[expand]Christianity declared war on household idols identifying them as demon worship requiring immediate elimination. Missionaries demanded destruction of carved figures, burning or burial of sacred objects, replacement with Christian imagery. Some communities complied—public destruction of idols demonstrating conversion sincerity, accepting Christian saints as substitute divine household presences, attempting complete theological transformation.
But resistance was substantial. Baltic peoples understood that household idols had provided effective protection for generations—their families had prospered under divine guardianship, removing idols meant abandoning proven spiritual technology for untested foreign alternatives. The hidden preservation was common—idols buried rather than destroyed allowing later retrieval when persecution relaxed, secret maintenance in concealed locations beyond clerical observation, continued private worship despite public Christian conformity.
The adaptation strategies included Christianization of idol function—replacing pre-Christian figures with Christian saint statues, maintaining similar placement and protocols while claiming Christian rather than pagan associations, preserving practical spiritual behavior beneath transformed theological explanation. The morning greetings continued but addressed Virgin Mary instead of Žemyna, the meal offerings persisted but honored Christian saints rather than pre-Christian household spirits.
Folk practice demonstrated remarkable continuity. Even in thoroughly Christianized households, certain protocols survived recognizably from pre-Christian tradition—food offerings before meals, threshold protections, seasonal decorations. The explicit idol might be gone but the spiritual understanding that had organized idol worship continued structuring domestic spiritual practice.
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