[expand]The household idols varied in form according to which divine or spirit presence they hosted:
The wooden carvings were most common—relatively easy to produce using locally available material, allowing detailed representation of divine characteristics, maintaining warmth suggesting life rather than cold inert stone’s deadness. The wood was typically oak (sacred to Perkūnas), linden (associated with Žemyna), or birch (connected to ancestral spirits). The selection was not arbitrary but matched divine being’s particular associations and preferences.
The stone idols were less common but more permanent—surviving fire that might destroy wooden figures, demonstrating substantial investment through difficulty of carving hard material, creating weighty presence suggesting divine power’s solidity and permanence. The stones were sometimes natural formations resembling human or animal forms with minimal carving enhancing suggestive appearance, sometimes completely artificial creations requiring substantial labor shaping resistant material.
The metal figures were rarest—requiring expensive material and specialized smithing skills, demonstrating exceptional devotion and prosperity, creating lustrous presence different from wood’s organic warmth or stone’s earthen stability. The bronze or occasionally silver idols were typically small—portable rather than fixed installations, valuable enough to warrant careful protection, suitable for personal rather than communal worship.
The forms ranged from abstract to representational. Some idols were simple pillars or posts—vertical presence suggesting connection between earth and sky, minimal human intervention allowing divine essence to manifest without excessive material constraint. Others were detailed carvings showing human features, divine attributes, symbolic elements identifying specific deity or spirit. The representation level reflected regional traditions, carver’s skill, household’s theological preferences about appropriate divine imagery.
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