Pagan Places In The Baltics  

(April 30, 2025) The world for "sacred grove" in Lithuanian is Alko and Alka (Vaitkevičius 2016)

1. Alko is the Druid Akkadian phrase AL.K' meaning "Alu's prodding place" where Alu is the life source god of the Druid pantheon and "prodding" is the use of emotional-energy to cause movement. An alternative spelling is Alkos and Alkas from the phrase AL.K'.S meaning "Alu's prodding from Su" where Su the the dark new moon and eye pupil god who is the source of all motion powers. He is the main deity involved with astrology-magic.

In Latvian, Alko is Elko from the Druid Akkadian phrase EK.K' meaning "The High-powers prodding place." 

Alu is also the source for Islamic "Allah" meaning "power of Alu" and Biblical 'elohim meaning "the powers of Alu." 'Elohim is simply translated as "God" in the English Christian Old Testament. 

Reference

Vykintas Vaitkevičius (2016) Sacred Sites. In, A Hundred Years of Archaeological Discoveries in Lithuania.  edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Translated by Jeffrey Arthur Bakanauskas. Published by Society of Lithuanian Archaeology. Online at: https://tautosmenta.lt/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Vaitkevicius_Vykintas/Vaitkevicius_Sacred_Sites_2016.pdf

(April  18, 2025) Hill forts are scattered throughout Europe and not all are forts and these hills seem to have had a variety of functions (not just being forts). This cluster of hillforts has preserved the local name for the flattest central hill and that name is "Alka" meaning it was some sort of sacred site.

This complex is located in southwest Lithuania on the western shore of ancient Raudys Lake when it was larger. The following is the history of the tallest mound, the Medvegalis hillock:

• This archaeological complex consists of seven hillocks and valleys. The Medvegalis hillock is said to be the king of the local highlands, standing 234,6 m above sea level. This is the highest point in Žemaitija and the hillock offers a lovely view of the surrounding area. It is said that from the surface, one can spot 14 church towers, countless other hillocks, as well as Šatrija, which is at a distance of 30 km. Archaeological finds have dated the hillfort back to the 1st millennium BC. A wooden castle was first cited in writing in 1316, when it was attacked by Crusaders. Medvegalis was the central and most famous fortress in defending Žemaitija against Crusader raids. The Crusaders burned the castle down in 1329. All told, some 20 raids against Medvegalis have been recorded in history. According to a legend the name is based on two courageous young ladies who knew the back roads of the region and helped to save the defenders of the besieged castle. When it came time to decide who will inform other hillforts about the siege, one of the girls said “Mudvi galiva,” which means “we both will”. Off they went, and that was the origin of the name Medvegalis. https://www.baltukelias.lt/en/sightseeing-places/medvegalis-hillfort/

References

1. Archaeological investigations in independent Lithuania (1990-2010) / edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Vilnius: Society of the Lithuanian Archaeology, 2012. Online at:  https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/50617

(April 18, 2025) Thirty rivers with a length rarely more than 5–10 km are called Alka throughout Lithuania. More than fifty rivers with a length ranging roughly from 15 to 25 km are called Šventa throughout Lithuania. The Šventoji (the definite form of the word Šventa, a 249 km long right tributary of the Neris) in East Lithuania and the Šventoji (a 74 km river flowing into the Baltic Sea) in West Lithuania are distinguished by their size.

1. Šventa is the Druid Akkadian phrase ŠW.EN.T.A meaning "Motion-power-offerings reassigning astrology-magic's results." These motion-power offering are roast offerings of animal remains because animals represented movement in contrast to cake offerings.

So small rivers represented the powers astrology magic pushing the life powers ("Alu's prodding from Su") while large rivers represented the control of astrology-magic itself. 

References

1. Archaeological investigations in independent Lithuania (1990-2010) / edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Vilnius: Society of the Lithuanian Archaeology, 2012. Online at:  https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/50617

2. Vykintas Vaitkevičius (2016) Sacred Sites. In, A Hundred Years of Archaeological Discoveries in Lithuania.  edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Translated by Jeffrey Arthur Bakanauskas. Published by Society of Lithuanian Archaeology. Online at: https://tautosmenta.lt/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Vaitkevicius_Vykintas/Vaitkevicius_Sacred_Sites_2016.pdf

Ten bogs called Alko and another ten called a Šventa have been recorded in East and West Lithuania. Many of them belong to broader sacred sites and are situated near hills and forests considered sacred. The number of bogs, about which stories characteristic of sacred sites are told, is definitely several fold larger. It should be noted that they are near many groups of East Lithuanian barrows (dating to the 3rd–12th centuries). 

The bogs, which when drained and used for peat extraction or drained under other circumstances, yield various archaeological artefacts. For example, in 1938 the excavation of Šliktinė village refuge near Mikytai Hillfort (Skuodas District) found part of a hoard under a fallen oak tree. In 1971 the rest of the hoard was turned over by an excavator doing rescue work. In 2012 artefacts from the destroyed hoard site were again discovered on the surface of ploughed ground. Museums today hold a total of 447 artefacts characteristic of males from the second half of the 10th–11th centuries: ornaments (mostly penannular brooches with poppy head terminals), weapons (mostly various types of spearheads), some tools, pieces of equestrian gear, a weight from a set of scales, and part of an Arab dirham; some of the artefacts show signs of being in a fire.

References

Vykintas Vaitkevičius (2016) Sacred Sites. In, A Hundred Years of Archaeological Discoveries in Lithuania.  edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Translated by Jeffrey Arthur Bakanauskas. Published by Society of Lithuanian Archaeology. Online at: https://tautosmenta.lt/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Vaitkevicius_Vykintas/Vaitkevicius_Sacred_Sites_2016.pdf

(April 21, 2025) One class of sacred stones are the "footmark stones" having oval depressions which look like footmarks. They exist over a large geographic area and tended to be both demonized and honored.  They were demonized because Christians interpreted them as footprints of the devil or his demons.

North Estonia has the densest concentration on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The majority of the forty stones in Lithuania are situated in fertile flatlands, settlements, and burial sites in river valleys. These date from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age along the major river of the Nemunas, Neris, and Šventoji. Others date to the 1st millennium BCE in west Lithuania, and the first centuries of our era in central and north Lithuania. The archaeological excavations beside stones with cup-marks have not yielded very significant results.

Many of these stones are called Mokas. It is known that people prayed there for advice, barren women for children, and various offerings were made there. Yet simultaneously, local stories consider the Mokas stones to be remembering a cursed family with the father and son surviving on dry ground while the mother was at the bottom of a lake or river.

1. Mokas is the Akkadian phrase M'.K.AS meaning "Pushing involving the Celestial-Healer (Selu/Selene). 

The goddess Selene represents the powers of the heavenly bodies which by this time were generally negatively as fate producers (prior to dualism and deity lordification these powers were seen positively).

Some of these stones were Christianized and coopted and marked with a small chiseled or inset Christian crosses and renamed for Christian saints: John, Peter, Joseph, and Raphael. These Stones are labeled as "Martin stones" and are also common throughout Lithuania. Judging from the stories, they could be connected with the end of shepherding and pasturing on the feast of St Martin (11 November). 

References

Vykintas Vaitkevičius (2016) Sacred Sites. In, A Hundred Years of Archaeological Discoveries in Lithuania.  edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Translated by Jeffrey Arthur Bakanauskas. Published by Society of Lithuanian Archaeology. Online at: https://tautosmenta.lt/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Vaitkevicius_Vykintas/Vaitkevicius_Sacred_Sites_2016.pdf

(April  18, 2025) The following is a quote summarizing the history of this region:

• The 15th century historian Jan Długosz wrote that the remains of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas was burned according to pagan custom in a sacred grove called Kukavietis near Maišiagala castle and settlement in 1377. Near the Maišiagala Castle and the village of Gudulinė, one individual farm has preserved the name of Kukavietis until this day. Only one place in Lithuania retained such a name. In the historical documents from the 16th – 18th centuries, Kukavietis is mentioned as well as a forest of 17 ha. However, there are no data in the documents that can determine the exact location of this forest – it was somewhere between the villages of Maišiagala and Mešliukai. However, there is no doubt that the individual farm preserving the name of Kukavietis, located 3.5 km from Maišiagala mound is the same place mentioned in historical sources, which in the 15th century was mentioned by the historian Jan Długosz as the place of cremation of the remains of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas. (quote from 1)

References

1. Archaeological investigations in independent Lithuania (1990-2010) / edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Vilnius: Society of the Lithuanian Archaeology, 2012. Online at: https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/50786