Kalendoriniai papročiai ir žemdirbystės tradicijos Molėtų apylinkėse

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Agrokultūrinė patirtis; Etnožinija; Kalendoriniai papročiai; Liaudiški tikėjimai; Molėtų apylinkės; Agricultural experience; Calendar customs; Etno-knowledge; Folk beliefs; Molėtai areas; Molėtai district.

ENNational traditions and customs - the rules on living in certain social medium - are perhaps the most important components of spiritual culture shaping a local identity. In substance, this is a method of intergenerational transmission of agricultural experience and the rules of social coexistence. Every Lithuanian region has different agricultural customs: they depend on the type of soil, kind of utilised agricultural areas, agricultural implements and methods. It could be influenced even by very distant heritage, even by heritage of patterns of life and thought of a tribal society. Therefore it makes sense to explore ethnic knowledge of each region separately highlighting its specific features. This article generalizes the knowledge of people living in the land of Molėtai about calendar customs; so this is a study of collective memory at the juncture of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is sought to highlight the linkage of customs with phonological phenomena focusing more on the semantics of ethonoculture. The object of this work is the knowledge of elderly villagers about traditional calendar customs and beliefs. The knowledge was gathered by the means of field studies carried out from 1995 to 2012 using a specific questionnaire. Customs and beliefs of traditional calendar holidays - this collective memory reflects a very deep experience of agricultural ethnos. It generalizes.nature observations accumulated over hundreds of years, expresses subtle linkage of phonological phenomena. Both relics of the archaic lunar calendar and elements of agrarian magic from the later-formed cycles of seasonal works might be envisaged in Lithuanian calendar customs. This is perhaps the most important part of ethnic knowledge, which laid the foundation for the pattern of life, made impact on spiritual phenomena of national culture. The reason of quite good survival of features of a traditional calendar, which once served as the rules for arable and livestock farming, is their objective nature expressing the impact of periodical movement of celestial bodies on bioprocesses of plants and animals. A particular attention here is paid to the moon, the phases of which are felt by each, even the smallest plant as they influence the flow of sap in plant fibres. This was already noticed thousands of years ago in agricultural experiences, then it became the rules, which, with the lapse of time, turned into customs. So all this is not only a tribute of respect to our ancestors' heritage but also practically valuable knowledge for farming. Considerations of moon phases are still practised in some spring and autumn works to the present day. [From the publication]