Jawnomicon

Aitvaras

Also called Aitvars.

In Lithuanian folklore, the Aitvaras is a household spirit that streaks across the night sky as a fiery dragon or serpent and brings its keeper stolen grain, milk, or money in exchange for shelter and food.

At a glance

Tradition
Baltic folklore
Region
Lithuania (place of origin)
Trait family
The Hearth-Bound

Near this figure

and 3 more
  • Cluracan Bound to a specific household location
  • Bocan Domestic spirit helps or harms based on treatment
  • Elves Domestic spirit helps or harms based on treatment

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Form

Behaviour

  • Domestic spirit helps or harms based on treatment
    why

    In exchange, it demands to be fed, and in some tellings it insists on a specific dish, such as an unsalted omelette or scrambled eggs, left out for it; a keeper who refuses or neglects this due risks the spirit's anger or departure.

  • Bound to a specific household location
    why

    Once acquired, an Aitvaras is notoriously difficult to be rid of, and in some tellings the only sure way to expel it is to burn down the barn or building it has taken as its home, accepting the loss of the structure to end the arrangement.

Sight and sound

  • Body wreathed in flames
    why

    In the sky, the Aitvaras is most often described as a fiery, dragon- or serpent-like streak of light, a shooting star trailing sparks as it flies grain, milk, or coins home to its keeper's barn at night.

Utility powers

  • Shapeshifting
    why

    Inside the house, it is said to take a smaller, more mundane form, appearing as a black cat, a black rooster, or a small, colorful bird, moving quietly among the rafters or the stove.

Roles

Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.