Alka (Baltic religion)
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Alka or alkas (Latvian: elks) is the name of a sacred place or a place for burning sacrifices in Baltic religion. In Latvia and Lithuania alka(-s) and elks is the most widespread component in the toponyms for sacred sites. 120 hills, 70 fields and 50 water bodies (lakes, rivers, and wetlands) with such word in their name have been registered.[1]
The words alka(-s) and elks probably derive from the Proto-Indo-European *alku/*elku ("bend, an elbow, turn-like and lift") and may be directly connected with words such as Lithuanian auk(u)oti ("to lift a child") and Latvian auklēt ("to carry the baby on arms and to rock").[2] Other old Lithuanian linguistic roots could be "sacred grove," "place where sacrifices were burnt," or "sacrifice." An old Latvian root could be "idol." The term alka is often paired in sources with words for "beautiful," and "holy."[1]
Cognates in other languages may include Germanic and Gothic alhs ("temple"), Saxon alah ("temple"), the Anglo-Saxon ealh ("temple") and ealgian ("to guard, to defend"), Belarusian галыконнік ("offering gatherer"), and Greek αλδοζ and αλδιζ ("a sacred enclosure in Olympia").[2]
History
The first written mention of alkos is in 1075 AD by Adam of Bremen. The historian mentions that Christians are not allowed at the entrances of the groves because they will make them unclean. Other sources from the Teutonic Knights and other Christian sources from the 15th and 16th century confirm that these groves were still used during those times.[1]
French historical Jean Cabaret d'Orville mentions that Christians would respect the sanctity of the holy groves. They are called, "holy pine woods...where they burn the bodies of their dead and render them as a sacrifice."[3]