Baltų šventviečių atodangos

LTRemiantis ilgamete Lietuvos šventviečių tyrimų patirtimi straipsnyje ieškoma atsakymo į klausimą, kuo grindžiamas baltų religijos šventviečių šventumas, kaip jis reiškiasi ir yra patiriamas. Pirmą kartą fenomenologiniu būdu bendrinama patirtis yra lyg dvidalė: vietinių žmonių (šventviečių žinovų, tvarkytojų bei saugotojų) ir tyrinėtojo. Straipsnio autorius prieina prie išvados, kad šventose vietose prie žmonių priartėjęs dievų ir mirusiųjų pasaulis. Sąlyčio arba perėjimo galimybė, kitaip tariant, mitinės šio ir kito pasaulių jungties vaizdinys, yra ryškiausias baltų šventviečių žymuo. Su juo tiesiogiai, glaudžiai susijusi nuo gimimo iki mirties žmogų lydinti, šventvietėse patiriama laimė – dalingo, sveiko, vaisingo, gražaus, turtingo bei išmintingo gyvenimo jausmas. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Asmeninė patirtis; Baltų religija ir mitologija; Lietuvių prigimtinė kultūra; Prigimtinė kultūra; Tyrimai; Šventvietės; Baltic religion and mythology; Lithuanian native culture; Native culture; Personal expierence; Religion and mythology of the Balts; Sacred places; Sanctuaries.

ENBased on many years of research experience of Lithuanian sacred places, the article seeks the answer the question of what is the basis for the sacredness of the Baltic religion’s sacred places and how this is expressed and experienced. For the first time, in the phenomenological manner, the experience of local people and of the researcher are shared. At the end of the 20th c., phenomenology, having gone beyond the limits of abstract research, arose as one method of landscape research. The research of Christopher Tilley and several other authors create a theoretical basis for these studies. Only on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea are there no great monuments of megalithic culture, while legends and stories about archaeological and mythological places, which foreign researchers usually discover through medieval legends, here remain as the only witnesses of local (indigenous) culture. For more than six decades, the sacred places of the Baltic religion were beyond the realm Lithuanian public life. Fortunately, they are not all forgotten and not all are lost. In addition, sacredness cannot disappear without leaving some trace behind. Even when it seems like a sacred place has been destroyed, there is still something left – a mark of the sacred place, its reflection, though barely visible. For the longest time a destroyed sacred place has been kept alive through its name, less often – through legends or stories, archaeological finds.Living and persistent sacredness is a characteristic of a sacred place. This is a condition for its presence, as well as what can be seen, touched or experienced in other ways. Having disappeared from or been destroyed in one place, sacredness often spreads, even moving over to a new place nearby, which until then had not been considered sacred. Baltic sacred places are long-lived and have survived for many generations. Seemingly this is in relation to the naturalness of sacred places, but the gods have marked them, and some of these marks are known to this day. These are circles seen on the surface of the earth (in the grass); indentations in the surface of stones, known as “footprints”; relics of lightning strikes; spaces between tree trunks or branches that have grown together. The article claims that sacred places are where man comes closer to the worlds of the gods and the dead. The imagery of the connection of this world and the otherworld is one of the clearest marks of the Baltic sacred places. This is directly related to good fortune – the feeling of a partial, healthy, fruitful, beautiful, wealthy and wise life – which follows a person from birth until death, experienced at these sacred places. [From the publication]

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Archeologija / Archaeology