"Ožio ceremonijos" kosmologinė prasmė

LTStraipsnio tyrimo objektas – iš XIX–XX a. vidurio etnografinių aprašymų Lietuvoje žinoma rudeninė „ožio ceremonija“. Tikslas – parodyti jos tikėtiną sąsają su rudeniniais ožio aukojimo ritualais, žinomais iš XVI–XVII a. istorinių šaltinių, ir iškelti hipotezę apie galimas abiejų astronomines projekcijas. Taikomas duomenų struktūrinės analizės metodas. Pagrindinė išvada: tiek „ožio ceremonija“, tiek ožio aukojimo ritualas galėjo būti siejamas su Ožiaragio (Capricornus) žvaigždyno padėtimi dangaus skliaute. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Baltų religija ir mitologija, etnoastronomija, Zodiakas, Ožiaragis (žvaigždynas), ožys; Etnoastronomija; Lietuvių Zodiakas; Mitologija; Ožiaragio žvaigž-dynas; Ožio ceremonija; Ožys; Ožys mitologijoje ir folklore; Zodiako ženklai; Baltic religion and mythology, ethnoastronomy, Zodiac, Capricorn (constellation), goat; Capricorn constelation; Ethno-astronomy; Goat; Goat ceremony; Goat in mythology and folklore; Lithuanian Zodiac; Lithuanian mythology; Zodiac signs.

ENThe article discusses the tradition, practised by Lithuanian shepherds in the early 20th c., of, at the end of the herding season, to perform the “goat ceremony” which was meant to make it snow sooner and end the herding of the livestock. During the ritual one shepherd would climb a tree and say a speech while the other would walk a goat around that tree three times and lift it up. Sometimes the goat would be lifted up by tying it to the top of a bent birch tree. In the early 20th c. this tradition had turned into a sort of entertainment for the shepherds, but the testimony of historical sources on the Baltic tradition of sacrificing a goat at the end of the summer work allows us to look for remnants of this old ritual in the “goat ceremony”. The cartographic method for ethnographic and folkloric data helps us prove the link between the “goat ceremony” and the shepherd song “Eik, oželi, vandenio”. The range of their distribution overlaps, thus we can assume that this is a song that was sung during the ritual with the goat. In the song the goat goes to drink some water and encounters an armed man who shoots its leg. The hoisting of the goat into the tree could be related to the western culmination of the constellation of Capricorn in November. Perhaps, during this ritual, the shepherds wanted to hasten the time of the culmination of Capricorn and come closer to winter. [From the publication]