Ikikrikščioniškosios apeiginės tradicijos tęstinumas Lietuvos žemdirbių kultūroje XVI-XVIII a.

LTStraipsnyje analizuojama ikikrikščioniškosios lietuvių ritualinės tradicijos raida po Lietuvos krikšto. Autorius glaustai aptaria garbinamų dievybių kaitos tendencijas, svarsto galimas tokių pasikeitimų priežastis. Remiantis publikuotais šaltiniais straipsnyje atskleidžiamas ikikrikščioniškosios lietuvių religijos apeiginės tradicijos tęstinumas XVI–XVIII a. lietuvių žemdirbių kultūroje. Pabrėžiama, kad senosios religinės tradicijos šventinius ritualus ar garbinimo objektus susiejus su krikščioniškuoju kultu jau XVI šimtmetyje ėmė augti krikščioniškasis žemdirbių religingumas. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Apeiginė tradicija; Iki krikščioniškos peigos; Ikikrikščioniškosios apeigos; Ikikrikščioniškosios ritualinės tradicijos; Krikščioniškasis religingumas; Žemdirbių kultūra; Christian religiosity; Farmer culture; Pre-Christian rites; Pre-Christian ritesC Christian religiosity; Ritual tradition; The pre-Christian ritual tradition.

ENAt the very end of the 14th c. Lithuania became the Christian state. By the order of the sovereign the old faith became forbidden, the official institutions of the pre-Christian cult were abolished and population was obligated to worship the Christian God. But in the Middle Ages the christening of the state meant only that the new faith was accepted mostly by the ruling class and its nearest environment. The agricultural majority of population still confessed the old faith of their ancestors for several centuries. "Isolation" of the pre-Christian faith forms in the space of the local village community conditioned the significant alterations in the structure of the pantheon of the worshiped gods, in the functions of the gods and in their interdependency. Then the ruling class accepted Christianity, the some of the old gods, which earlier "take care" of warriors and landlords lost their actuality. In the other words, the agricultural population worshiped the gods, which were actual only to them. First of all they worshiped the earth and domestic gods. Very special feature of the religious tradition of the 16th-18th c. was that in this period disappeared Gods Sovereigns, which represented the all possible sacred powers. And great variety of various agricultural gods, which names we could find in the historical sources of the 16th-18th c. gained narrow and often very specific sacral functions. At the time of the state christening the sanctuaries of the old faith was wrecked, the idols of the gods - destroyed, the sacred groves - cut out, the everlasting fire - extinguished. The official prophets of the old faith disappeared.From the first glimpse it seemed, that under such circumstances the essence of the pre-Christian faith had to change in the very great scale. However, in the ritual practice of the 16th-18th c. was evidently seeing the old faith ritual structures continuity. Even in the time of well-being of the pre-Christian religion it was few temple buildings. More often the pre-Christian rituals were carried out in the natural environment. The same things we can see in the 16th-18th ages, then the agricultural population their gods settled and worshiped in the sacred groves or nearby the solitary old aged (or with unusual appearance) trees or stones. Despite the evident changes in the structure of the worshiped goods pantheon, ritual structures did not change very much. As we could decide from the written sources, in the 13th-14th ages religious tradition among the rites dominated various forms of the offering. The essence of the 16th-18th c. agricultural rituals also formed the rites of the offering of the domestic animals, which usually grew in to the several days lasting communal feast. It seemed better to say that the written sources of the 13th-14th and the 16th-18th ages differed among themselves rather in the variety of details than in the character of the information. However, in the written sources of the 16th-18th ages we could notice not only the continuity of the pre-Christian religious tradition, but also the gradual growth of the Christian religiosity in the consciousness of the agricultural people. [...]. [From the publication]

• Teologija / Theology
• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Istorija / History