ROMUVA (CHURCH)

'Romuva' is a modern confessional community of the indigenous Baltic religion practiced by the Lithuanian people prior to Christianization. Romuva is an ethnic religion community continuing living Baltic pagan traditions which survived in folklore and customs. This feature differs Romuva from other Neopaganistic confessions which are based mostly on mythology and written sources.
There are adherents of ''Romuva'' all over the world, but the religion primarily exists in Lithuania and the former Eastern Bloc nations. Romuva has close ties with sentiments of Lithuanian and Baltic nationalism. Lithuanian ancestry is not a prerequisite to acceptance by the Romuva religious community. Practising the Romuva faith is seen by many adherents as a form of cultural pride, along with celebrating traditional forms of art, retelling Baltic folklore, practising traditional holidays, playing traditional Baltic music, singing traditional ''dainas'' or hymns and songs as well as ecological activism and stewarding sacred places.

Contents

Etymology

History

Medieval Lithuanian faith

Revival

Modern ethnic religion

Soviet suppression of Romuva

Independence

Beliefs

Rituals

Romuva deities

Romuva centres

Žemaičių Alka

See also

External links

Etymology

The terms ''Romuva'', ''Romovė'' and ''Ruomuva'' came from medieval written sources in East Prussia mentioning the pagan Baltic temple Romowe. Linguists say that the word is derived from Baltic root ram-/rām-, meaning 'calm, serene'.

History

Medieval Lithuanian faith

The Quendlinburg chronicle mentions missionary Brunon, who was killed along with 18 men by Lithuanians because of entering The Holy Forest. This was the first time Lithuania was mentioned in written sources. Lithuanians came to history as very conservative representatives of ancient European paganism. Lithuanians preserved this feature until the 14th and15th centuries. They were the last people in Europe practicing pristine Indo-European polytheism.
In 13^th century pope Gregory IX declared crusades against Baltic tribes. This led to the destruction of Baltic faith. Grand Duke Mindaugas was Christianized with his family and warriors in 1251 to get appreciation from Christian Europe and crown. But Mindaugas still worshiped pagan deities as Hypatian chronicle mentions. He sacrificed for pagan Supreme God (
★ Andajus, later Dievas), Perkūnas,
★ Teliavelis (god of smiths), and
★ Žvorūna (goddess of forests and hunters).
Despite baptizing of Mindaugas, whole ethnic Lithuania was not Christianized, so crusades were not stopped.
In 1387 whole Aukštaitija was Christianized by Grand Duke Vytautas and his cousin Jogaila. The old pagan priests estate was annihilated with archaic pagan Baltic culture. The same was done in 1417 in Samogitia. After Christianization of Lithuania the real purposes of Christian Teutonic order were revealed. Order was fighting against Balts not to bring new faith, but to conquer new territories. The hardest consequence of Baltic crusade was extermination of Old Prussians.
In 1565 Valerijonas Protasevičius invited Jesuit order to 'fight' with idolaters. This was the last step to destroy ancient Baltic faith. Despite this Lithuanian peasants practised paganism till 18th century. Later pagan traditions were adopted by Christian church, old deities were replaced by sainthood.

Revival

The Romantism epocha started in 19^th century. This lead Lithuanians to turn back to their old roots. The national revival started and Lithuanian intelligentsia idealised ancient paganism and folklore. Some historians wanted to prove the beauty of ancient polytheism and even started faking some facts of Lithuanian mythology. One of such fakers was Theodor Narbutt who edited some Ancient Greek myths and created new Lithuanian ones.
Anyway, in the beginning of 20^th century ancient pagan traditions still were continued in folklore and customs. People were celabrating ancient pagan festivals mixed with Christian traditions. Such festivals are Vėlinės (day of death souls, common with Celtic Halloween), Užgavėnės (festival when winter ends and spring begins. People in Samogitia burn idol called Morė and wear masks), Rasos or Joninės and etc...

Modern ethnic religion

In 1900 Vydūnas created conception of Romuva in his drama 'Amžina ugnis' (The Eternal fire). Since the play was performed in 1912, the Romuva became a symbol of Lithuanian (pagan) nationalism.
Domas Šidlauskas-Visuomis (1878-1944) in 1911 started creating conception of Vaidevutybė (Baltic neo-paganism). At the same time began Latvian ethnic religion movement Dievturi was started by E.Brastinis. The main problem was that first movement were based on limited folklore sources and influented by Far East traditions (Hinduism and Buddhism). But the idea of Romuva didn't die during Soviet occupation of Lithuania.

Soviet suppression of Romuva

The Lithuanian neo-pagan movement was stopped by Soviet occupation in 1940. The Soviet Union forcefully annexed Lithuania in 1940 and renamed it the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
After Stalin's death the cultural life became more free. Due to the nationalist nature of Romuva, the faith was suppressed during the Soviet Occupation and many practitioners were executed or deported to slave labor camps in Siberia. A clandestine Romuva group is known to have existed within a labor camp in Inta, Russia. After the members were released and returned to Lithuania around 1960, Jonas Trinkūnas (born 1939) formed the ''Vilnius Ethnological Ramuva'' and began organizing public celebrations of traditional Lithuanian religious holidays in 1967 (the ancient Lithuanian festival Rasos was made). In 1971 the Soviets expelled the members from the university they attended and exiled the leaders.
During the Cold War most organized Romuva activity was largely based in North America. However, by 1988 when the power of the Soviet Union was waning and Lithuanian independence was on the horizon, Romuva groups began reorganizing in the Baltic nations and practising their religion in the open.

Independence

Romuva was recorded as Ancient Baltic faith community in 1992 after reconstruction of independence in 1990.
Under the auspices of the ''Law on Religious Communities and Associations'' which was passed in Lithuania in 1995, Romuva gained recognition as a "non-traditional" religion. Lithuanian law requires a minimum of 25 years of existence before such a religion can receive the state support reserved for "traditional" religions.

Beliefs

Romuva is a polytheistic pagan faith which asserts the sacrality of nature as well as the practice of ancestor veneration. Adherents of Romuva believe that the souls of those who die continue to exist in the afterlife and stay with the living family and descendants. Confession is based on preserved Lithuanian pagan customs and archaic pre-Christian folklore.
Compare with Celtic and Vedic beliefs.

Rituals

The Baltic ''aukuras'' or "fire altar" is a stone altar in which a fire is ritually lit. Participants wash their hands and face prior to approaching the aukuras, and then they sing ''dainas'' or ritual hymns as the fire is lit. Food, drink, grasses and flowers are offered to the flame as the group sings the ''dainas''. After the primary offering, participants offer their own verbal or silent contributions which are carried to the Gods and ancestors with the smoke and sparks of the flame. See also Rig Veda hymns to the fire altar.

Romuva deities

★ Laima

★ Žemyna

★ Perkūnas

★ Dievas

★ Velnias

Romuva centres

Žemaičių Alka

This was originally planned to be rebuilt on Birutė hill in Palanga but was not agreed by the mayor of Palanga. Instead, it was built on a hill near Šventoji which also has 11 sculptures of Pagan Gods. There are four main festivals in a year:

★ March 23 - Vernal equinox

★ June 22 - Summer solstice

★ September 21 - Autumnal equinox

★ December 20 - Winter solstice

See also

★ Lithuanian Mythology

★ List of Lithuanian gods

★ History of Lithuania

External links

★ Neopaganism in Central-Eastern Europe

★ Sacred Serpent Romuva-Canada

★ Lithuanian Mythology and Religion

★ Lietuvos Romuva

★ World congress of Ethnic Religions: Romuva

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