Pagans in Bielarus

by Laimutis Vasilevicius and Antanas Kakanauskas

Abstracted from Mokslas ir gyvenimas 1991: 11, p. 23.

Published in "romuva/usa", Issue #7, 1992.

Balts once inhabited many parts of Bielarus, which lies to the east and south of Lithuania. The Balts built cities and castles in this land of groves and swamps, and Pagan Balts ruled these lands until the late Middle Ages. The Balts who lived in these lands gradually became Slavs, but some traditions have been preserved. The Bielarian, Prof. E. Levkov, searching for remnants of Baltic Paganism, focused on Bielarus.

Not far from the village of Kremenech, Levkov discovered a rain boulder. The boulder is hidden in a thick part of the forest and has no trails leading to it: one needs a guide. It lies in a small clearing. The boulder is 1.05m long, 0.75 m wide and rises about 0.45 m out of the ground. The top is flat and has 5 chiselled, oval, bowl-shaped impressions on it. Levkov noted that the boulder was freshly strewn with flowers and the impressions had money in them.

The 74-year-old Sofija Josifovna, who lives in the village, told Levkov that 30 to 50 years ago the entire village and neighboring villages worshipped the boulder, but now only a few old women remember the rituals. Young people were especially frequent visitors. People wore the best and most beautiful clothing they owned. They came before the break of dawn, in the early morning. A fence with a gate used to surround the boulder, while a pail for collecting water stood next to it. Water from the boulder was considered sacred and restored health. Visitors poured water from the pail into the impressions in the boulder, requesting healing, health in general, and a good harvest. People especially visited the boulder during the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. Visitors left offerings of money, drink, food, or flowers at the boulder. Some people wrapped the boulder in scarves. It is called "lietaus akmuo", the boulder of rain.

Special rituals were held in times of drought in order to evoke rain. Nine widows would prepare long poles, hoist the boulder on the poles before dawn, and say secret incantations, but Josifovna did not reveal the words of the incantations. Rain would come in three days. The last time this ritual was held was in 1985.

Josifovna repeatedly called the boulder sacred, and said it did not have anything to do with the church: the boulder belongs to a different, a more ancient God. Moreover, it was forbidden to bring Christian paraphernalia to the boulder, because that would irritate the Rain God. The boulder survived Christianity as a sanctuary of the Baltic Rain God, known as Lietutis.