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Illustration of Lithuanian returning dead
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
Faele ya 031 ho tse 446

Lithuanian returning dead

E boetse e bitswa: sugrįžtantys numirėliai, numirėlis, walking dead of Lithuania
Ditshomo le dinonwaneBafu ba tsohilengLefu le lebe kapa lepato le lebeMehla e Bohareng

Lithuania kept a strong tradition of the dangerous dead long after its conversion to Christianity. Cemeteries of the 14th to 17th centuries contain bodies deliberately beheaded, dismembered or turned face down, which archaeologists connect with fear of corpses returning. Lithuanian legends collected in modern times still describe meetings with the 'walking dead', usually brought on by disrespect for a grave. The material and the stories together give a Baltic counterpart to the revenant evidence from England and Poland.12

Di lwantshe
E ngotswe ka lekgetlo la pele
1350
Deviant burials of the 14th-17th centuries; legends recorded by modern folklorists
Tshimoloho
Lithuanian
Lithuania
Se e bakang
Lefu le lebe kapa lepato le lebe
Folklore names the untimely dead and the very sinful as those who return; the legends add that the living provoke them by disturbing remains or grave goods.
Kamoo o fetohang e nngwe ya tsona kateng
An unexpected or wrongful death, a sinful life, or interference with the grave.
Bohlale
Bohlale bo itseng
Dintlha tse fokolang
  • decapitation of the exhumed corpse
  • burial face down or on the side
  • physical force
  • the intervention of a priest

E hlahile neng ka lekgetlo la pele?

Lefatshe la boholoholoMehla e Bohareng1500 ho isa 18991900 ho isa 19671968 ho isa 19992000 ho isa 20092010 ho fihlela kajeno1350

Deviant burials of the 14th-17th centuries; legends recorded by modern folklorists

dinoutu tsa patlisiso

Seo mehlodi e se buang

1

Archaeologist Gintautas Vėlius documented headless, limbless and prone burials in Christian-era Lithuanian cemeteries12

2

He interprets posthumous beheading as exhumation carried out from fear of the returning dead12

3

Many prone male burials contain weapons, suggesting men killed in battle12

4

In legends analysed by Edita Korzonaitė, short tales end with the living person's death and longer ones with a narrow escape12

5

Priests in the legends sometimes use methods with no obvious Christian basis12

Mehlodi

  1. Gintautas Vėlius, 'Sugrįžtantys numirėliai' (Returning dead: unconventional burials in medieval Lithuania), Lietuvos istorijos studijos 25 (2010)
  2. Edita Korzonaitė, 'Human contacts with the dead: relationship of fable and reality in folklore', Tautosakos darbai 25 (2003)

Ntlha e nngwe le e nngwe leqepheng lena e tswa mehloding ena, e ngotswe ka mantswe a rona. O bone phoso? Re bolelle ho [email protected].

Fepa letshwele. Ha ho dipapatso, ha ho disebedisi tsa ho latela, e lefellwa ke motho a le mong. Tjhelete ya teboho e e boloka inthaneteng.Fana ka tjhelete ya teboho

Mehla e tshwanang: Mehla e Bohareng

DraugrNorse, 1250VetalaHindu (Indian), 1070GlámrNorse (Icelandic saga), 1300Revenant (medieval England)Medieval English, 1100UpiórSlavic, 1100AsvithNorse (Danish chronicle and Icelandic saga), 1200
Fepa letshweleFana ka tjhelete ya teboho