Krikštas (plural: krikštai) is a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n burial monument of oldest type. Typically they are carved of wood. Old ''krikštai'' are usually symmetric figurines of horseheads, birds, plants, hearts, etc. Since 19th-century cross-shaped monuments started to appear and the destruction figurine-type ''krikštai'' proceeded, since they were considered to be remnants of

paganism Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

. The figurine-type were mostly found in

Lithuania Minor Lithuania Minor (; ; ) or Prussian Lithuania (; ; ) is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is a historical region of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians (or Lietuvininkai) lived, now located in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Obla ...

, in the areas of

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

faith. Similar tombheads were reported in Protestant areas of Germany and Latvia. Therefore, some question their pagan faith association, and the survival of the tradition from pre-Christian times may be associated with the Protestant prohibition on putting crosses on graves."Krikštai"
photos and drawings by Mečislovas Sakalauskas, Nida cemetery

References

Lithuanian folk art Woodcarving {{lithuania-stub