105 ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA 15 BALTIC WORLDVIEW: FROM MYTHOLOGY TO FOLKLORE II LIBATION IN BALTIC RELIGIOUS PRACTICES DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ Abstract It is mentioned in 15th to 18th-century written sources that in Lithuania, Prussia and Latvia pagan rituals, during which a certain amount of drink would be poured out for the gods and the dead, were practised. Lithuanian and Latvian ethnographic material from the 19th and 20th centuries supports the continuity of this tradition at community and family feasts. In sources on Baltic religion it is usually emphasised that the drink would be poured out on to the ground. This can be inter- preted as a triple offering: to the goddess of the Earth, to the domestic deities, and to the souls of the dead. However, the Balts not only practised pouring drink on the ground, but other libation practices too. In terms of the place on to which the drink would be poured, the following practices can be singled out: pouring on the ground, into fre, into water, and into the air (sprinkling the drink upwards). Pouring on to stones and trees, which is related to elements of sacred places, also deserves special attention. Key words: libation, Baltic religion, earth, fre, air, water, dead, sacred place. Introduction Libation, or the act of pouring out liquid as an offering, is a fundamental ritual that was and still is practised in most religions. It is known in nearly all cultural and geographical regions of the world (Betz 2005; Davis 2008; Poo 1995; Shelton 2008). The ritual was prac- tised as early as Prehistoric times, and fourished in the civilisations of the Bronze Age (Burkert 2000, p.70). Although the purpose of this article is not related to Indo-European studies and its intention is to highlight the Baltic religion from a typological rather than an ethno-genetic point of view, it should be pointed out that in cultures speaking Indo-European languages, the forms of libation were highly developed. The Baltic word lieti ‘to pour’, which describes the act of libation, is related to the Latin word lībō (-āre) ‘to pour, provide an offering, to make a libation’, and the Greek word λείβω ‘I am pouring, dripping’. Cf.: Lithuanian lieti ‘to pour’, Prussian pralieiton ‘poured’, Latvian lît, lîstu ‘to spill over, overfow’, Ukrainian liti, Bulgarian lits’, Slovenian líti, líjem, Czech líti, leji and others (Fasmer 1986). Since ancient times, libation was an important religious practice in Greece (Davis 2008; Elderkin 1945). It was practised intensively during the Roman Period of Greek culture, too. Greek and Roman liba- tion is described in numerous written sources, scenes of offering drink are portrayed in pictures, whereas the ritual inventory (altars, vessels, and so on) that has sur- vived to this day makes it possible to study libation. In ancient India, the pouring out of soma as described in the Indian Vedas was widely practised. Even today, libation in India remains a vital form of religious of- fering. The historical sources that mention libation in Baltic cultures date from rather later times, and the earliest of these sources give an account of the situation that ex- isted at least a century after the introduction of Chris- tianity. Attention was paid to libation in writing about heathen ritual feasts, offerings and rituals devoted to the dead that survived. In most instances, the accounts refer to the libation of an alcoholic drink, beer or mead, because the very ritual of drinking was a highly impor- tant Baltic religious practice that usually accompanied other religious practices. Matthaeus Praetorius, who described the rites of Prussian Lithuanians in the 17th century in minute detail, wrote that: ‘Every ceremo- ny or feast starts with drinking [...] Before they start drinking, they pour out some drink on to the ground for Zemynele, the goddess of the Earth’ (Pretorijus 2006, pp.480, 482). The rite of drinking was seen as an essential element of the ritual practice, a sacral con- nection between humans and deities. Also in the 17th century, Joannes Stribingius, a Jesuit, emphasised that the Latvians, who used beer in their rites and offer- ings, believed that their gods would not listen to them without beer: ‘nunquam deos exaudituros illos sine Cereuisia’ (BRMŠ 2003, p.551). The Prussians, even when baptised as Christians, would continue relating sacrality to beer. Having confessed their sins in church, they would, as a mandatory part of the rite, comple- ment the church rite with washing away their sins with beer in an inn. In the 15th century, Bishop Michael Junge had to issue a special decree forbidding Prussians to go to an inn after a church service: