Культурная жизнь белорусских крестьян и деятельность братьев Тышкевичей
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Baltarusių valstiečių kultūra; Broliai Tiškevičiai, valstiečiai, kultūrinis gyvenimas, Baltarusija; Eustachijus Tiškevičius; Konstantinas Tiškevičius; Brothers Tyszkiewicz, peasants, cultural life, Belarus; Culture of Byelorussian peasants; Eustachy Tyszkiewicz; KonstantyTyszkiewicz.
ENThe Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth opened the way to Polonisation, which diverted the highest strata of feudal society from Belarusian culture. The use of the Belarusian language was limited to the peasant culture. The social status of the Belarusian language dwindled; it became confined to the sphere of domestic relations and continued to develop only in folk tales, legends, and ritual songs. Villages were the least affected by cultural and linguistic assimilation. It was the lowest social classes - above all, disenfranchised serfs, who performed an important cultural and historical mission of preserving the native language and national traditions at that time. Russian imperial authorities officially ignored the ethnic identity of peasants in the so-called Western region for a long time. Peasants had no access to education and no possibilities to foster their cultural identity. From the 1860s intensive Russification started. In these unfavourable conditions, educated local nobles who called themselves litwiny, i.e. descendants of the historical tradition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, sought to be closer to the common people by exploring and popularising the history of their native country and the culture of its inhabitants. The brothers Konstanty and Eustachy Tyszkiewicz made a great contribution to this noble cause. Having amassed some archaeological, ethnographic and folklore material, they founded the first museum of history in their patrimonial estate in Lahoysk (Barysaw district, Minsk governorate) in 1842.Although they held the title of a count, the brothers Tyszkiewicz maintained friendly and amicable relations with peasants. They would take spades and excavate ancient tumuli, or dress themselves in peasant clothes and visit poor village huts, where they discussed the issues of life with peasants and recorded their customs and folk songs. The most significant folklore work of Eustachy Tyszkiewicz (with a contribution from Konstanty) was the book Opisanie powiatu borysowskiego ("Description of the Barysaw District", Vilnius, 1847), which, in addition to the statistical, economical, historical and geographical knowledge about the authors homeland, contained descriptions of village customs, songs, superstitions, prophetic signs, and proverbs, which reflected the domestic conditions and moral relations in the peasant environment. In 1857 Konstanty Tyszkiewicz collected folk songs while travelling on the Neris River. In his monograph published later, Wilija ijej brzegi ("The Neris and Its Banks", Dresden, 1871), he presented the folklore and ethnographic material from today's territory of Belarus and Lithuania. The activity of the brothers Tyszkiewicz had a certain impact on the national revival of the Belarusian and Lithuanian nations. It is important to note that the album В память пребывания Государя Императора Александра II в Вильне, 6 иу сентября 1858 года ("In Commemoration of the Visit of the Ruler, Emperor Alexander II, to Vilnius on 6 and 7 September 1858", Vilnius, 1858) dedicated to Tsar Alexander II and published by the Vilnius Temporary Archaeological Commission [...]. [From the publication]
