Senojo kulto atspindžiai tradicinėse lietuvių vestuvėse

LTTarp lietuvių liaudies vestuvinių papročių daug užuominų, simbolinių veiksmų ir gestų, kurie savo kilme yra archajiniai, siekiantys ikikrikščionišką kultą. Tikroji jų prasmė XIX a. - XX a. I pusės laikotarpiu kaimo žmogui buvo išblėsusi. Pasitelkiant didžiulį lietuvių liaudies papročių masyvą, lyginant įvairių Lietuvos vietovių vestuvinius papročius, o taip pat - juos su baltiškuoju kultu rekonstruojami aukojimo ritualai per vestuves. Tiriama aukojimo ritualo sandara, atskirų apeigų simbolinė reikšmė. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Apeigos; Aukojimas; Dievybės stabas; Dovanos; Duona; Liaudies papročiai; Pyragas; Ugnis; Šiaudų kūlys; Šokiai; A thick sheaf of straw; Bread; Cake; Cakes; Ceremonies; Dances; Dancing; Fire; Folk customs; Folk traditions; Gifts; Idol of deity; Offering; Rites; Sacrifice; Straw will offer; The idol of the Deity.

ENSacrifice is the main form of the cult. This is a ritual during which sacrifices, that is, such valuable items as foodstuffs, animals were made to the deity. It goes without saying that in the 19th - the first half of the 20th century, when traditional Lithuanian wedding customs existed (prevailed), the Lithuanians were Christians - Catholics, they neither worshiped pagan gods nor made any sacrifices. Hints of sacrifice reached the folkloric weddings of the time with the ancient customs, handing them over from generation to generation. Hence, there was no sacrifice at that time; it can only be reconstructed scientifically. The present article does namely that. The method of investigation is historical - comparative. Traditional wedding customs of the 19th - 20th century are compared with the descriptions of the sacrifices made by the ancient Balts, which are recorded in written sources. Hence, two sacrifice rituals have been reconstructed. The first one is discerned in the tradition of matchmaking, at the time when preparation for a wedding was only made, when treating themselves symbolically to several drinks and exchanging certain things a verbal marriage contract between two families, those of the bride and the bridegroom, was concluded. This reflects sacrifices made by the ancient Balts in concluding contracts in pagan times. The second sacrificial ritual in olden times was performed in the house of the husband after the bride had moved into it. The ritual consisted of different rites: libation when the bride, having drunk some mead or beer, poured the remainder of the liquid upwards as a sacrifice to a god or spirit.The group of wedding rites belong to it, which organically merged into an integral unit: a clear link of dances with sharing of the daughter's-in-law gifts survived in traditional Lithuanian wedding customs when gifts were brought in during dances and were handed out to the husband's parents, his other relatives and the representatives of the village. This was performed in a circle of lights made by the participants in the wedding who held splinters/candles in their hands. Other rites also belong to the sacrifice ritual: adoration of the bride's bread, entertainment of all the guests at a wedding party, bringing in a special wedding cake - "karvojus" (a large wedding-tart) with twenty-seven candles stuck into it and its distribution among the guests. When dancing in a circle, knots of a sacral object were broken off. Tying up knots at the time of giving gifts when the bride girded the people with whom she danced with pieces of linen cloth, towels and sashes meant founding of the family and establishing relationships with the new community. Undoing of knots symbolised the future family, children; it was related to magic of fertility. A similar meaning accompanied ritual dances: when you made quick turns, bopped, beat your feet energetically, all that was believed to stimulate vital powers of the bride. This sacrificial ritual overlaps with the third phase of the ancient initiation when after the bride has renounced her earlier location and existence, upon her arriving to her husband’s home, she is taken into a new place/space and existence/position. Her status changes: from a maid she becomes a bride and a wife. Therefore, symbolics of initiation customs is characteristic of the rites of the sacrifice ritual. This is public teaching about how to adore bread, how to treasure it so that its sufficiency should never leave home.Eating a special dish - the matron’s of honour cake - and sharing it with all the guests at the wedding party. Protective, purifying symbolics of using the fire and water circle All that had to guarantee regeneration - a symbolic rebirth of the bride for another stage of life, to ensure quality of that life, abundance, riches. In archaic times the rites were performed in the old place of the cult - next to the fire of the home fireplace, in the middle of the cottage. After the plan of the house had changed, the reconstructed ritual used to take place in the middle of the cottage, next to a thick sheaf of straw which symbolised deity. [From the publication]

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