What’s the backstory to the stories of angels and devils in Lithuanian tales, and how influential were pagan roots in forming their image? In conversation – Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Institute doctoral researcher Solveiga Šlapikienė.
Angels and devils are often seen as beings of opposite natures – symbols of good and evil, a classic binary opposition, even antonyms. Yet alongside their stark contrasts, there are also unexpected parallels, especially in their shared origins. How does Lithuanian folklore explain the creation of angels and devils?
The most common and well-known explanation for how angels came into being involves striking or rubbing stones together – sparks flying from flint and steel could also give rise to angels. In fact, both angels and devils are said to have originated this way. That’s an important detail.
So there are no etiological legends that explain only the creation of angels? Angels and devils always seem to appear together.
Almost always. If angels are mentioned on their own, it’s only in very brief or fragmentary tales, with just a few lines saying that angels were created in such a way – and that’s all. But in any more developed narrative, angels and devils appear side by side.
It’s worth noting that two main categories describe how angels were created. The first says that God created angels together with Lucifer, his opponent, his adversary.
The angels created by Lucifer, or by Liucius as he is sometimes called, were the same in kind as those made by God. But Lucifer, acting as a trickster, tried to imitate God’s creative acts – and failed. His attempts produced distorted, imperfect beings, darkened and flawed copies of divine creations.
Devil Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania. | LRT TV / Screengrab
Another version says that God created all the angels at once, but over time, some rebelled and were cast out. Do many Lithuanian folk tales deal with the human choice between good and evil?
Very many. Across the body of folklore about angels, only a small portion shows angels existing purely in the heavenly realm, without any contact with humans. Most of what we have speaks of guardian angels – those who accompany a person from birth to death.
And, of course, devils often appear alongside them: like a dark angel perched on one shoulder, always nearby, watching and following the person throughout their life.
One of the most popular motifs is that both angel and devil keep a record of human deeds – the angel writes down the good, the devil the bad. When death comes, each brings their book to the bedside, and the balance between good and evil determines where the soul will go: to heaven or to hell.
The presence of both beings beside a person throughout life touches on many aspects of human existence. The angel is most often associated with moments of danger. For instance, if a building is about to collapse, the angel, acting as an inner voice, may warn the person to move aside or avoid an action, thus saving them from harm.
Similarly, the angel may warn someone when they are about to sin. One story tells of a priest intending to commit a grave sin. For three nights in a row, an angel appeared in his dreams, saying: “You are doing wrong, you are sinning – stop, or there will be consequences.”
He ignored the warnings. The priest was forewarned, but the angel could do no more – and the outcome was far from pleasant.
How far does the folkloric image of angels stray from the biblical one? Could we say that the concept of the angel emerged through a blend of scriptural teachings and popular piety?
Absolutely. There’s a great deal of syncretism here. The Catholic Church had an enormous influence on folklore, but the old pre-Christian beliefs never disappeared. When we study these themes, we see again and again that anything entering society from outside inevitably changed – it had to change, otherwise it wouldn’t have taken root.
Do we have a folk equivalent of the angel from pre-Christian times?
Religious scholar Gintaras Beresnevičius touched on this topic. He suggested that in ancient Baltic religion, there were divine messengers – intermediaries between gods and humans. The Christian angels, he argued, took over their functions quite naturally: carrying divine messages to people, helping humans communicate with the divine, and serving as protectors.
Beresnevičius never fully developed this idea, but it’s a compelling one – and it clearly calls for more research.
painting by Tiziano Vecelli. | Wikimedia
Folklore often depicts a close bond between children and angels, often saying that children can see angels and that angels especially guard them. How is this motif portrayed in folk legends? Do you think it reflects religious tradition, or is it an independent folk image?
Christian iconography played a major role. In Lithuania, we have churches dedicated to the Guardian Angel and many paintings of the same theme. In these, a great angel holds the hand of a small child – an image that became standard in sacred art.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, people attended church not only to listen but also to see, as visual art had a profound impact.
When I study folklore texts, I notice a key similarity between the guardian angel and the child: both are pure and innocent, untouched by sin. Many folk stories highlight this special connection –only a child can see or feel an angel; the angel may speak through the child, or appear to them in a dream.
There’s a striking parallel with modern culture, where people say that a deceased child has “become an angel”. This idea is much older: in Lithuanian folklore, more than a century ago, it was said that a child who dies before the age of seven becomes an angel. It shows the deep link between the two – they are, in essence, alike.
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