Aitvaras

{{short description|Nature spirit in Lithuanian mythology}}

{{about|the spirit|the military unit|Lithuanian Special Operations Force}}

File:Kraków Parada Smoków 2012-06-03 072.jpg

{{Baltic religion}}

Aitvaras is a nature spirit{{cite book|author1=Stepas Zobarskas|title=Lithuanian Folk Tales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pujZAAAAMAAJ|year=1959|publisher=G. J. Rickard|pages=240–}} in Lithuanian mythology.{{cite book|author1=Evans Lansing Smith, Ph.D.|author2=Nathan Robert Brown|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYdGl8XM8L0C&pg=PA255|date=1 July 2008|publisher=DK Publishing|isbn=978-1-101-04716-3|pages=255–}} It is also known by other names, such as Atvaras, Damavykas, Pūkis, Sparyžius, Koklikas, Gausinėlis, Žaltvikšas, and Spirukas, and is identical to the Latvian Pūķis. An Aitvaras looks like a white or black rooster with a fiery tail like a meteor. An Aitvaras is said to hatch from an egg of a 9- to 15-year-old rooster. If an Aitvaras dies, it becomes a spark.

In many cases, this Lithuanian creature is described as a bird{{cite book|author=Joe Nigg|title=A Guide to the Imaginary Birds of the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhXgAAAAMAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Apple-wood Books|isbn=978-0-918222-55-8}} with the appearance of a dragon outdoors.{{cite book|author=Brian Froud|title=Good Faeries Bad Faeries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQYOeyV5SFUC&pg=PT17|date=15 October 1998|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-84781-8|page=17}} An Aitvaras will lodge itself in a house and most often refuse to leave. It brings both good and bad luck to the inhabitants of the house, providing its adopted home with stolen gold and grain, often getting the household into trouble.