Kitataučių personažų transformacijos persirengimo papročiuose : XIX a. - XXI a. pradžia

LTStraipsnyje nagrinėjamos populiarios XIX-XXI a. pradžios įvairių persirengėlių karnavalų kaukės, turinčios kitataučių vardus (žydai, čigonai, vengrai), aptariamos kaukių išvaizdos ir veiksmų transformacijos. Straipsnyje taip pat keliamas šiuo metu Lietuvos visuomenei aktualus klausimas, ar persirengimas per Užgavėnes žydų ir čigonų kaukėmis nežemina šių tautų atstovų, neįtvirtina ir taip sunkiai išraunamų stereotipų šių tautybių atžvilgiu. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Kaukė; Kitatautis; Persirengimo paprotys; Čigonas; Žydas; Custom of disguising; Gypsy; Jew; Mask; Stranger.

ENThe paper analyzes masks of strangers (Jews, Gypsies and Hungarian) which were very popular in the Lithuanian traditional culture from the 19th century till nowadays. The main focus of the article is on the reasons why disguisers wearing these masks were popular in a variety of festivals, and how their appearance and actions changed diachronically. The appearance of maskers and their actions allow us to speak about ritual functions of the disguising custom. Semantically significant features of anthropomorphic masks show that they imitated the representatives of the other world. Turning inside out, lameness, asymmetry and, generally speaking, any inversion are the features of the strange, chthonic world. The main feature which unifies the masks is that people of these nationalities in Lithuania belonged to other ethnic social communities. Lithuanians impersonated Jews, Gypsies or Hungarians for several reasons. These people differed from Lithuanian peasants in their appearance, had different religion, a strange life style and unusual occupations. The indicated similarities among the customs of impersonators and the masks as well as participation in a variety of festivals (calendar, family and agrarian) help to trace the connection of these personages to agrarian-vegetative magic and old cults. Changes in the custom of disguising become evident in the 1st half of the 20th century.Anthropomorphic characters, which initially wore similar clothes and performed similar ritual actions, start to be distinguished and become similar to real people of the Jewish nationality and Gypsies. The research also deals with one current and socially important question in Lithuania, whether masks of Jews and Gypsies on Shrove Tuesday do not humiliate people of those nations, and whether they do not reinforce the stereotypes which are so difficult to eliminate. The big disputes arise in the public area and the main question for discussion is whether it is correct to wear Jew and Gypsy masks during feasts. I do not share the opinion that Lithuanians should not use masks of Jews or Gypsies during Shrovetide. In this case, probably the bigger problem are not Shrovetide masks but the real problems - negative stereotypes of Jews and Roma which come from the old times and nowadays are very often escalated. It can be recommended for ethnologists to educate society and tell about the meanings of our old traditions. Furthermore, Lithuanians should learn the real tolerance, learn about our culture and culture of the other nations and their customs, and stop identifying Shrovetide characters with real people of these nations. [From the publication]