7 – 25 
21 S TUDIA MYTHOLOGICA SLAVICA 2018
The Sun, the Moon, and the 
Orientation of Baltic Graves:  
A Mythological Approach to an 
Archaeological Problem
Daiva Vaitkevičienė, Vykintas Vaitkevičius
This paper focuses on the predominating east-west orientation of Iron Age graves (5
th
 cen-
tury BC to the 13
th
 century AD) and the reasons that could have caused the custom. Based 
on the data of Baltic mythology and their reflections in folklore, the authors argue that the 
mythological conception of grave orientation is closely related to the mythological path 
of the Sun and the image of souls leaving the world of the living. Given the astronomical 
opposition of the Sun and the Moon, the hypothesis is justified by the fact that, when the 
graves of men and of women in the Baltic burial grounds adhering to the east-west axis, 
were oriented in opposite directions, the burial customs could have been affected by the 
mythological images of the heavenly family: the Sun (wife) and the Moon (husband). 
KEYWORDS: Balts, Iron Age, burial rites, archaeoastronomy, mythology, folklore
The search for symbolic meanings in archaeology is an attractive but challenging task. 
A theoretical possibility of research, cognitive archaeology in our case, requires special 
thoroughness and attention. When seeking harmony between the archaeological finds 
and the mythological images, a number of difficult questions have to be answered; it is 
necessary to renounce any preconceived ideas and to substantiate research assumptions 
and hypotheses in a consistent manner, by providing substantial arguments. 
The orientation of grave pits and the bodies of the dead is a part of the burial rite, an 
expression of mythological images. However, hitherto existing attempts of archaeologists 
to explain why a grave is oriented toward one or another cardinal point have not fully 
exhausted the opportunities of research on ancient religion and society. At the choice of 
researchers, contemporary scientific knowledge of the universe has frequently been un-
justifiably transferred to prehistoric times, e.g., cosmological images that have a religious 
meaning have frequently been considered to be the expression of ancient astronomical 
achievements (Jovaiša 2002: 13). 
The authors of this paper are offering an opportunity to study the directions of the 
burial of the dead from the viewpoint of mythology instead of that of astronomy. This will 
be done based on the provision that mythological studies do not mean the interpretation 
of single disassociated images, underpinned by certain astronomical knowledge; rather, 

DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ, VYKINTAS VAITKEVIČIUS 8 
they mean an analysis of the mythological logic, which has penetrated into the culture, 
and a system of interconnected meanings.
It is not easy to find data on the conception of the orientation of the dead prior to the 
introduction of Christianity, as burial rites, described in greater detail as late as in the 19
th
 to 
the 20
th
 centuries and the folk beliefs related to them have been covered with a thick layer 
of the Christian worldview. The main source of our reconstruction of the pre-Christian 
worldview is folklore that preserved the reflections of mythological images and ancient 
rites. The archaic traits of burials in ancient times can be traced in oral folklore and songs 
(cf. Greimas 1990: 113–253; Korzonaitė 2003; Racėnaitė 2011; Vaitkevičienė 2013). 
Folklore is a multilayer fabric in which the worldview provisions of different epochs 
can be detected. Thus, for example, the studies of fairy tales open up the knowledge pre-
served in the narrative tradition in the form of the images, motifs, and logical structures 
of different ways of burial: the burial of dead bodies in the earth or cremation, as well as 
secondary burial of bones (for more detail, see Vaitkevičienė 2013: 102–103). Folklore is 
a depository of the knowledge of the past in which one can discover a set of moral choices 
and solutions. From that totality existing in a latent form, in specific historical periods, 
only a small part of values-based provisions is used and start functioning in the religious 
life of society. Based on the same mythological narratives, over time, ever new solutions 
are actualized in compliance with the worldview and the moral provisions of that period. 
An analysis of a mythological way of thinking alone does not allow researchers to 
identify the structures found in myths and folklore with the cultural models of specific 
prehistorical societies. Such an opportunity arises only upon disclosure of the correlation 
between the folklore and the archaeological data, and in the case in question, between 
the images of the afterlife and the traits of the burial rites identified in archaeological 
excavations. Unfortunately, some larger-scale research on the orientation of the dead 
still needs systematized statistical data on the pre-historical burial grounds in Lithuania 
and the directions of grave pits. 
The plans of the hitherto excavated barrows and burial grounds witness that the 
grave orientation was affected by various factors: the geography of the burial place, the 
topographical position, customs, etc. Thus, the grave of the first deceased in Paragaudis 
barrow XXIV (Šilalė district), dating back to the 1
st
 to the 2
nd
 century AD, was oriented 
precisely toward the north, while the second, equipped by extending the barrow in the 
south-east direction, along the longitudinal axis of the annex (Fig.1) (cf. Apals et al. 2001: 
269, Fig. 193). The graves in the Baliuliai barrow cemeteries (Švenčionys district), dating 
back to the mid-5
th
 century AD, were directed toward a sand hill in the environment of the 
burial site whose archaeological exploratory excavation did not produce any significant 
results (Kurila 2013). In the Gintališkė burial ground (Plungė district), inhumations of 
the Late Iron Age, as well as cremated human remains in inhumation pits, were parallel 
to the flow of the Salantas stream (Fig. 2). 
Even when the deceased were buried in rows, the orientation of the grave pits often 
varied. That could have been affected by the visible and invisible objects of the envi-
ronment; for example, in Stungiai, Joniškis district, a row of graves of the 8
th
 to the 11
th
 
century AD was curving, as if the pit of each grave was directed toward a hill or a stone 

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE ORIENTATION OF BALTIC GRAVES: A MYTHOLOGICAL ... 9 
in the west (Fig. 3). Finally, it is worth noting that, in the burial grounds used for a longer 
time, different chronological groups of graves were characterized by a great variety of 
orientation directions (cf. Kazakevičius 1993: 10–11, Fig. 9). One of the predetermining 
factors for that is believed to have been the orientation of the grave pits toward celestial 
bodies. Moreover, it is important to emphasize that numerous Baltic burial grounds of 
the Iron Age were characterized by the burial of men and of women in the pits dug in 
precisely the same directions; however, men were laid with their heads towards the west, 
and women, towards the east (Fig.4). 
The present paper focuses on the predominating orientation of the Iron Age graves 
(the 5
th
 century BC to the 11
th
 century AD) in the west-east direction. The key points of 
the study include the position of a non-cremated body of the deceased (what is oriented) 
and the position of celestial bodies with respect to the cardinal points (what the body of 
the deceased is oriented toward). The authors chose the interpretive models that were 
most clearly visible in Baltic mythology; however, their identification with specific ar-
chaeological cultures, or even with burial sites, is the task of future research.  
Fig. 1: Plan of Paragaudis barrow XXIV (Michelbertas 1997: 177, Fig. 189)

DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ, VYKINTAS VAITKEVIČIUS 10 
Fig. 4: Excerpt from the Stungiai burial ground excavation plan (Vaškevičiūtė 2000: 227, Fig. 1)
Fig. 3: The Pagrybis burial ground (Šilalė district). Men’s and women’s graves. The 5
th
 to 
8
th
 century. (Vaitkunskienė 1995: 159)
Fig. 2: Excerpt from the Gintališkė burial ground excavation plan (x: cremation graves; 
without scale) (Vaitkunskienė 1979: 45, Fig. 2)

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE ORIENTATION OF BALTIC GRAVES: A MYTHOLOGICAL ... 11 
ASTRONOMY IN LITHUANIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Astronomical interpretation of archaeological monuments and phenomena has been 
known in Europe for years. In Lithuania, astronomy acquired significance in the 1980s, 
when an archaeological expedition led by Vladas Žulkus discovered postholes on the 
Birutė Hill in Palanga (Žulkus 1986), interpreted as a Curonian place for the observation 
of celestial bodies on the Baltic seacoast, dating to the late 14
th
 to the 15
th
 century AD 
(Klimka 1986). Shortly thereafter, data were made public about a stone circle discovered 
in the Užpelkiai burial ground (Kretinga district) from which the points of the sunrise 
and the sunset on the horizon were sought (Bliujienė 1992: 76–77), as well as on the pits 
in the ancient settlement of Dauglaukis considered by researchers to have been “a site of 
spatial orientation” (Tauragė district) (Malonaitis 1992: 47)
Astronomical models were also applied to the interpretation of burial monuments. 
Mykolas Michelbertas related the orientation of the Late Iron Age grave pits to the di-
rections of the sunrise and explained the variety of the burial directions by the fact that 
the deceased were buried in different seasons (Michelbertas 1986: 228; cf. Jaskanis 1974: 
216–218). Eugenijus Jovaiša developed the statements in the dissertation devoted to the 
burial grounds of the 1
st
 to 4
th
 centuries in Central Lithuania (Йовайша 1987; 1989). In 
his opinion, on the day of the burial, the ancient inhabitants used to direct the bodies 
toward the visible point of the sunrise or the sunset: the bodies of women were oriented 
toward the point of the sunrise, and of men, toward the point of the sunset (Jovaiša 2002: 
8). Jovaiša assumed that the graves beyond the boundaries of the interval of the sunrise 
directions (i.e., the solar arc) were directed toward the rising high Moon
1
 or the position 
of the Little Bear constellation (Йовайша 1989: 101; Jovaiša 2002: 8). When considering 
the setting of the sunrise and sunset azimuths on cloudy days, the author stated that, for 
such cases, “some astronomical equipment must have existed in the environment of the 
burial grounds” (Jovaiša 2002: 13). 
Jovaiša acknowledged that the numbers of the dead buried in different directions were 
very different and explained the fact by certain periods of an increased mortality rate:
In winter and summer, burials were rare; most of the burials happened in 
spring (the end of February and March) and in autumn (the second half of 
October and the beginning of November). As one becomes familiar with 
works on medicine and biological climatology, the phenomenon no longer 
seems difficult to believe and even looks natural. (2002: 9)
To substantiate the argument, the author presented the statistical data on the Lithua-
nian population mortality rates for 1925 to 1926. As demonstrated by them, the highest 
mortality rate in those years was in March and August, and especially high in December 
(18.63% of all the deceased over 1926), while in June, the mortality rate dropped to 
15.75% (Jovaiša 2002:10).
1
 Every 18.61 years, the Moon rises further north and south of the sunrise and sunset azimuths. 

DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ, VYKINTAS VAITKEVIČIUS 12 
Even though seasons affect people’s physical and mental health, and therefore can affect 
the mortality rate, Jovaiša’s substantiation to the effect that in the environs of Kaunas, 
Central Lithuania, over the period of the 1
st
 to the 2
nd
 century AD, most women died and 
were buried at the end of January through February and at the end of September through 
October, while most men died in the periods of February to the beginning of March and 
the end of September through October, seems unjustified (Jovaiša 2002: Fig. 8–9).
2
  
A similar hypothesis of the directions of grave pits demonstrating seasonal trends in 
mortality rate was raised by the Danish researchers Klavs Randborg and Klaus Nybo, 
who believed the orientation of bodies in the Bronze Age graves to have depended on the 
day of the funeral. In their opinion, bodies in the Viking Age burial grounds near Birka 
in Central Sweden were buried in accordance with the season: in winter, in the North 
Hermland burial ground, during equinoxes, in the South Hermland burial ground, and in 
summer, in Borg (Randsborg, Nybo 1986: 170–171). 
In different areas of Lithuania, the directions of the burial of the dead in the Iron Age 
differed and were based on different models. To explain that, Jovaiša argued that, in the 
period of the 1
st
 to the 5
th
 century AD, the cult of the Little Bear prevailed in the lower 
reaches of the Nemunas River, while in Central Lithuania, “the cult of the Sun predom-
inated, while the cult of the Moon and the Little Bear was much less noticeable” (2002: 
15). Jovaiša accounted for the differences in the worldviews by relating them to economic 
activities (without any more detailed discussion); he also suggested that the increase in 
the graves oriented toward the north-south in Central Lithuania in the 3
rd
 through the 5
th
 
century AD reflected the changes in the society: the rise of nobility whose graves could 
have been oriented toward the Little Bear in the north (2002: 14–15). To substantiate all 
these hypotheses, the author did not refer to the data of the Baltic mythology, Lithuanian 
ethnic astronomy, or the comparative research of cultural anthropology; therefore, they 
are to be considered mere guesses. 
ORIENTATION OF THE DEAD BODIES: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND 
MYTHOLOGICAL CONCEPTIONS
In their research documentation, archaeologists measure and indicate the position of the 
head of the deceased with respect to the cardinal points. If the bones of the body are en-
tirely decayed, the axis of the grave pit is measured. Frequently the dimensions become 
very important characteristics of the archaeological culture or the ethnic burial custom; 
thus, for example, the Roman Iron Age Sudovian graves in barrow cemeteries are char-
acterized by a north-south orientation (for more detail, see Michelbertas 1986: 73–77).  
Archaeologists are well aware of the fact that, after the introduction of Christianity, 
the heads of the deceased were first directed westwards. Thus, in the late 14
th
 through 
2
 The celebration of the Eve of Lent (Mardi Gras) in spring (around February to March) was associated by 
some researchers with the burial of those who died in winter; however, in summer, there was no necessity or 
possibility to keep the bodies of the deceased unburied until autumn. 

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE ORIENTATION OF BALTIC GRAVES: A MYTHOLOGICAL ... 13 
the 17
th
 century, in the Alytus burial ground, as many as 912 bodies (82.2%) were buried 
with their heads towards the northwest, west, and southwest (Svetikas 2003: 147–149). 
Based on the Christian worldview, the deceased were obliged to look eastward: on the 
Last Judgment day, the Lord was to appear from there; only the deceased clergy could 
allegedly turn towards the deceased and thus face the west (Svetikas 2003: 49–150; cf. 
Zugaiar 2012: 6). For comparison, Lithuanians in the first half of the 20
th
 century believed 
that the head of the deceased was to be directed southward or towards the tombstone 
crucifix: “it will be easier to suffer in hell” (Balys 1981: 821, 822). As argued by others, it 
was important to have “one of the grave pits facing the church, since, when the deceased 
stands up for the Last Judgement, he has to face the throne of God” (Balys 1981: 823, 824). 
As shown by the examples, the interpretation of the body orientation in the grave 
could have been based on different starting points: either refer to the direction of the face 
of the deceased, whose significance was emphasized by the Church, or to the direction 
of the head, usually recorded in the reports of archaeological excavations. 
In his statistical calculations, Jovaiša chose the direction of the head of the deceased 
as a reference point (Йовайша 1987), while Michelbertas spoke of the importance of 
the direction in which the deceased faced: “The faces of the dead were turned eastward, 
towards the land of the rising Sun, or westward, towards the one of the setting Sun” 
(Michelbertas 1986: 228). Žulkus, who investigated Western Lithuanian burial rites of 
the 8
th
 through the 13
th
 century AD, also settled for the direction in which the deceased 
faced: “The deceased men were buried so as to ‘see’ the world of the dead, and women, 
so as to ‘see’ the husband [...] In a patriarchal family, the supremacy of a man did not 
give rise to doubts” (Žulkus 1993: 32). 
Randsborg and Nybo, when studying the Bronze Age burial rites in Denmark, also 
chose the viewpoint as a reference point; they stated that the dead were buried facing the 
Sun: “At the same time we have supported the suggestion that we are not seeing different 
rules for graves with heads to the east and to the west. The ‘facing’ direction seems to 
be what is important in both cases” (Randsborg, Nybo 1986: 165).
Given the fact that the reference point in archaeological research can be diametri-
cally opposed – the direction of the head or the face of the deceased leads to different 
interpretations – it is necessary to look for new, hitherto unused data. We shall attempt 
to determine how the issue can be accounted for by Baltic mythology. 
It is very difficult to find arguments to justify the direction of the head of the deceased, 
as there are almost no mythological data on the subject, and any such considerations 
are essentially not promising. The direction of the face of the deceased, typical of the 
Christian tradition, looks much more promising: in accordance with it, a grave is un-
derstood as the place for the deceased to lie (rest) until the day of the Last Judgement 
comes. That is associated with keeping the vigil, watching, and waiting: the deceased 
is facing “the throne of God” which is to appear in the east. However, in the case of the 
prehistoric Baltic graves, the mythologemes of the vigil and resurrection do not apply. 
The sources of the Baltic mythology reflect a different way of thinking – the efforts made 
for the deceased to reach the world of the dead as quickly as possible and to negotiate 
the intermediate space in the shortest possible time; since that was related to the body 

DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ, VYKINTAS VAITKEVIČIUS 14 
decay process, the cremation of the body or other rites were used for the purpose. Proper 
burial of the body predetermined a successful transfer of the deceased to another world, 
while the deceased who was not buried could not leave the world of the living (for more 
detail, see Vaitkevičienė 2013).  
Different conceptions of the after-death state (the deceased person’s waiting vs leaving, 
lying vs. moving) encouraged us to turn toward the Baltic burial grounds for the data 
related to the ability of the deceased to move and also to invite researchers to change the 
focus from the direction of the view of the deceased to that of the legs (feet, soles) and 
to the images of their leaving for another world. At that point, it is worth remembering 
Žulkus’ reflections about the direction of orientation of the 8
th
 through the 13
th
 century 
AD graves in the peripheries of the Curonian and Samogitian lands, which could have 
depended on the topography of inter-tribal wastelands or larger or smaller uninhabited 
areas between the lands: “The graves of peripheral burial grounds were usually oriented 
towards the outside of the tribes and lands [...], depending on the direction in which 
the world of the dead was imagined to be” (Žulkus 1989: 108–110; 1993: 28–29)
3
. For 
comparison, a similar logic of burial was typical of the Viking Age burial grounds in 
Iceland, where the deceased were mainly buried in a position to have them looking away 
from homesteads (Zugaiar 2012: 158).  
In accordance with Lithuanian folklore, the souls of the buried dead never stayed in 
one place: they did not keep vigil but moved, walked, and travelled. Thus, for example, 
the retold dreams dealt with the inconveniences caused by improper grave goods: the 
daughter who had had the dowry linen cloth rolls put into her grave by her mother had 
to carry them everywhere and found it very difficult to walk. The mother who had had 
her daughter’s dress put into the coffin by her sister had to keep the dress in her hands 
when walking so as not to drop it (Marcinkevičienė 1997: 24). It was very important 
not to bury a body with the legs tied (as they would not be able to walk); great attention 
was devoted to shoes that had to be convenient, not too tight or too large (Balys 1981: 
546; Vaitkevičienė, Vaitkevičius 1998: 131, 132). Alternatively, the issue of shoes may 
have reflected the significance attached to them later, as, in the early 20
th
 century, people 
in Dieveniškės (Šalčininkai district) still believed that the deceased ought to be buried 
barefoot: “barefoot, they will run to God’s judgment faster” (Racėnaitė 2011: 233).
In addition, tales told about the paths of the souls, and in laments, the deceased was 
referred to as a “dear traveller” who was on a journey to his dead relatives (Žičkienė 
2003: 31; Racėnaitė 2011: 230). The Lithuanian burial rites of the first half of the 20
th
 
century witnessed close attention to the footwear of the deceased or to their feet, cf.: “in 
order not to be afraid of the dead, one has to kiss their soles or the big toe,” or “when 
the father dies, the daughters and sons have to kiss his feet in order to live to the father’s 
age” (Balys 1981: 483, 485). “Do not kiss the face, as you will mourn and cry for a long 
time. Kiss the feet; then you will promptly forget” (Vyšniauskaitė et al. 1995: 495).  
3
 However, it has to be noted that the precise boundaries between lands and tribes can be clearly seen only on 
small-scale maps (e.g., 1: 10,000,000), while detailed grave distribution plans witness, with some exceptions, 
the diversity of the orientation of the deceased, predetermined by a number of different factors. 

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE ORIENTATION OF BALTIC GRAVES: A MYTHOLOGICAL ... 15 
The direction of orientation of the deceased, based on the feet as a point of reference, 
was witnessed by abundant ethnographical materials: the body was taken to the cemetery 
only feet first (Vyšniauskaitė et al. 1995: 454). For comparison, the adages “to turn the 
feet towards the door”(LKŽ: XIV 65), “You will have enough of everything when you 
are lying feet to the door” (LTR 2746/202), or “(Somebody) returned home feet first” 
(LTR 5598/246) also referred to death. 
All these data provide grounds to believe that the image of the leaving deceased was 
typical of Baltic mythology, and it was specifically on this basis that the mythological 
conception of the grave orientation could have formed. Such a hypothesis contradicts the 
conclusions of Jovaiša’s research, which placed emphasis on the direction of the head 
of the deceased, however, as we shall soon see, it supports the idea of his and other ar-
chaeologists that, in the equipment on the grave and the burial of the deceased, attention 
was paid to the Sun. 
SOULS AND THE SUN
In the collection of Lithuanian folklore of the early 20
th
 century, compiled by Lithuanian 
folklore collector Hubertas Gudelaitis, an adage from Švenčionys district was recorded: 
“Have you put your feet together with the Sun’s feet if you know so much of everything?” 
(LMD III 29/19-4). The saying “to put your feet together with somebody else’s feet” 
means nothing else but lying in such a way that the soles of two individuals’ feet would 
rest against one another. The adage looks puzzling and, at first glance, difficult to interpret 
due to an unexpected image: a reclining man puts his feet together with the Sun’s feet. 
It calls for a wider explanation of the mythological context. 
Sunset in Baltic mythology was seen as the travelling of the Sun to another world. By 
setting each evening, the Sun went down a mythological road. Typically, from the sunset 
to nightfall, people used to set aside all their work, and they would call the time “the gray 
hour”, a holy evening, or the Sun’s path, cf. “After the sunset, the mistress of the house 
allowed the hired girls to leave their works: it was the time to celebrate the Sun’s path” 
(LTT: 26323). It was a must to celebrate that time, and nobody could do any work, and 
particularly to spin, in order not to “spin” (to block up) the Sun’s way. “Nobody can 
spin at sunset not to spin the Sun’s feet (to block its movement)” (LTT: 26314), cf. “By 
spinning, you will spin (block) the Sun’s paths” (LTR 792/131-44).  
The Balts believed that those who did not celebrate the “Sun’s path” and ignored the 
prohibition would never be able to enter heaven (Vīķe-Freiberga 1995; Vaitkevičienė 
2001: 136). In accordance with the Baltic worldview, the souls of the leaving dead were 
following the Sun along its path, and the rose garden cultivated by the Sun in heaven 
became their temporary abode (for more detail, see Vaitkevičienė 1997: 29–31). 
The adage “Have you put your feet together with the Sun’s feet” was not the only 
one. It belonged to a large adage group in 55 versions, with the majority of them using 
God instead of the Sun, e.g. “You have not put your feet together with God’s feet” (LTR 
545/131-45). The comments of folkore collectors made it clear that the adage was used 

DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ, VYKINTAS VAITKEVIČIUS 16 
when doubting the possibility of predicting the future or knowing the time of death: 
“You never know what will be”, “Do not pretend to know everything”, “You are not in 
the coffin yet, so all kind of things may happen to you”, “You do not know when you 
will die”, “None of us negotiated our death with God, so we do not know”, etc. (LPP: 
515–516). The adages largely referred not to the general prediction of the future, but 
rather to not knowing the time of one’s death, which was mentioned in the vast majority 
of the explanations and named in adages in which the Sun or the Moon were replaced 
by death personified, e.g. “You never know, having not put your fingers together with 
Death’s fingers” (LTR 5213/214). Therefore, the adage “Have you put your feet together 
with the Sun’s feet” could be seen as one of those rare cases when the adages could have 
preserved the message about the orientation of the deceased person’s feet toward the sunset. 
The earliest source of the adage in question was Lexicon Germanico-Lithvanicum et 
Lithvanico-Germanicum by lexicographer Jokūbas Brodovskis of the late 18
th
 century, 
which recorded the following version: Dar ſu Diewu Pirßtais ne ſudurei, pamokis Leilios 
Dienos [You have not yet put your fingers together with God’s fingers, and hard days will 
teach you] (Lebedys 1956: 342). Brodovskis explained the meaning of the adage as “you 
have not yet seen the evenings of all the days”, in other words, “you have not yet lived 
all of your life”. Even if the Sun was not named in the adage, the evening mentioned in 
Brodovskis’ explanation was a typical metaphor of the end of a human life. 
There were more Lithuanian proverbs and adages that referred to ancient burial rites; 
for example, when speaking of a debtor, people would say: “He will repay in ash after 
death” (LTR 545/131-85), “After his death, he will repay in coals” (LTR 3017/38), or 
“After my death, I’ll repay in embers” (LTR 3859/841a). The proverbs take us back to 
the time when the cremation of the dead was practised in Lithuania (the earliest facts of 
cremation were known from the 14
th
 to the 15
th
 century, see Petrauskas 2017). 
When discussing the relationship between the burial rites and the Sun, it is important 
to note that the funeral time could have been adjusted to the position of the Sun in the 
sky. The idea is suggested by folk songs that revealed that funerals took place at sunrises 
or sunsets: in the transitional period when day turned into night or vice versa (the time is 
called sąvartos in Lithuanian, i.e. the shift or the change). As indicated by folk beliefs, 
the said period was also considered to be a typical time of death: people believed that 
“[nobody] died either in the daytime or at night, and if they died, it happened just seldom. 
What was different was the time of the sunvartos, i.e. either it was the end of the night 
or the end of the day” (Kriauza 1944: 21). 
Folklore and ethnographic data attached more importance to the sunset and night than 
to the sunrise. Night was directly related to the time of the dead, i.e. feasts to honour the 
dead were held in the night time (Vaitkevičienė, Vaitkevičius 1996: 214), and the eve 
of Christmas dinner, devoted to the dead of the family, would start after sunset, with the 
rise of the Evening Star (Venus) (Kudirka 1993: 86).
4
 The sunset brought the longing 
4
 Cf. The remains of the funeral dinner would be left on the table until sunrise, as the deceased, if they are 
satisfied with the funeral ceremony, return to the community that night and thank for the attention to them 
(Balys 1981: 94).

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE ORIENTATION OF BALTIC GRAVES: A MYTHOLOGICAL ... 17 
for dear people who were no longer alive; there is a tale about the mother who buried 
her daughter and who “in the evenings, after the Sun would hide behind the hill, would 
call: Buže, Buže, come home” (Basanavičius 1998: 227). 
The importance of the sunrise and sunset in the Baltic worldview is obvious; how-
ever, the need or the ability to accurately measure the point of the sunrise or sunset 
when digging a grave pit in prehistoric times gives rise to doubts. Based on Swedish 
archaeological materials, Jonathan Lindström pointed out that all the prehistoric graves 
in Sweden were basically oriented toward one of the cardinal points (directions), but not 
toward any specific astronomical azimuth (Lindström 1997: 119–121).
Unfortunately, currently, we do not have sufficient knowledge or studies of the aware -
ness of the cardinal points in the Baltic countries. Lithuanian ethno-astronomer Jonas 
Vaiškūnas argued that the point of the midsummer sunrise in Lithuania was called high 
summer mornings, and of the sunset, high summer evenings; accordingly, the midwinter 
sun was rising in high winter mornings and setting in high winter evenings (Vaiškūnas 
2006: 171). In the 1784 topographical descriptions of parishes in Vilnius Deanery, the 
cardinal points were defined as summer and winter mornings (i.e. northeast and southeast) 
and summer and winter evenings (i.e. northwest and southwest). Between the summer 
and winter evenings, there was the north, or midnight, and between the winter mornings 
and evenings, the south, or midday. The remaining points were described as intermediate, 
e.g., between the north and summer mornings, between the summer and winter evenings, 
or between winter mornings and the south.  
In order to coordinate the mythological understanding of the orientation of the de-
ceased, the data on the Sun’s relationship with the souls, and the fact that, in a number 
of prehistoric burial grounds in Lithuania, men and women were buried in opposite 
directions, we need to examine the case of the Moon. 
THE SUN AND THE MOON
The Sun had a great significance in the conceptions of death and burial, and its divine 
role in Baltic mythology was no less important, as reflected in hundreds of Latvian songs 
(Viķe-Freiberga 1995). As gods and goddesses seldom acted alone, their significance 
and content were revealed as a result of their relationships with other gods. In Baltic 
mythology, the Sun, as the Goddess Sun, had a family: she was married to the Moon 
(a male God Moon), and their children were stars (Razauskas 2011: 137).
5
 At first, the 
heavenly family lived in harmony, but later they quarrelled and separated, and therefore, 
“now the Moon and the Sun never rise or set together” (Balys 1951: 8). The myth was 
based on the astronomical lunar cycle: the Waxing Crescent rose immediately after the 
sunset, and, as it got fuller, it started staying behind and appearing increasingly further 
away from the point of the sunset with every night. Finally, at the phase of the Full Moon, 
5
 The Moon and the Sun are extremely rarely called brother and sister; orphans would call them father and 
mother. 

DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ, VYKINTAS VAITKEVIČIUS 18 
the Moon rose in the east after the sunset and, after shining the whole night on the sky, 
towards the morning, he met the morning star Aušrinė (Venus). According to the myth, 
he fell in love with her. The marriage of the Sun and the Moon was destroyed. Then God 
Perkūnas of Lighting and Thunder, to defend order and justice, split the Moon with a 
sword, and it started shrinking (Rėza 1958: 93). 
The Moon, often called “young God” in Lithuanian, like the Sun, was related to 
the souls of the dead, only in his own way. In Lithuanian prayers to the Moon, people 
asked, after their death, to stay in heaven with the Moon: “Oh young Moon, the Prince 
of Heaven – let my soul after my death be together with you in heaven” (Balys 1951: 
12; Greimas 1990: 173). 
The studies of the mythological meanings of the Sun and the Moon’s movement on 
the sky demonstrated that the round-the-clock solar cycle and the directions of its rise 
and setting, from the semantic viewpoint, correlated with the change in the lunar phases 
over a month, but not with the Moon’s movement per 24 hours (for more detail, see 
Vaitkevičienė 2001: 134). The sunset and the meanings of the eastern direction (growth 
and vitality) corresponded to the meanings assigned to the Waxing Crescent; the time of 
the sunset and the western direction, which in folk beliefs was related to decay and death, 
correlated with the Waning Crescent, while the Sun’s rise to the zenith at midday (the 
direction of the south) semantically corresponded to the Full Moon (Fig. 5)
6
. 
In the case of the Moon, its appearance and disappearance during certain specific 
phases were given special prominence, as well as the fact that the direction of its ap-
pearance could change dramatically: from the west to the east. The Waxing Crescent, 
which was considered sacred in the Baltic tradition, appeared in the west, and this point 
more or less corresponded to the direction of the Sun’s setting. However, the Full Moon, 
whenever it was the largest and the brightest, and by its shape similar to the solar disc, 
rose in the opposite side, in the east, like the Sun. The Full Moon that rose in the east, 
6
 True, the large annual solar cycle also has analogous meanings; however, we do not have any significant 
data on the mythological content of the time of the Moon’s rise or setting. 
Fig. 5: A schematic of correlation of the Sun’s movement on the sky and the mythological meanings of 
lunar phases. (Vaitkevičienė 2001: 134)

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE ORIENTATION OF BALTIC GRAVES: A MYTHOLOGICAL ... 19 
only not in the morning, as the Sun, but in the evening, was the night-time equivalent of 
the Sun, moving along the same path of the sky, yet at a different time of the day. The 
Sun stayed on the sky in the daytime, and the Moon, at night; they replaced each other, 
as emphasized by a Latvian folk song:  
Oh, dear Sun, dear Moon, 
How nicely you change places: 
Where the Sun rises in the morning, 
The Moon comes in the evening (LDe 33735)
In contrast, the opposition was evident not only when comparing the time of the day, 
but also the trajectory, which varied depending on the season: as proved by the materials 
of ethnoastronomy, the path on the sky travelled by the Sun in summer (rising in the 
northeast, rising high, and setting in the northwest) was travelled by the Moon in winter. 
Conversely, in winter, the Sun rose in the southeast, rose low, and set in the southwest, 
while in summer, that was a typical route of the Moon, as “the Moon follows the paths 
of the Sun” (Vaiškūnas 2009: 14). Therefore, the directions of the rise and setting of the 
Sun and the Full Moon represented basically the same path, travelled by the celestial 
bodies at different times.  
The close relationships of the Sun and the Moon in the phase of the Waxing Cres-
cent, followed by the disintegrating balance between them which led to the emerging 
opposition, were significant in many respects. That was the mythological reflection of the 
family ties of the gods in heaven. The story that repeated each month was dramatic; the 
setting Sun left its place to the Moon rising on the opposite side of the vault of heaven. 
At the breaking point, the Sun and the Full Moon were on one axis (the Sun in the west, 
and the Moon in the east), and they were almost equal in size, appearance, and power. 
All the power area, space, and time were equally divided between them.   
The opposition of the Sun and the Moon did not depend on the season, it repeated 
every month and could be clearly observed in the sky, and especially in a Full Moon, 
when, after the Sun had set in the west, the Moon rose in the east. The mythological model, 
which expressed the differences between the Sun and the Moon in their heavenly family, 
could have been used to interpret the directions of burial in the Baltic burial grounds. 
As the points of the rise and setting of the Sun, the appearence and disappearance of 
the Moon overlapped, it would be impossible to identify which celestial body they had 
been oriented toward, based merely on the directions of the body orientation. However, 
in such cases when men and women in the same burial ground were oriented in the 
opposite directions, as in Central Lithuania in the 1
st
 to 4
th
 century AD and in a number 
of other burial sites where the graves of men and women in the same (or parallel) rows
7
 
were oriented in opposite directions (for illiustration see Bertašius 2005: 140, 147, 169, 
183, etc.), the probability was high that not one, but two components had been used as 
7
 Based on the data of archaeological excavations, man and woman on that straight line evidently ought to be 
depicted with their heads put close together. 

DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ, VYKINTAS VAITKEVIČIUS 20 
reference points and that the gender polarization was based on the opposition of the Sun 
and the Moon. Both celestial bodies moved along the same route, and their travel time 
was synchronized: when setting (leaving), the Sun took away the day (light) to the world 
of the dead, while the Moon, bringing the night (darkness), opened the gate for souls. In 
compliance with such logic, in the model with two cosmological components, the best 
time for funerals was the sunset.  
CONCLUSIONS
The statement by Eugenijus Jovaiša, established in the historiography of Lithuania, to 
the effect that, on the day of the funeral, Ancient Balts turned the dead bodies toward 
the visible points of the sunrise (women) or sunset (men) and that the directions of the 
grave pits in the burial grounds of Central Lithuania dating back to the 1
st
 through the 
4
th
 century AD reflected seasonal trends in the mortality rates of the population, were 
supported by mere astronomical calculations, but not by the cultural research data. The 
authors of the present paper, in search for cultural justification, propose to apply the ma-
terials of Baltic mythology to the archaeological interpretation of the burial directions. 
The studies prove that the pre-Christian period was characterized not by the image of 
the waiting deceased, as in Christianity, but by that of leaving souls. The latter formed 
the mythological conception of the grave orientation in which significance was assigned 
to the direction of the feet, and not of the head, of the deceased; for the reconstruction, 
adages are meaningful that depict a human being, resting the feet against the feet of the 
Sun (God, Death). In Baltic mythology, the image of the Sun’s feet is closely related to 
the sunset, which is represented as the setting of the Sun, i.e. its leaving for another world 
along with a mythological path. 
Given the fact that, in numerous Baltic prehistoric burial grounds, men and women 
were buried in opposite directions, not only the data on the Sun but also on the Moon are 
significant. The astronomical confrontation of the Sun and the Moon in the sky makes 
it possible to hypothesize that in such cases, when the graves of men and women, by 
observing the east-west axis, were oriented in opposite directions, the burial rites could 
have been affected by the mythological images of the heavenly family – the Sun (wife) 
and the Moon (husband). However, the impact of those two celestial bodies on burial 
rites is believed to have been based not on the azimuth calculations, but on the division 
of the surrounding environment into two, four, six, and possibly even eight parts. The 
mythological meanings of those spatial sections have yet to be thoroughly investigated. 

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE ORIENTATION OF BALTIC GRAVES: A MYTHOLOGICAL ... 21 
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DAIVA VAITKEVIČIENĖ, VYKINTAS VAITKEVIČIUS 24 
СОЛНЦЕ, ЛУНА И ОРИЕНТАЦИЯ БАЛТСКИХ ПОГРЕБЕНИЙ: 
МИФОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ВЗЛЯД НА АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКУЮ ПРОБЛЕМУ
Дайва вайткявичене, викинтас вайткявичюс
В литовской истороиграфии закреплено положение археолога Э. Йовайша 
о том, что древние балты своих покойников в день похорон ориентирова-
ли в точку восхода (женщин) либо захода Солнца (мужщин); ориентация 
могильных ям в могильниках Центральной Литвы I–IV вв. якобы отражает 
сезонные тенденции смертности и свидетельствует о том, что в течении года 
были два основные периода похорон – весенний и осенний, которые в свою 
очередь могут быть сопоставлены с некими календарными праздниками. 
Эти и некоторые другие положения небыли автором обоснованы данными 
балтской мифологии, литовской этноастрономии, исследованиями культур-
ных антропологов других стран и народов. По этому положения Э. Йовайша 
автора статьи считают лишь предположениями.   
В данном исследовании материалы балтской археологии наш взгляд от 
религии спасения – для христинства характерно обращение лица покойника 
нв восток – направляет на ноги либо ступни; живые стремились что-бы душа 
покойника достигла мир умерших за самое короткое время. Обосновано 
мнение, что для периода балтской религии было характерено представление 
не ожидающих, а уходящих душ. Именно таково представление существенно 
влияло на мифологическое понимание ориентации могил древних балтов. 
Для данной реконструкции большое значение имеют поговорки (самая древ-
няя из них была вклучена в литовско-немецкий словарь начала XVIII в.), 
которые изображают человека и Солнце стыкнутыми между собой ногами (в 
некоторых вариатах на месте Солнце также изображается Бог либо Смерть).   
В балтской мифологии мифическое представление о ногах Солнца являеться 
тесно связаным с заходом Солнца, который по своей мере изображается как 
уход по мифической дорогой в инной мир. Известно также поверие о том, что 
все те, которые неотмечают «дороги Солнца» (это пора дня между заходом 
Солнца и сплошных сумерек) после смерти непопадут в небесное царство. 
Стремясь сочтения между мифическом понимании ориентации покой-
ников и данных о связи Солнца с душами мертвых, а также учитывая факт 
что в большенстве предисторических могильников древних балтов с трупо-
пложениями мужщины и женщины были похоронены в противоположных 
направлениях, в дальнейшее исследование была включена также Луна.  
В балтской мифологии Солнце (Lith. Saulė, fem.) имеет семью: она вы-
ходит замуж за Луну (Lith. Mėnulis, masc.), звезды считаються их детьми. 
Тесные связи между Солнцем и Луной, которые позже разваливаються и 
превращаються в конфронтацию, во многих отношениях важны. По суще-
ству, это мифическое отражение семейных связей человечества, семейная 
драма небесных богов, которая повторяеться каждый месяц. Необходимо 

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE ORIENTATION OF BALTIC GRAVES: A MYTHOLOGICAL ... 25 
подчеркнуть, что в точке разлома Солнце и Луна находуться точно на пря-
мую, они равноценны величиной, видом и силой; по ровным полом между 
ними разделена вся власть, пространство и время. 
Заходя на западе Солнце уступает место для полной Луны, которая 
становиться видимой на востоке. Это астрономическое явление являеться 
мифологическим отражением биологических различий между полами. 
Появляеться возможность по другому смотреть на ориентацию умершых у 
древних балтов: основным факторов для орентации могил мужщин и женщин 
в противоположном направлении в могильниках Центральной Литвы I–IV 
вв. являеться не один из азимутов (напр., точки восхода Солнца), выбраный 
археологами, а очная ставка между Солнцем и Луной, для которой пора года 
неимеет никакого значения; она очевидна каждый месяц при полной Луне.    
Азимуты восхода и захода Солнца, также точки появления Луны пере-
секаються, по этому ориентация умерших по направлению восток–запад 
неможет ответить на конкретный вопрос в сторону Солнца либо Луны они 
были направлены. В этих случаев, когда в одном могильнике мужщины и 
женщины захаронены по противоположным направлениям, вероятно, влия-
ние на это произвели оба небесные тела, также общая половая поляризация, 
основанна на конфронтации Солнца и Луны; кроме того, следя за моделлью 
с двумя космологическими компонентами, самым правильным временем для 
похорон являлся заход Солнца. 
Ph. D. Daiva Vaitkevičienė, Department of Folk Narrative, The Institute 
of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Antakalnio Street 6, LT–10308, 
Vilnius, Lithuania, daiva.vaitkeviciene@gmail.com
Ph. D., Prof. Vykintas Vaitkevičius, Institute of Baltic Region History and 
Archaeology, University of Klaipėda, Herkaus Manto Street 84, LT–92294, 
Klaipėda, Lithuania, vykintas.vaitkevicius@gmail.com