of India was turning into a neo-pagan community. Finally, by
that time the phenomenon of the eternal flame had become quite a popular
component of the sanctioned Soviet Lithuanian culture. From the year 1975
onwards, it was integrated into the program of the republic-wide song festi-
vals in the LSSR that took place every five years after 1946.89 Around the same
time it also became an element of the cultural festival The Spring of Poetry
(Poezijos Pavasaris).90
Information about these topics often came from informal sources, such as
contacts with former political prisoners, released in the late 1950s.91 One of
them was, for example, Juozas Keliuotis, the former editor of Naujoji Romuva,
the journal of the interwar period mentioned above.92 He established a friend-
ship with tourists Rimantas Matulis and Jonas Trinknas at the end of the
1950s and drew their attention toward the importance of the Lithuanian lan-

84
Trinknas, Vydno Aminos Ugnies imtmetis.
85
Vladas Brainas, Vilniaus universiteto kratotyrinink ramuvos itakos, avail-
able at http://www.ramuva.lt/index.php/istorijos/itakos, accessed 8 August 2013.
86
Jonas Trinknas, Vydno minjimai, in Kratotyra: Leidinys skirtas taryby valdios
penkiasdeimtmeiui, ed. Bronius Vaitkeviius (Vilnius: Lietuvos TSR Paminklu Ap-
saugos ir Krastotyros Draugija, 1969), 32829.
87
Putinait, Nugenta puis, 33233.
88
Bagdonaviius, Vydn prisiminus.
89
Vytautas Jakelaitis, Die Liederfeste (Vilnius: Mintis, 1984), 39, 67.
90
Putinait, Nugenta puis, 335.
91
Vytautas Tininis, Lietuva politinio atilimo laikotarpiu (19531964), in Lietuva
19401990: Okupuotos Lietuvos istorija, ed. Arvydas Anuauskas, Arnas Bbnys,
and Dalia Kuodelyt (Vilnius: Lietuvos gyventoj genocido ir rezistencijos cen-
tras, 2007), 420.
92
Trinknas, Vydno Aminos Ugies imtmetis.
The Cult of the Balts 101

guage.93 A similar source was the former political prisoner and traveler to In-
dia, Antanas Poka,94 who gave lectures at gatherings of Ramuva and ygeiviai
that, among others, included topics like Indo-Aryanism.95

Marija Gimbutas and Other Academic Sources

Aside from Vydnas, another person and her work were an important source
in the formation process of Soviet Lithuanian neo-pagan world views. This
person was Marija Gimbutas (Lithuanian surname: Gimbutien), a Lithua-
nian immigrant in the United States and an internationally recognized arche-
ologist teaching at the University of California in Los Angeles,96 who visited
the Lithuanian SSR in 1968 when the Ramuva movement was only starting to
consolidate. As Jonas Trinknas later noticed, she inspired the community to
become even more engaged with archaic Lithuanian culture.97 Her books
about Lithuanian folk art, the ancient Balts and Slavs, and the origin of the
Indo-Europeans helped to construct a perception of Lithuanians (and Latvi-
ans) as successors of a huge civilization that, in prehistoric times, inhabited
territory in Europe as well as some parts of Asia.98 Having an unusual combi-
nation of training in archeology, linguistics, ethnology, and prehistory 99 and
knowing more than 20 European languages,100 Gimbutas was able to trace the
origin, development, and migration movements of the Indo-Europeans in her
research. In her book The Balts,101 published in 1963, she presented the pre-
history of the Baltic-speaking people. In this book, she further developed the
so-called Kurgan Hyphothesis (1956),102 stating that the Kurgansa patriar-
chic, seminomadic, and Indo-European grouphad a large influence on the

93
LYA, f. K-18, ap. 1, b. 134, l. 6162.
94
LYA, f. K-18, ap. 1, b. 134, l. 61.
95
LYA, f. K-1, ap. 46, b. 1688, l. 13.
96
Joan Marler, A Vision for the World: The Life and Work of Marija Gimbutas,
Comparative Civilizations Review 33 (1995): 710.
97
Trinknas, Autentikos, 65.
98
Viktor Koressaar, review of The Balts: Ancient People and Places, by Marija Gimbu-
tas, Slavic and East European Journal 9, no. 4 (1965): 452; David W. Anthony, The
Kurgan Culture, Indo-European Origins, and the Domestication of the Horse: A
Reconsideration, Current Anthropology 27, no. 4 (1986): 9192.
99
Marler, A Vision, 4.
100
Mara Lynn Keller, Gimbutas Theory of Early European Origins and the Con-
temporary Transformation of Western Civilization, Journal of Feminist Studies in
Religion 12, no. 2 (1996): 77.
101
Gimbutas, Die Balten.
102
Gimbutas developed her Kurgan Hypothesis in her second book, published in
1956. See Marija Gimbutas, The Prehistory of Eastern Europe, part 1: Mesolithic, Neo-
lithic and Copper Age Cultures in Russia and the Baltic Area (Cambridge, MA: Pea-
body Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 1956).
102 Odeta Rudling

cultural and linguistic development of the populations of Europe and Asia

between the fourth and third millenniums BC. Migrating from the vicinity of
the lower Volga and Northern Kazakhstan, the Kurgans, the ancestors of the
Balts, spread their military and political hegemony throughout the Caucasus,
Ukraine, the Balkans, Asia Minor, and central Europe. Their influence can still
be detected via proto-Baltic loan words in Volga-Finnic and Western-Finnic
languages as well as in Baltic place names in central Russia.103 In this sense,
the members of the Ramuva movement, the ygeiviai, and other sympathizers
of the ancient Balts developed the idea of Lithuanian superiority based on the
political and cultural strength of the proto-Balts. Gimbutass letter to Lithua-
nian-born American sociologist Vytautas Kavolis from 1968 states that she met
numerous intriguingly interested students from the Society of the Friends
of India during her stay in Lithuania, for whom their Lithuanian activity
seemed the goal of a lifetime. From this letter, we also learn that by that
time Gimbutass book The Balts had already become well known and popular
among these students.104 However, they seem to have studied her previous
book, Ancient Symbolism in Lithuanian Folk Art (1958),105 even more intensely. It
was translated into Lithuanian by three members of the movement. This came
as a surprise for Gimbutas, sinceas she said herselfin America hardly any-
one even knew her book.106 In contrast, the circle of the later Ramuva mem-
bers and ygeiviai were highly interested in this study, which focused on reli-
gious symbols and motives in folk art, such as gable decorations, dower chest
paintings, Easter egg designs, and roofed wooden poles decorated with suns,
moons, axes, goats, and other pre-Christian symbols.107 This book provided
them with research results indicating that Lithuanian folk art still existed in
the villages as a reflection of a series of pagan symbols and attributes that at-
tracted the young academics to the countryside.108 Gimbutass main contribu-
tion to the development of neo-paganism in the LSSR was probably her lecture
on gods and goddesses of the mythological pantheon of the ancient Balts given
during a visit to Vilnius in 1968. The fact that she spontaneously changed the
topic of her planned lecture about Indo-Europeans and Balts into a talk about
the ancient Baltic gods, because the students demanded it, already indicates
how much attention was already being paid to this kind of information. Ac-

103
Koressaar, review, 452; Anthony, Kurgan Culture, 9192.
104
M. Gimbutiens laikas Vytautui Kavoliui, in Jonas Trinknas, Marija Gimbu-
tien ir Ramuva, 5 February 2011, available at http://alkas.lt/2011/02/05/j-trinkunas-m-
gimbutiene-ir-romuva-video/, accessed 5 February 2014.
105
Marija Gimbutas, Ancient Symbolism in Lithuanian Folk Art, Memoirs of the Ameri-
can Folklore Society 49 (Philadelphia: American Folklore Society, 1958).
106
M. Gimbutiens laikas.
107
Thelma G. A. James, review of Marija Gimbutas Ancient Symbolism in Lithuanian
Folk Art, Western Folklore 20, no. 2 (1961): 14344.
108
Trinknas, Senosios religijos kelias, 236.
The Cult of the Balts 103

cordingly, the so-called Hall of the Great Colons (didij kolon sal) at the
University of Vilnius was totally overcrowded during her talk.109
The mythological research provided by Marija Gimbutas was furthermore
deepened with the help of works by Lithuanian ethnologists Norbertas Vlius
and Pran Dundulien. While leading the expeditions of the Association of
Monument Protection and kraevedenie of the LSSR, Vlius had started his re-
search at the Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature on the reflections
of Baltic mythology in Lithuanian folklore. His work resulted in his first book,
The mythological creatures of Lithuanian legends (Mitins lietuvi sakmi
btybs) published in 1977, as well as the second, The world views of the an-
cient Balts (Senovs balt pasaulira), published in 1983, and the third, The
chthonian world of Lithuanian mythology (Chtonikasis lietuvi mitologijos
pasaulis), published in 1987.110 The influence of Marija Gimbutass works was
obvious in Vliuss research, since he was analyzing Lithuanian folklore in
order to reconstruct the mythology and the world views of the ancient Balts,
just as she had done.111 As a leader of scientific expeditions of the Association
of Monument Protection and kraevedenie, he had the opportunity to spread his
knowledge about the proto-Balts and their culture among the youth. However,
it has to be stressed that, despite of the fact that his field of expertise was Baltic
studies, his nationalistic position was much stronger than his sympathies with
the region of the ancient Balts. His colleagues, therefore, denied him the status
of a Baltophilian or Baltocentrist, and would rather call him a real Lithuanist
or Lithuania-centrist.112 This spirit was definitely spread among the youth that
took part in Vliuss expeditions. Yet, his work perpetuated not only Balto-
philian and Lithuanistic ideas but was, at the same time, a catalyst for West-
ern ideas. He was probably the only Lithuanian representative of the school
of semiotics located in Tartu and Moscow. Through this connection, he not
only established contacts with prominent Soviet scholars like Viktor Toporov
and Iurii Lotman, but also gained access to books that were inaccessible to the
broad public of Soviet Lithuania.113
Like Vlius, Pran Dundulien was also involved in researching Baltic my-
thology and world views and led a series of ethnographic expeditions for the
University of Vilnius from 1949 onwards.114 Her conception of the supposedly
high Lithuanian pagan culture that had been destroyed by Christianity fit

109
M. Gimbutiens laikas.
110
Norberto Vliaus palikimas: Sauls Matuleviiens pokalbiai su Nijole Lau-
rinkiene, Dainiumi Razausku, Daiva Raiunaite-Vyiniene ir Vytautu Aliausku,
Liaudies kultra 148, no. 1 (2013): 5859.
111
Gimbutas, Die Balten, 21739; Norberto Vliaus palikimas, 59.
112
Norberto Vliaus palikimas, 66.
113
Ibid., 6062, 68.
114
S. Misinien, Etnografei Pranei Dundulienei100, 12 February 2010, available
at http://www.mb.vu.lt/naujienos/parodos/etnografei-pranei-dundulienei-100, accessed 29
April 2016.
104 Odeta Rudling

very well with the atheistic programs pursued by the Communist Party at that
time. She even had the chance to defend this position in the Communist Party
newspaper Komunistas in 1977, where she criticized the skepticism of her col-
leagues who doubted the superiority of the Baltic ancestors.115

Religious Practices

It could be claimed that actual religious practices began when the Ramuva
and other members of the tourist kraevedenie movement started to celebrate
the midsummer festival in 1967. This festival was the central element for this
movement in a religious sense, at least in the beginning. According to the
movements members, they structured the cycle of the year from midsummer
to midsummer.116 Being referred to as Rasa instead of Jonins, this pagan fes-
tival was envisioned and arranged differently than in the version proposed by
the Party. The Soviet neo-pagans wanted a spiritual event, full of meaningful
symbols and details, even though knowledge of this ancient custom was lim-
ited. According to the guru of Lithuanian paganism, Jonas Trinknas, these
first attempts took place under very strong governmental supervision while
using the institution of the Society of the Friends of India as camouflage117 to
help arrange these events in a legal way.118 One of the founding members of
Ramuva, Vaclovas Bagdonaviius,119 recalls that the first Rasa festivals were
not spontaneous events. An entire cycle of rituals was invented, starting with
the call of a horn, followed by the lighting of the altar (aukuras) and herbal sac-
rifices on it, accompanied by words spoken to the ancestors. After this people
set wooden wheels on fire and rolled them down a hill and sang and danced in
circles while jumping over a traditional bonfire, which was the culmination of
the event. Collections of flower bouquets and sacrifices to the gods and ances-

115
Alfredas Bumblauskas, Konfliktai Lietuvos sovietinje istoriografijoje: Psi-
chologija ar metodologija? in Lietuvos sovietin istoriografija: Teoriniai ir ideologiniai
kontekstai, ed. Bumblauskas Alfredas and Nerijus epetys (Vilnius: Aidai, 1999),
1089; Streikus, Soviet reimo pastangos, 13.
116
Rasos Kernavje, 72.
117
Ain Ramonait, Veikti atvirai ir bti nematomam? Kamufliainio veikimo tak-
tikos, in Nematoma sovietmeio visuomen, ed. Ain Ramonait (Vilnius: Naujasis
idinysAidai, 2015), 110, 112.
118
Rasos Kernavje, 70.
119
Bagdonaviius, Vilniaus kratotyrinink Ramuva, 333.
The Cult of the Balts 105

tors120 played an important mythological role in the event, while a Lithuanian

witch, Eugenija imknait,121 cast spells.122
The actual spiritually significant rituals were performed in a close circle of
only three or four people.123 Again, Vydnass biography and works played
a significant role. First of all, the scenario of the ritualistic proceedings elab-
orated by Trinknas was almost equivalent to Vydnass instruction of the
celebration published in 1918. Furthermore, his trilogy The eternal flame
became the central guideline in the proceedings of the feast. As early as during
the first Rasa, the participants of the rituals sang hymns from The eternal
flame that they understood to be sacred. Another formal part of this religious
ritual was the singing of Lithuanian folk songs, which was, again, seen as a
sacred act.124 As a consequence of Indo-Baltic ties, Lithuanian folksongs were
not only deemed valuable because of their parallels to the ancient Hindu Rig-
Veda hymns,125 but they were also understood as sources of ancient pre-Chris-
tian mythology and spirituality.126 The singing of these songs was, therefore,
regarded as an act connecting contemporaries with their ancestors, their world
views, and their spirituality.127
In addition to such semilegal pagan proceedings, some ritualistic acts were
performed secretly. Jonas Trinknas, for example, recalls the first midsummer
celebration in Kernav (1967) where a small group of the founding members of
the later Ramuva consecrated themselves according to ancient pagan custom.128
This deep devotion to the ancestors did not mean that this Baltophilian
activity was really as authentic129 as the members of the movement claimed.

120
Rasos Kernavje, 70, 7273.
121
Jonas Trinknas, Eugenija imknait: Kai pasaulis atsiduria kritinje bse-
noje, laikas pasiirti kur ms aknys, 25 October 2010, available at http://alkas.
lt/2010/10/25/eugenija-simkunaite-kai-pasaulis-atsiduria-kritineje-busenoje-laikas-pasiziure-
ti-kur-musu-saknys/, accessed 14 April 2016.
122
Rasos Kernavje, 76.
123
Ibid., 71.
124
Ibid., 73.
125
Strmiska, Eastern Religions, 73.
126
Strmiska, The Music of the Past, 41.
127
Ibid., 44.
128
Trinknas, Senosios religijos kelias, 243.
129
Authentic is a concept from my sources that was widely used among the ac-
tivists of the tourist-kraevedenie movement. See, among others, Jonas Trinknas,
Kur dsime liaudies men? Literatra ir menas, 9 October 1971; Rimantas Guas,
Tikras ar slyginis etnografkumas? Literatra ir menas, 1 November 1969; and
Vytautas Landsbergis, Lietuvi folkloro teatras (Vilnius: Mintis, 1982) It usually re-
ferred to the non-sanctioned folklore culture, represented by the rural folk tradi-
tion, that had become a subject of touristic interest by the early 1960s and spread
later on within the so-called ethnographic and folkloristic ensembles. See Olson,
Performing Russia, 7475; and Stasys Skrodenis, Folkloras ir folklorizmas: Mokymo
knyga (Vilnius: VPU Leidykla, 2005), 12829.
106 Odeta Rudling

Trinknas himself once said that, even though such a feast is mentioned in a
couple of written sources, it actually did not exist in the folk tradition.130 Con-
sequently, instead of reviving these rituals as a part of the culture of their
ancestors,131 the Soviet Lithuanian neo-pagans actually invented them, or at
least added some elements that did not belong there according to the written
sources. Anyway, this is how the following statement of Jonas Trinknas can
be understood:

We started to read all the ethnographic literature. As soon as the mate-

rial existed, the formation of the scenario has started determining when
and what fires should be lighted. Of course, we had to invent some
things too; we did not take everything from the ethnographic sources.132

Even though the members of the movement presented themselves as if

their religious and Lithuanianistic activity was entirely different from the in-
ventions of the Communist Party,133 the pattern they used for the construction
of their rituals was very similar to the one used by the Party. The memory
of Trinknas about writing scenarios for a Rasa festival already points to the
Communist Party, since writing scenarios was a common thing to do while pre-
paring a feast of new traditions.134 The members of the movement also built
an altar (aukuras) for these rituals even though no historical accounts about
this ritualistic element exist.135 Instead, an altar was often used in the rituals
of sanctioned Soviet culture, such as the sanctioned midsummer celebration
or the Spring of Poetry.136 Last but not least, the neo-pagans often invited
Eugenija imknait, the Lithuanian witch mentioned above who was actu-
ally an expert in herbal medicine,137 to attend their midsummer celebrations,138
even though she often took part in atheistic events of the Communist Party.139
All this shows that the religious practices of the Soviet neo-pagans and
their sympathizers were often inspired by practices of Soviet everyday culture,
or at least used the same resources and patterns. However, despite the similar-
ity to the cultural events of the Communist Party, these semilegal proceedings
did not last very long due to regime pressure. By 1971, Rasa was already an un-

130
Rasos Kernavje, 70.
131
Renatas Delis, Neopagonybs judjimas posovietinje Lietuvojealternatyvus
lietuvikumas kaip atsakas modernybei? Lietuvos etnologija 15, no. 6 (2006): 188.
132
Rasos Kernavje, 71.
133
Laikas kaip vandenynas: Sauls Matuleviiens pokalbis su Jonu Trinknu,
Liaudies kultra 124, no. 1 (2009): 56.
134
Putinait, Nugenta puis, 270.
135
Rasos Kernavje, 71.
136
Putinait, Nugenta puis, 335
137
Trinknas, Eugenija imknait.
138
Trinknas, Senosios religijos kelias, 243.
139
Putinait, Nugenta puis, 216.
The Cult of the Balts 107

official event. Following the Kaunas student protests of 1972, the main enthu-
siasts, Jonas Trinknas, Arvydas liogeris, and Antanas Gudelis, were arrested
the next time they sought to arrange it.140 This, however, did not spell an end to
these religious practices, which continued underground during the following
years.141 Even the closure of the most radical tourism and kraevedenie clubs like
Ramuva and ygeiviai in 1971 could not stop the popularization of the customs
and rituals.142 Rather, they came to form the basis for a new network as the
kraevedenie current was integrated into the ensemble movement,143 a massive
new phenomenon of ethnographic and folkloristic ensembles (etnografiniai ir
folkloriniai ansambliai) between 1968 and 1974.144 This, in turn, resulted not only
in a new type of folk music but also popularized folk traditions integrated into
the rituals of Ramuva.145
Rituals connected to other holidays like winter solstice, winter carnival,
or ilges (a pre-Christian alternative to All Saints Day) were organized by the
neo-pagans from 1967 onwards. Between the 1969 and 1970, an entire cycle
of calendar feasts was developed within the small circle of Lithuanian neo-
pagans.146

Conclusion

This article has discussed the background and the development of Soviet
Lithuanian neo-paganism while devoting special attention to the sources of
inspiration for pagan and Baltophilian ideas. Starting with a look at the pop-
ularization of pre-Christian customs and rituals by the end of the 1950s, it has
demonstrated that the Communist Party played a crucial role in the devel-
opment of Lithuanian neo-paganism. By making the idea and the practice of
this pre-Christian religiosity an integral part of so-called new traditions,
it nourished young intellectuals with ideas and material resources that, as a
by-product, led to the development of paganism. The fact that tourism clubs
became a platform for this activity was no coincidence but rather a result of
the post-Stalinist management of Soviet Lithuanian institutions, allowing na-
tionalistic individuals and contents to be a part of their agenda. This article has
shown that nationalistic sentiments spread among the tourists during the early
period of touristic institutions, yet had developed in a specific, Baltophilian di-

140
Rasos Kernavje, 7475.
141
Trinknas, Autentikos, 68.
142
Ibid., 67.
143
Ramonait, Paralelins visuomens, 43, 44.
144
Olson, Performing Russia, 7475; Skrodenis, Folkloras ir folklorizmas, 12829.
145
Egl Aleknait, Ugavns folkloro ansambliuose: Reikms, bendruomens ir
tapatybs, Liaudies kultra 142, no. 1 (2012): 3536.
146
Rasos Kernavje, 72.
108 Odeta Rudling

rection by the end of the 1960s. Influenced by contemporary orientalist trends

and the life and works of Vilhelmas Storostas (Vydnas), the tourists con-
structed a system of values and symbols based on the faith of their ancestors.
Vydnass works, as well the research on the Balts and their mythology by the
Lithuanian-born American researcher Marija Gimbutas, were the key impulses
leading to the development of a new perception of Lithuanianhood based on
the idea of ancient Baltic superiority. These ideas and religious practices not
only shaped the thinking of post-Stalinist Lithuanian youth but also inspired
the singing revolution, since a number of former tourists were among the
activists of Sjdis,147 which, in turn, contributed to the collapse of the Soviet
Union. Their legacy can be still felt in post-Soviet Lithuanian society, since the
values established during the 1960s and 1970s are reflected in contemporary
culture. The year 2017, for example, was declared by the Lithuanian parlia-
ment the year of the so-called the castle hills (piliakalniai), important symbols
of the ancient Baltic lifestyle, and 2018 the year of Vydnas.148

Department of History
Universitt Greifswald
Rubenowstr. 2
D-17489 Greifswald
Germany
odeta_mikstaite@yahoo.de

147
The Lithuanian Sjdis leader, Vytautas Landsbergis, for example, was strongly
connected to the movement, since he was taking part in the events of the tourists.
See Lukoeviius, Alko klubas, 5. The ygeiviai Algirdas Patackas and Vidman-
tas Pavilionis were signatories of the Lithuanian declaration of independence. See
Algirdas Patackass webpage; see also Vidmantas Pavilioniss webpage of Lithu-
anian seimas, available at http://www.lrs.lt/datos/kovo11/signatarai/www_lrs.signataras-p_
asm_id=240.htm, accessed 6 March 2017.
148
Seimas 2017 m. paskelb Piliakalni metais, o 2018 m.Vydno metais, Alkas.
lt, 24 June 2015, available at http://alkas.lt/2015/06/24/seimas-2017-m-paskelbe-pil-
iakalniu-metais-o-2018-m-vyduno-metais/, accessed 6 March 2017.