The most important Romuva principle is faith. Faith is based on knowledge, beliefs, and a way of life. This cannot be attained by some form of membership or christening. Only a patient and consecutive awakening of the inherited religion, cleansing of the heart from temporary stains will and can bring a person to Romuva -- the heart’s inner sanctuary, attained by our ancestors. Faith and religion are understood to be man’s harmony with sanctity and holiness, also his relations with God and the gods. It was perceived that the world and human existence are manifestations of mysterious powers and holy life. The concept of the Christian God is not able to embrace the world’s diversity. If it had been able to, then why such brutal wars against other religions and spiritual traditions? The ancient religion’s most characteristic aspiration is to feel and perceive that diversity, leaving room for mystery, insights and differing emotional attitudes.

Holiness is that unnamed vital power and spiritual strength which occurs in people and nature. Baltic traditions preserved the ancient concept of holiness, which differs considerably from the Christian concept. Holy are the rivers, springs, trees, stones and others, they are all part of the ancient prechistian legacy, connected primarily with nature and not so much with the people. The mysterious, creative strength is personified so that through visible feeling and understanding, it shapes man to draw him nearer to divinity. God the creator, as written by Simonas Daukantas, had many names among the Balts.

Owing to this holy, world creating force the world spreads, grows, taking forms which do not loose the link with their source, thus the world resembling a tree. Thus a tree is a significant sign and image of ancient religion and explains the world’s structure.

The tree’s roots represent the underground, death, the past, the water represents the beginning and the spring of life. In the middle, the buzzing bees represent the world of toiling people. The summit, the top of the tree represents the light of heaven and the future of life. Death and life are an uninterrupted linking of evolution. For example, a tree, even though it drops its leaves in the autumn and goes to sleep in winter, but its life goes on and its soul remains alive. Such is man’s path through birth, death and rebirth.

In the ancient faith, holiness or divinity manifested itself in both male and female shapes, which at different times outweighed each other. Today, Romuva’s statutes maintain the tradition that balance of the male and female divine manifestations is characteristic of the ethnic faith. The ancient mythology speaks of many gods and their families. Every locality, river, mountain and tree has a soul or deity within. People of the ancient faith knew how to observe and name such deities. The idea of one God, rightly affirming the world’s unity, however, often prompted the appearance of slave ideologies and dictatorial powers, forcing their subjects to become submissive like sheep. The people of Romuva should learn, as Vydūnas stated, to be “persons-to-themselves”, truly self-dependant.

The experience and creativity of our forefathers is the most important source for the continuity and growth of the Romuva movement. Respect for nature, gods, home and ancestors, relationship with holiness, these are all very important in the faith of Romuva. In Romuva’s worship rituals, “Dainos” (chants) and various folk songs play a special part, and like other traditional customs and symbols they take on holiness, power and meaning. Daina, meaning “song”, to the Baltic nations has always been the most important means of spiritual expression. Balts have their own sort of Holy Scripture -- songs. Our kinsmen, the Aryans, in their holy text the “Avesta,” use the word “daena,” just as the word “daina” of the same origin, means “faith, inner essence and the spiritual me.” Old and young, men and women, all sang while working, merry making and grieving. Songs have been handed down from one generation to another as the greatest treasure, as the eternal fire.

People who gather in the Romuva community recognize the essence and significance of the ethnic faith. Many people have this inner, spiritual intuition, but the dominating, religious dogmas often fall heavily on the natural feelings. The Romuva communities can help people find forgotten or suppressed ancient traditions. Nature worshippers’ christenings, weddings, burials, calendar feasts and other customary traditions, are today possible because of the Romuva communities. A member of Romuva, by honoring the holiness of traditions and approaching nature’s sacredness, can achieve “darna,” or harmony, which is the conjugation of man and the world’s unity, hapiness of life and knowledge of life’s purpose.

The honoring of ancestors is a link with dead family members and relatives, remembering them on special days. Family, kinfolk, tribe -- without contrasting the living and dead, has a perpetual, indivisible connection. Language, songs, customs, feelings, thoughts, are all just a part of this connection. After death, the deceased finds himself among his dead relatives, and during religious and traditional rites, the living and the dead meet. It is a strong field of unity, and oneness, for which the link with earth and native land is very important. Ancestors are important, and when honoring we refer to them as the original mother (pramotė), forefather (sentėvis) and others. The dead become caretakers of fields and farmsteads. The living and the dead interrelate, unite through nature and earth. Funerals used to take place in nature. Only later they were moved indoors.

A person is called “Žmogus,” and his name shows a direct connection to the earth -- žemė, Žemyna (mother of earth) žmona (wife), he is a child of the earth. Because of this, the most important symbol for man is a tree (“medis”) whose beginning is the earth. But, like the tree reaching for the heavens, so a man also has heavenly elements, for example it is often said in folk songs “Sun, my mother, Moon, my father”. This shows man’s connection with the world. This relationship links man with everything that surrounds him. Firstly is his family, his close ones, the dead, and after that -- home and native land, trees, animals, birds and the like. Man differs from his surroundings not because he is smarter, more worthy or better but because of his obligations to others. His behavior governs his fate and that of his numerous “relatives.” If a tree or an animal grows only to satisfy man’s needs, and is suitable only for lumber and meat -- the Bible preaches such an utilitarian outlook -- in a case like that the family of man has no future. Herein lies man’s large responsibility to nature. In each action, and even intention or thought, there are many unforeseeable consequences, good and bad. Obviously, this is why in the ethnic tradition not every man was called human -- žmogus. This name was given to those with important human values within family and community, and harmony in general. Thus, the purpose of faith is to help man find a truthful and suitable road to life and humanity.

Man’s birth and happiness in life depend on Fate (Lemtis) as well as on the goddess Laima. Laima knows every man’s destiny and she can help. Man’s life is spun like yarn -- when the spindle is full, the man dies as the thread breaks. The goddess Laima is both spinner, weaver, but also a spoiler, cutter. Songs mention her sitting in a golden chair. The souls of the dead continue family and kinship lives in the “house of souls,” that is, in nature.

Dead man’s further existence is understood as the combined existence of both heart and soul. “Siela” is the heart and soul, the eternal force of life, which does not leave earth but reincarnates as trees, flowers, animals and the like. “Vėlė” is the soul of the dead and carries on the existence of the family of man, from time to time visiting the living. Both “Siela” and “Vėlė” remain eternally and closely related to the living. Each man’s destiny and his posthumous life are inseparable from that of his family or tribe. Only in their midst can he hope for immortality. The Baltic understanding of life after death is not simple, we see that from our ancient tales. It is a wide and intricate subject. The question of man’s heavenly guardians is very significant. According to our mythology, such guardians are the goddesses Laima or Dalia, but without doubt such guardians are also the deceased, who through dreams or other means warn of approaching danger or they advise and soothe.

The gods of different peoples and localities are not just the divine forms of the nature’s vital powers. Their power grows and spreads together with people who have strength of faith. The god of thunder, Perkūnas, has been worshiped from antiquity. In the spring, as nature and earth awaken, people await for the first signs of Perkūnas and they pray to him. When warriors marched to battle, they asked for strength from Perkūnas. This power of Perkūnas remained for a long time, even after it was forbidden to worship him. We know that in the honor of Perkūnas a perpetual fire burned in the valley of Šventaragis in Vilnius. “Ugnis” is the fire has been worshiped up to the present times. Oak trees rustled in the honor of Perkūnas. “Ugnis” (Fire) was allotted to thunder and to other gods, fire is intermediary between god and man. Grass snakes are embodiments of our ancestors or gods. The holy groves were also intermediaries -- our connection with gods and forefathers.

The ancient gods, after many years of silence are slowly returning to their people, especially through the rebirth of the ancient faith. We are starting to feel the spirit of our home and our native land, and are visited by the gods of our regions. We must learn how to strengthen that feeling, and we will be helped by our ancestors’ experience.

Since ancient times, the Mother Goddess, the mother of nature and life, has been worshipped. Love, dutiful subordination, and deep feeling for the goddess and her children -- goddesses and gods and living nature remained a characteristic feature during all of Baltic historical times. Our ancient goddesses, Laima, Gabija, Medeinė, Austėja and others are all the daughters of the Goddess Mother. Her children are living beings, people included. The very earliest of all goddesses was the Mother of the Gods, who was first mentioned in the 1st century by the Roman historian Tacitus. Later, changing the relationships of values, male gods and their warlike characteristics came to be more prominent. Žemyna -- goddess of the holy earth -- remained important. When converted to Christianity, people were forced to ignore the goddess of the holy earth and were made to honor the Virgin Mary, who was the mother not of all the gods, but of only one God. In Christian teachings Mary was not a deity, but just an instrument of God. Looking into folk traditions and art we can see the true idolization of the goddess in the heathen religions. The return of the ancient goddess is unavoidable, because it is demanded by nature and peoples’ conscious disposition. We begin to understand that we are all the children of one Mother and that the Mother lives here, near us.

Darna -- the rule of harmony -- has always been of significance in the ancient faith. Man lives and the world exists due to harmonious interactions rudimentary to life and through man’s own correct and moral behavior. Such differing pairs like light/darkness, fire/water, man/woman and others, do not necessarily imply a good/evil relationship. These opposite pairs are not static. They not only interact but also change and grow. From the human standpoint, there are neither absolutely good nor absolutely evil gods or goddesses. Goodness is born from interaction of differing, but not of hostile forces, with man’s interactive participation. “Blogis” (Evil) is harmony’s downfall, the absence or inability to restore harmony. This is most evident in nature’s devastation, man’s activity against nature and her order. The communities of man and nature and of family and community bear the fruit, or create “Dora” (Morality) and “Darna” (Harmony). “Darna” is the most important of nature’s and man’s ideals, attained and maintained with constant work and toil. “Darna” is not a steady and unchanging happiness or good fortune. It depends heavily on the efforts and concerns of man and his gods. Baltic idea of harmony is very close to the Hindu Dharma, which is the principle moral order of the world.

Nature worshippers’ morals are full of respect for nature, life and man. The simplest and universal moral proposition is to invite man to do to other men or living beings that, which he would want to be done to him. Since it is difficult and almost impossible to avoid the killing of living creatures, trees, plants and animals, because of nature's ways, one should employ the ancestors’ experiences: to perform such killings only in dire necessities. In ancient times, when cutting down a tree or slaughtering an animal, one would beg forgiveness for such an action. Such behavior would slow down the unlimited use and destruction.

Historical sources tell us that in the ancient faith there were prophets, wizards, and high priests (“žynys,” “krivis,” “burtininkas”), who were both men and women. They accumulated and protected spiritual experience, perfected their abilities. They were the first to be attacked and victimized by the conquerors and the christianizers. The tradition of the prophets (“žyniai”) was continued for a very long time by natural healers, travelling mendicants and choristers. However, experience shows the negative side of these spiritual leaders. The prophets were known to usurp power in communities, and use people for their own selfish needs. In such communities, the members became true slaves, submissive creatures unable to act for themselves, helpless instruments. In such societies only the spiritual leaders could communicate with God or gods.

The purpose of Romuva is to draw together persons with knowledge of ancient traditions and with their own opinions. It is desirable that the community member would know how to perform religious rights on his own, sing, etc… Of course, not everyone naturally possesses such abilities. This is why Romuva recruits people who are interested or know how to perform such rituals. This does not mean that the leaders of these rituals can order people around, or that they have more power in the community. Every member of Romuva has his favored activity and ability, which he seeks to perfect. The Romuva community creates favorable conditions for this.

Religious experiences strike harmony and feelings of love for the world, experienced during rituals or other moments. Romuva does not seek collectivism or mass excitement. It is more important to experience this for each human being individually, in nature, near an oak or linden tree, near a stone or fire. One can know the time and place where these feelings are the strongest and deepest. There are people who can sense these locations particularly well. Sanctuaries, called “alkai,” were founded in these special places. It is known that folk songs sung in a group also create a deep experience. A group of like minded, kindred spirits, are able to create a strong, spiritual field.

The Romuva of today is the total of several Baltic traditions, continuing the universality of the ancient Prussian Romuva. The members of Romuva love and honor the ancient spiritual traditions of the Baltic lands. They also perceive the urgency in the revival of the world.

The Romuva movement is part of the movement of rebirth of ancient spiritualities in Europe. This Renaissance is occurring very naturally and regularly, because its time has come. We can rejoice that the Baltic countries and other European nations have preserved the richest resources for this movement -- their ethnic cultures, which will serve faithfully in the movement of nature worshipers in Europe.