Moteris tradicinėje lietuvių kultūroje : gyvenimo ciklo papročiai (XIX a. pabaiga - XX a. vidurys)

LTRemiantis archyvine, kraštotyrine etnologine literatūra bei pačios autorės sukaupta ekspedicijų medžiaga, monografijoje nagrinėjamas XIX a. pab. - XX a. vid. lietuvės kaimo moters vaidmuo bei identitetas svarbiausiuose gyvenimo ciklo papročiuose - gimtuvėse, vestuvėse, laidotuvėse. Minėti moters gyvenimo pokyčiai aptariami per perėjimo ritualus, kurie padeda išryškinti valstietės moters kultūrinę, visuomeninę, socialinę padėtį bei jos psichologines nuostatas. Monografija iliustruota archyvinėmis bei ekspedicijų metu surinktomis nuotraukomis (46 vienetai) ir 22 kartografiniais žemėlapiais. Knyga skiriama etnologams, kultūros istorikams, humanitarinių ir socialinių mokslų atstovams. Tikimasi, kad monografija pasitarnaus tolimesniems žmogaus inkultūracijos tyrinėjimams.Reikšminiai žodžiai: Gyvenimo ciklas; Kaimo moteris; Tradicinė kultūra; Life cycle; Willage woman; Traditional culture; Lithuania.

ENThe work is based on field investigation materials gathered by the author in 1989-1997 in all ethnic regions of Lithuania, Poland (Punskas territory), West Byelorussia (Gervėčiai district), and Latvia (Bauska and Jekabpils regions). The role reserved for a woman in the customs belonging to human life cycle is viewed in the light of rites de passage. During pregnancy, the future mother’s peace of mind and her complete reconciliation with her village community are stressed as an indispensable condition of successful performance of rites de passage. In birth-related procedures, a midwife who acts as a mediator between family and community acquires a very significant role. A special role in the rites of incorporation belongs to a village women’s community, this institution also acting as a mediator: helping a woman to enter a new social phase, i. e. motherhood. The ancient rites of incorporation solemnized by women in a Lithuanian bathhouse on the behalf of a bride or a woman recently confined have been abandoned by the middle of the 20th c. in many parts of Lithuania, except east and south-east Lithuania. Instead of such rites, transformed Christian rites of ceremonial leading of a woman into a church appear. The blessing of a woman recently confined is in the focus of attention of such rites. By the 50s - 60s of the 20th c. the ceremonial leading of a woman into a church has vanished completely. In the investigated period girls’ socialization was mostly influenced by the following three social institutions: family, peers’ community, and village community. A child entered the age of.adolescence step by step: first in circle of her family members, later before the village community. The girl’s physiological maturation was reflected in the rites connected with her first menstruation. The rites consolidated girls’ passage from one phase of their life into another. In the investigated period, the girl’s first menstruation was marked only by her family, in a close community of women. By means of first menstruation rites the girl’s new position in her family was legitimized, while the rites relating to first bread baking marked the girl’s new social status within her village community. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th c. c. economic and social factors were crucial in choosing a marriage partner. The criteria of choosing changed greatly in the middle of the 20th c. due to political, economic, social and cultural influences. If at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th c. c. the chief role in choosing a marriage partner belonged to parents, and partly to a village community, the individual’s personal choice was put forward in the middle of the 20th c. The ceremonial seeing off of a bride to her married life was understood as a borderline point in her transition to a new status. In funeral rites the spiritual function was the main function of a woman. She helped a dying person to become prepared for his/her death, performed lavation and sang lamentations, played an important role of a mediator between the sphere of this world and the world of the dead. Thus, by means of rites de passage the woman as an integral part of family and community, joins the global process of creation - of humankind, nation and family. [From the publication]