Baltų šventvietės: prie Lietuvos saugomų teritorijų ištakų

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LTTai pasakojimas apie baltų ir senovės lietuvių religijos šventvietes, kurios laikytinos ir pirmosiomis Lietuvos saugomomis teritorijomis. Knygą sudaro 8 skyriai – tiek baltų genčių šiandien apima 41 valstybinis rezervatas, nacionalinis ir regioninis parkas. Apibendrinus daugiau kaip tris dešimtmečius trukusių tyrimų duomenis, kartografuota 660 šventviečių, šimtas iš jų išsamiai aprašyta arba paminėta tekste. Konkrečioms saugomoms teritorijoms skirtuose knygos poskyriuose glaustai apžvelgiama šventviečių tradicija, pasirenkama viena žymiausia vieta arba jų židiniai. Knygoje skaitytojas ras ne tik daugelį faktų, bet ir vaizduotę žadinančių aprašymų, o mėginant paaiškinti šventviečių paskirtį, suprasti, kaip jos buvo naudojamos ir kokią turėjo mitologinę reikšmę – naujų interpretacijų. [Anotacija knygoje]

ENThe book is the first attempt to view the protected areas as islands of the heritage of the Baltic tribes and the early Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where quite a few sacred places have survived along with natural treasures. Forests, oaks, hills and valleys, stones, lakes, marshes, and springs have preserved the names of the Baltic gods and goddesses, they commemorate ancient celebrations and bring health and happiness. This inspires respect and strengthens the resolve to preserve these places. The founders of the system of Lithuania’s protected areas and the experts presently working in the field have repeatedly expressed the idea that the sacred places of Baltic religion became the very first protected areas. The period of the Baltic tribes and the early years of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is the first and the longest timespan in the history of development of protected areas. From time immemorial, perhaps from the first centuries AD or even earlier, it lasted until the late fourteenth through early fifteenth century. The protection of the sites and the preservation of resources directly linked to Baltic religion ended with the Conversion of the ruler of Lithuania and its country. Due to favourable cultural, social, and economic circumstances, sacred places in some areas were maintained for another several centuries, and echoes of this tradition have reached our times. Of course, sacred places, which have been known as alkas from ancient times, can only be compared to protected areas with certain reservations. Alkas, an open-air religious site, a natural sanctuary, was believed to be the habitat of gods and ancestors, a place of rituals and celebrations; today, the landscape, biodiversity, and natural and cultural values in protected areas are safeguarded through legal means. However, this does not mean that the sacredness of the Earth is not felt in such areas and that no sanctuaries are left in them. [...].The book, based on years of research experience, is an original and currently the most up-to-date account of the sacred places of Baltic religion in Lithuania. It presents both the facts and also imaginative descriptions and new interpretations in an attempt to explain the purpose of those sacred places, to understand the ways they were used, and to perceive their mythological significance. The book is divided into eight chapters – that’s how many Baltic tribes are covered by protected areas today. However, archaeologists and historians disagree on which tribe to associate the archaeological monuments in Central Lithuania with; Vištytis Regional Park’s sacred places can be ascribed to both the Sudovians and the Nadruvians – one of 239 the Prussian tribes that inhabited the upper and middle reaches of the Prieglius basin, while Nemunas Delta Regional Park is located on the historic land of Lamata. Whether it is to be considered as the southern area of the Curonian tribe or as an ethnically and culturally independent region between the Curonians and the Scalovians (Skalvians) cannot be presently said with certainty. The order in which the Lithuanian reserves and parks are described is indicated in the map at the very beginning of the book. The description of each protected area in the book starts with its map and a list of the sacred places known there today. A total of 660 sacred places were mapped in 41 national reserves and national and regional parks (including only those that have been accurately located so far). Dzūkija National Park is unrivalled in terms of the number of sacred sites, with 92 of them having been thoroughly surveyed and described in recent years. The top five include also Žemaitija (Samogitia) National Park (51 sacred places), Varniai Regional Park (47), Aukštaitija National Park (43), and Neris Regional Park (41).The most difficult areas to find sacred places of Baltic religion in were Curonian Spit National Park (where we had to rely on sources from the nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries) and Viešvilė State Nature Reserve (it took some time to find informants who had been born and had grown up in these forests). The chapters devoted to specific protected areas provide a brief overview of the tradition of sacred places (for example, sacred springs in Dzūkija National Park or the pine trees considered as sacred in Venta Regional Park) and feature the most famous place (for example, Anykščių Šilelis, Dusia Lake, Šilalė Village sacred place in Salantai Regional Park, or Mikytai Alka Hill in Žemaitija National Park) or their constellation (for example, sacred places in Žuvintas wet peat meadows or Betygala and Ugionys sacred places in Dubysa Regional Park). A complete list of the one hundred places mentioned or described in more detail in this book, together with a map, can be found at the very end of the book. [From the publication]

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Archeologija / Archaeology
• Istorija / History