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Kalvis
Kalvis or Teliavelis is a deity from the Baltic religion. He is the Lithuanian god of blacksmiths. According to Lithuanian pagan mythology, Kalvis or Teliavelis is a divine blacksmith who creates the Sun every morning and makes rings so the deity Aušrinė can marry it. An assistant of Perkūnas, Kalvis also makes a silver belt and golden stirrups for ''Dievo sūneliai'' (). Kalvis was worshipped by the Lithuanians up until the 15th century. The appearance of this deity is historically most likely tied to the appearance of Bronze Age and smithing in Lithuania. In mythology Czech theologian Jerome of Prague wrote about a Lithuanian tribe that prayed to the Sun and worshipped a large hammer. Upon enquiring on their traditions, the tribe's seers explained that for many months they had not seen any light from the Sun since a powerful king imprisoned it. The zodiac signs eventually used the large hammer and freed the Sun from a tower and returned it to humans. In a similar legend m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new Higher consciousness, levels of consciousness, beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life". Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheism, Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as "God"), whereas Polytheism, polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheism, Henotheistic religions accept one God, supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of the same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Velnias
Veles, also known as Volos, is a major god of earth, waters, livestock, and the underworld in Slavic paganism. His mythology and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of (among other deities) Odin, Loki, and Hermes. According to reconstruction by some researchers, he is the opponent of the supreme thunder god Perun. As such, he has probably been imagined as a dragon, which in the belief of the pagan Slavs is a chimeric being resembling a cross between a bear and a snake that devours livestock. His tree is the willow, while that of Perun is the oak. No direct accounts survive, but reconstructionists speculate that he may directly continue aspects of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon with the original deity Welnos.Jaan Puhvel, ''Analecta Indoeuropaea,'' (a collection of articles), publ. by Innsbrucker Beitrage zur Sprachwissenschaft, Innsbruck, 1981 Sources Veles is one of few Slavic gods for which evidence of offerings can be found in all Slavic nations. The ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Gods
Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** Lithuanian cuisine ** Lithuanian culture Other uses * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jews, sometimes used to mean Mitnagdim * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth See also * List of Lithuanians This is a list of Lithuanians, both people of Lithuanian descent and people with the birthplace or citizenship of Lithuania. In a case when a person was born in the territory of former Grand Duchy of Lithuania and not in the territory of moder ... {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population was 607,667, and the Vilnius urban area (which extends beyond the city limits) has an estimated population of 747,864. Vilnius is notable for the architecture of its Vilnius Old Town, Old Town, considered one of Europe's largest and best-preserved old towns. The city was declared a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The architectural style known as Vilnian Baroque is named after the city, which is farthest to the east among Baroque architecture, Baroque cities and the largest such city north of the Alps. The city was noted for its #Demographics, multicultural population during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with contemporary sources comparing it to Babylon. Before World War II and The Holocaust in Lithuania, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. There was a historical distinction between the heavy work of the blacksmith and the more delicate operations of a whitesmith, who usually worked in Goldsmith, gold, Silversmith, silver, pewter, or the finishing steps of fine steel. The place where a blacksmith works is variously called a smithy, a forge, or a blacksmith's shop. While there are many professions who work with metal, such as farriers, wheelwrights, and Armourer, armorers, in former times the blacksmith had a general knowledge of how to make and repair many things, from the most complex of weapons and armor to simple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Language
Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as a second language. Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian language, Latvian, though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It is written in a Latin script. In some respects, some linguists consider it to be the most conservative (language), conservative of the existing Indo-European languages, retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that had disappeared through development from other descendant languages. History Among Indo-European languag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scandinavian Mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The northernmost extension of Germanic mythology and stemming from Proto-Germanic folklore, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition. The source texts mention numerous gods such as the thunder-god Thor, the raven-flanked god Odin, the goddess Freyja, and numerous other deities. Most of the surviving mythology centers on the plights of the gods and their interaction with several other beings, such as humanity and the jötnar, beings who may be friends, lovers, foes, or family members of the gods. The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worlds th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Toporov
Vladimir Nikolayevich Toporov (; 5 July 1928 in Moscow5 December 2005 in Moscow) was a Russian philologist associated with the Tartu–Moscow Semiotic School. His wife was Tatyana Elizarenkova. He is also recognized as a prominent Balticist. Background Toporov authored more than 1500 works, including ''Akhmatova and Dante'' (1972), ''Towards the Reconstruction of the Indo-European Rite'' (1982), ''Aeneas: a Man of Destiny'' (1993), ''Myth. Rite. Symbol. Image'' (1995), ''Holiness and Saints in the Russian Spiritual Culture'' (1998), and ''Petersburg Text of Russian Literature'' (2003). He translated the Dhammapada into Russian and supervised the ongoing edition of the most complete vocabulary of the Prussian language to date (5 volumes). Among Toporov's many honours were the USSR State Prize (1990), which he turned down to voice his protest against the repressive January Events of the Soviet administration in Lithuania; the first ever Solzhenitsyn Prize (1998), and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norbertas Vėlius
Norbertas Vėlius (1 January 1938 in Gulbės, near Šilalė – 23 June 1996 in Vilnius, buried in the Antakalnis Cemetery) was a Lithuanian folklorist specializing in Lithuanian mythology Lithuanian mythology () is the mythology of Lithuanians, Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-European studies, Indo-Europeans, Lithuanians (tribe), ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic myth .... Major works *''Mitinės lietuvių sakmių būtybės'' (1977) *''Laumių dovanos'' (1979) (translated into Russian as ''Цветок папоротника: литовские мифологические сказания'' in 1989, into English as ''Lithuanian mythological tales'' in 1998) *''Senovės baltų pasaulėžiūra'' (1983) (translated into English as ''The World Outlook of the Ancient Balts'' in 1989) *''Chtoniškasis lietuvių mitologijos pasaulis'' (1987) *''Baltų religijos ir mitologijos šaltiniai'', 4 volumes (1996–2005). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleksander Brückner
Aleksander Brückner (; 29 January 1856 – 24 May 1939) was a Polish scholar of Slavic languages and literature (Slavistics), philologist, lexicographer, and historian of literature. He is among the most notable Slavicists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the first to prepare complete monographs on the history of the Polish language and culture. He published more than 1,500 titles and discovered the oldest extant prose text in Polish (the '' Holy Cross Sermons''). Life Brückner was born in Brzeżany (Berezhany) in Galicia, Austrian Empire, to an Austro-Polish family who had moved there from Stryj three generations earlier. He studied at the German Gymnasium in Lwów (Lemberg) under Omelian Ohonovsky, in Vienna under Franz Miklosich, and in Berlin under Vatroslav Jagić. Brückner first taught at Lwów ( Lwów University). In 1876 he received a doctorate at the University of Vienna and in 1878 his habilitation for a study on Slavic settlements around Mag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algirdas Julien Greimas
Algirdas Julien Greimas (; born ; 9 March 1917 – 27 February 1992) was a Lithuanian literary scientist who wrote most of his body of work in French while living in France. Greimas is known among other things for the Semiotic square, Greimas Square (). He is, along with Roland Barthes, considered the most prominent of the French semiotics, semioticians. With his training in structural linguistics, he added to the theory of Sign (semiotics), signification, plastic semiotics, and laid the foundations for the Parisian school of semiotics. Among Greimas's major contributions to semiotics are the concepts of Isotopy (semiotics), isotopy, the actantial model, the narrative program, and the semiotics of the natural world. He also researched Lithuanian mythology and Proto-Indo-European religion, and was influential in semiotic literary criticism. Biography Greimas's father, Julius Greimas, 1882–1942, a teacher and later school inspector, was from Liudvinavas in the Suvalkija region o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayland The Smith
In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith (; , ; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; ; ; (); from ', lit. "crafting one") is a master blacksmith originating in Germanic heroic legend, described by Jessie Weston as "the weird and malicious craftsman, Weyland".Weston, J. (1929). 'Legendary Cycles of the Middle Age', in Tanner, J.R. (ed.), ''The Cambridge Medieval History'' Vol. VI, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 841f. Wayland's story is most clearly told in the Old Norse sources '' Völundarkviða'' (a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'') and '' Þiðreks saga''. In them, Wayland is a smith who is enslaved by a king. Wayland takes revenge by killing the king's sons and then escapes by crafting a winged cloak and flying away. A number of other visual and textual sources clearly allude to similar stories, most prominently the Old English poem ''Deor'' and the Franks Casket. Wayland is also mentioned in passing in a wide range of texts, such as the Old English '' Waldere'' and ''Beow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
