Bažnyčia, kunigas, gyvieji ir mirusieji: mainų praktikos katalikiškose Pietų Lietuvos kaimų vietovėse
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Bažnyčia; Katalikų bažnyčia; Kunigas; Kunigas' gyvieji; Mainai; Mirusieji; Pietų Lietuva; Socialinis gyvenimas; Catholic Church; Church; Dead; Exchange; Living; Priest; Social life; Southern Lithuania.
ENFrom the beginning of anthropology as a discipline theorists have been engaged in analyzing how objects and individuals/groups are related. Exchange of material and immaterial items has proven to be central to the organization of social life since the gift and the riddle of reciprocity were introduced. An object can be away from its owner physically, but the relationship which is created in the exchange process between the giver, the object and the receiver extends in time and space. The relationship can be that of alienation or in alienation. This article presents fieldwork material from the southern part of Lithuania, conducted between 2008 and 2009. I analyze Catholic exchange practices between parishioners, the church, the priest and the dead and demonstrate how religiously established practices sustain institutions and roles through the use of material and immaterial items. Items in exchange become means for social expression. My informants emphasized specifically the act of giving rather than what or how much is given. This act-oriented approach is one of the features of gift-exchange, which creates and/or maintains social relations, roles and institutions. I argue that their exchange practices are embedded in primordial indebtedness of a Catholic to God; the gift-of-life turns Catholics into inalienable possessions of God. [From the publication]
