Paukštė, kylanti iš pelenų: pomirtinis persikūnijimas pasakose

LTStraipsnyje tiriami pomirtinio persikūnijimo vaizdiniai ir archajiškų laidojimo papročių atspindžiai lietuvių stebuklinėse pasakose. Analizuojamos pasakos, kuriose mirusysis atgimsta kitomis gyvybės formomis – paukščiu, gyvūnu, medžiu ar gėle; šis persikūnijimo procesas sietinas su religine metempsichozės samprata. Tyrimas išryškina, kad skirtingas pomirtinis įsikūnijimas pasakose suvokiamas kaip vienokio ar kitokio laidojimo būdo rezultatas: priklausomai nuo to, ar mirusiojo kūnas yra laidojamas žemėje, ar keliamas į medį, ar deginamas ugnyje, jis atgimsta skirtinga forma – botanine, zoomorfine arba ornitomorfine. Kartais šios formos pasakose vaizduojamos kaip pomirtinių transformacijų grandinė: žmogus – augalas – gyvūnas – paukštis – žmogus. Dėsninga transformacijų seka leidžia manyti, kad metempsichozė buvo suvokiama kaip sudėtinis tęstinis vyksmas, kurio metu vėlė pereina per skirtingus biologinius pavidalus prieš vėl įsikūnydama į žmogų. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Atgimimas; Laidojimas; Mirtis; Pasakos; Pomirtinė transformacija; Sielos persikūnijimai; Burial; Death; Death, ways of the burial; Fairy tales; Folktales; Posthumous transformations; Rebirth; Soul transformation.

ENSubject of the article comprises ways of burial depicted in the Lithuanian folktales, followed by subsequent transformation of the deceased into other biological forms, like bird, animal, or plant. In the folktales, the deceased can turn into a duck (AT 318, 403A, 405, 451, 452C*, 707, and the Lithuanian fairytale "The Young Men Killed by the Witch" (KbLPTK p. 314) that has not been included into the international index of the folktale types by Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson), a forest bird (AT 720), a flower (AT 407), a tree (AT 318, 707, 780), or a lamb (AT 707). The fairytale "The Ogre’s (Devil’s) Heart in the Egg" (AT 302) is included into this investigation as well, since it proves that life (soul) is covered by several different biological shapes – those of egg, bird, animal, and plant. According to the investigation, the soul of the deceased is transformed into different shapes depending on the way and place of the burial, and this process can be related to the religious concept of metempsychosis. As depicted in the folktales, the posthumous state of the deceased directly depends on the burial of the body.If the body is buried in earth, the soul is reborn in a plant form. If the body is burned, or raised onto the tree after removal of the deteriorating tissues, the deceased acquires a bird shape. The consequent succession of the shapes "human – plant – animal – bird – human" reflected by the folktales allows for concluding that metempsychosis has been perceived as a complex continuous process, in the course of which the soul sheds several biological forms prior to embodying into the human shape again. Different transitional forms (those of the plant, animal and bird) are lined into a regular sequence that corresponds to the spatial axis of low vs high and comprises three different spheres of the world, namely, the underground, earth, and sky. Every consecutive shape endows the soul with features that enable it to cross over onto the higher level. By getting embodied into a plant, animal or bird the soul is raised respectively higher while approaching its final destination – rebirth in the human form. [...]. [From the publication]