Baltų religinės reformos
LTŠioje knygoje aptariamos trys pagrindinės reformos jokiu būdu nereiškia, kad tai galutinis jų skaičius. Jos tiesiog yra geriausiai pastebimos. Malalos kronikos vertimo intarpas, S. Grunau kronika, Lietuvos metraščio legendinės dalies elementai rodo, kad baltų religinės tradicijos posūkio akimirkas užfiksavo mitai ar legendos; šį religinių lūžių atspaudą mitinėje bei legendinėje tradicijoje ir pamėginau atsekti. Tačiau tai nereiškia, kad pastarasis darbas išsemia visas legendinės baltų tradicijos religines prasmes ar bent didesniąją jų dalį. Mano siekis buvo daug kuklesnis - mėginau parodyti, kad prūsų bei lietuvių legendos mena senųjų religijų posūkius. Todėl ši knygelė nepretenduoja į visuminę legendų religinio turinio analizę. Geriausiu atveju tai tik kuklus religinės legendų interpretacijos bandymas. [Iš Pratarmės]
ENOne may find traces of three periods of reform in the religious tradition of the Balts. Their memory is fixed in the myth of Sovijus, in the legend of Vide- vutis and Brutenis and in the legend of Šventaragis. Both the myth and the legends have their parallel moments in Baltic folklore, historical sources and archaeological material. They are also confirmed by the data of comparative linguistics. The myth of Sovijus, which is inserted into the 1261 translations of the Malala Chronicle deals with the first dead man who reached the world of the dead. Sovijus boiled a sacrificed boar. Its spleen was eaten by his sons. Sovijus gets angry and goes to Hell. With the help of one of his sons, he gets into Hell through the ninth gate. There he is lulled to sleep three times — buried in the earth, hung in a tree (both means do not satisfy him) and cremated the last time. This third form of funeral is experienced by him as the best. Since that time he became the guide of all the dead entering the other world. In this study the myth of Sovijus is connected with a new custom — the cremation of the dead, which appeared in the Baltic region in the thirteenth and twelfth centuries B. C. Still its origin seems to be earlier. This is indicated by parallels to the same myth among Indoeuropean peoples, e. g. in English tales and in the Balkan and Slavic folklore. The myth of Sovijus is repeated in the corresponding rituals of Siberian shamans. The basic elements of the myth are also present in Korean and Mongolian myths dealing with the origin of death, in Indian Dravid and Tibetian foothill myths dealing with the first magician and the origin of death. In those myths, however, the teacher or magician himself is boiled and eaten instead of the boar, which is boiled in the myth of Sovijus. One can guess for this reason that the boar in the Baltic myth is a later element. These particular elements are close to ritual of god who dies and comes back to life again.One participates in this process while eating the body of the god. The sacrifice of a boar or a man, together with the eating of bodies is characteristic of the Dionysian and Sabasius rituals in Greece. The ritual of Sovijus, though related to Dionysian and Sabasius rituals, still differs from related elements in Eurasian religions. In the Baltic version this particular element of dying and coming to life again was used as an ideological structure - as precedent for the cremation of the dead. This particular ritual of cremation, which was introduced by Sovijus, together with the cult of sky gods, indicates an opposition to the archaic Protoindoeuropean religion of the Mother-Goddess. One can guess that the myth of Sovijus alludes to the conflict between the archaic religion of Europe and the Indoeuropean one, together with the period of their synthesis. This was the time when that synthesis of two religions - the local one and the migrant Indoeuropean one - took place. The result of that conflict was the triumph of the Indoeuropean sky pantheon, whose most important figure, the Thunder God (Perkūnas) replaced the ancient native religion of the Mother-Goddess. This victory, however, was not absolute. As agricultural practices became more intensive under the influence of Rome, a certain renaissance of the Mother-Goddess religion took place. The religious reforms of Videvutis and Brutenis in Prussia, as well as the reforms of Šventaragis in Lithuania were aimed against this rebirth.When Videvutis and Brutenis, two chiefs of the Kimbrai tribe (their names are mentioned in the Chronicle of Simon Grunau), had come to a new place - Prussia, they both came into conflict with the native people. The result of that collision was a change in religion and the communal structure of both tribes. The Mother-Goddess religion, followed by the native people, was forbidden and a masculine pantheon of three active gods with the main figure - Perkūnas, was established. The establishment of a single religious center also took place. Šventaragis reforms, which took place in the 5th- 6th centuries A. D., were the cause of the second wave of cremations. Its memory is included in the legendary part of the Lithuanian Chronicles. Šventaragis renewed the practice of cremation and established a necropolis for the ruling dynasty, which later became the religious center of Lithuania. The custom of cremation, which spread out from that center, encircled little by little all the areas of Lithuania's political influence up to the Baltic Sea. Šventaragis religion also emphasized Indoeuropean features. The cult of a sky god, living on the top of a hill is at the center of that religion. Baltic religious reforms can be described as a process in which Indoeuropean religious ideas took root and spread. They are opposed to the archaic religious forms of the religion of the Mother-Goddess which dominated Ancient Europe. The rebirth of this religion came with the development of agriculture. This process was strengthened by the influence of the provinces of Rome and, probably, some inner changes, like the rise of deeply repressed religion. It also could be strengthened by the influence of Celts. In addition, when the migration of nations began, the soldiers and some of the priests who were the main supporters of Indoeuropean content, moved south or south-west. [...]. [From the publication]
