Giltinė¶
Folk sources [Historical record]¶
Giltinė (from gilti, “to sting”) is the personification of death, usually an old or tall woman in white, with the owl as her bird in later lore. She is late-attested: the earliest named source is Prätorius (1690s); she is not in the 13th–14th-century chronicles or, as far as the standard lists show, in Łasicki. Her kinship as Laima’s sister is a folk tradition recorded in the 19th–20th centuries. The best-documented material is the “Godfather Death” tale type, common in Lithuanian collections. Giltinė stands at the head of a sickbed (the patient dies) or at the foot (he recovers), and a cunning man turns the bed around to win time.
Giltinė
Giltinė · god¶
Type |
god |
Note |
Goddess of death and physical departure; sister and counterpart to Laima. |
In the saga¶
Domain: death. Element: none. Force-face: none. She is Laima’s servant and sister who cuts the thread, and the one being unaffected by the Unbinding, because death owes no courtesy and was never bound by the Pact (bestiary §18). She cannot be bribed and does not bargain, but she can be tricked once.
In Book I ch. 9 she is glimpsed, unnamed, “tall and grey, with shears”, at Kęstutis’s cell door on 15 Aug 1382, not entering. She is named only in Book IV. In ch. 28 (“Giltinė prie Lovos”) a tall woman in white appears in the glass behind the dying Vytautas; he knows the bed-turning tale, and at his request Žiežirba and Julijona turn the bed while Vytautas stays in it, so the woman moves from his head to his feet. In ch. 29 she comes to his head anyway, her palm “dry as ash”, gentler than the other woman a week before. The trick bought days, not years, and the debt was collected, as in the tale. In Book VI ch. 12 the tall grey sister with the shears is almost certainly her, unnamed.
Offerings & taboos¶
None are possible: she is not asked, fed or appeased. The only counsel in the tales is the bed-turning trick, which works once per family, and she returns when the trickster’s house is at its height. The saga adds a smell of cut grass in winter and a silent cuckoo.
Pronunciation¶
gil-TIH-nay (IPA [ɡʲɪlʲˈtʲɪnʲeː]), stress gil-TI-nė.
Relations
Servant of: Laima — Sister who cuts the thread.
Domain Death: she cuts the thread Laima spins
Layer God (Layer I) · Laima's servant and sister, never bound by the Pact
Force-face None
Offerings None possible. She is not asked, fed or appeased
Taboos Naming her in a house with a newborn. Turning the sick-bed works once per lineage
Signs A tall grey or white woman with shears at the head (he dies) or foot (he lives) of a sickbed; a smell of cut grass in winter; the cuckoo falling silent
Nothing asked. She comes to the bed. In Book I ch. 9 she stands at Kęstutis's cell door, unnamed, and does not enter.
The turned bed. She can be tricked once. At Vytautas's request, Žiežirba and Julijona turn his bed and buy days, not years (Book IV ch. 28-29).
Bribes and bargains. She cannot be bribed and does not bargain.
The Unbinding. She is the one being unchanged by it, because death owes no courtesy.
The trick. The debt is collected at the worst moment, when the trickster's house is at its height.
Water. A Bangpūtys working can pull a soul back from the gate, but the healer takes part of the wound.
Connections¶
graph LR
giltine["Giltinė"]
laima["Laima"]
giltine -->|Servant of| laima
style giltine stroke-width:3px