BALTIC PEOPLES

"Beyond the Suiones lies another sea, dormant and almost motionless, which is believed to encircle and enclose the world, because the last light of sunset lingers there until its rising, so bright that it veils the stars (...). Up to that point, and only up to that point, does nature extend." (Tacitus, Germania, 45).
This is the domain of the Balts and several Western Finno-Ugric peoples.

Linguistically, the Balts are the Lithuanians and the Latvians. The Estonians, a Finno-Ugric people, as well as the Livonians, Votes, and Ingrians, share in the same Baltic cultural horizon. In protohistoric times, the Balts occupied a vast continental region. By the dawn of the Middle Ages, they were established between the Vistula and the Daugava rivers. Over time, they were gradually reduced to three peoples: the (Old) Prussians—whose language died out in the 17th century—between the Vistula, the Niemen, and the Masurian Lakes; the Lithuanians; and the Latvians. First came peaceful trade, then Christian missions—the so-called "Northern Crusades"—which entered these lands, "rich in honey and fish" (Wulfstan). The modern Baltic peoples resisted assimilation and regained their state sovereignty.

The Balts share a vast repertoire of traditional symbols.
The sign shown here is drawn from Latvian and Lithuanian graphic and narrative traditions. It evokes, from center to periphery: light, the solar circle, the course of destiny and the tree of life, and the protective serpent.

For further reading, consult:

• V. Vīķis-Freibergs, “The Poetic Imagination of the Latvian dainas,” Mosaic Journal, VI/4, Winnipeg, 1973, pp. 209–221.
• H. Biezais, Die Religionsquelle der baltischen Völker und die Ergebnisse der bisherigen Forschungen, Uppsala, 1954.
• J. Balys and H. Biezais, “Baltische Mythologie,” in Wörterbuch der Mythologie, fasc. 7, Stuttgart, 1965.
• A. J. Greimas, Des Dieux et des Hommes, Paris, 1985 (Apie dievus ir žmones, Chicago, 1979, translation by É. Rechner, revised by A. Hénault).
• V. Straižis and L. Klimka, “The Cosmology of the Ancient Balts,” Journal for the History of Astronomy, Archaeoastronomy Supplement, vol. 22, xxviii, 1997.