Baltic mythology: Hunting goddesses
Medeina or Medeinė (medis – tree) – forest goddess, worshipped by hunters, food pickers and warriors. Her very first image appears to be a bear. During winter solstice rites Lithuanians dressed up as bears as it is believed that bears are sacred animals and represent goddess Medeina. She is also associated with mythological creature called Juodas kudlotas (juodas – black; kudlotas - hairy) which looks like a cross of a wild animal and a human being and lives in the woods.
In time Medeina’s image started changing and became more human-like. Since then she is described as a single young woman, unwilling to get married, though voluptuous and beautiful huntress. Medeina is also called vilkmergė (she-wolf) and is said to be escorted by a wolf pack. Moreover, she is connected to hares that help the goddess to protect the woods by leading hunters astray since her duty is not to help the hunters but to protect the forest. Even Mindaugas, King of Lithuania, would not hunt in the forest if he saw Medeina’s hare. As part of the official pantheon, Medeina also represented military interest of warriors. Whenever people started cutting trees during shortest days of winter the goddess would hide in the deepest parts of the woods and start crying. Lithuanians did not want to upset the goddess nor anger her thus they did not dare to take even a single twig during that period.
Medžiojima (medžioti – to hunt) – goddess of hunting. She is described as a giant girl with masculine face, wearing a bear pelt, carrying a bow on her shoulder and living on Medžiokalnis hill. It is claimed that her temple was located there as well. According to a myth, Medžiojima would show herself to people looking very sad and crying “Lithuania is in the woods! Cut down the forests, cut down all the forests and there will be no Lithuania!”
Žvorūna or Žvorūnė, Žvėrinė (žvėris – wild animal) – goddess of wild animals. Her first image is said to be a dog. There are no descriptions of her human-like figure but it is known that Žvorūna takes care of the forests, wild animals and hunting matters and is also claimed to be a partner of several gods.
