Pikulas

(Pi-KOO-lis)

Variations: Piccolus, Picollus, Pikulis, Pikuolis, Piktulis, Poccolus, Velinas

A vampiric god from Lithuania, Pikulas looks like a pale old man with a long beard. A god of cattle, magic, wealth, and the underworld, Pikulas is responsible for all the death and destruction that occurs. Known to manifest to high-ranking officials during the last days of their life, Pikulas is ritualistically offered the severed head of a man and tallow is often burned in the god's honor. If angered, Pikulas must be appeased by the offender or he will die within three days. The only way to appease him is by offering him horse or human blood spilled against an oak tree. He is one of the three gods that make up the holy trinity of Lithuanian traditional religion, which was practiced until the late 1300s. After the introduction of Christianity to the people, Pikulas was re imagined to be the Christian devil, Satan, most likely because of his strikingly long beard.

Source: Bojtár, Foreword to the Past, 309; Fraenkel, Die baltischen Sprachen, 126; Golan, Prehistoric Reli-gion, 112