Labinančioji Būtigeidė

LT2023 metų Nacionalinė Jono Basanavičiaus premija buvo paskirta mitologe!, tautosakininkei, Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos instituto Sakytinės tautosakos skyriaus vyriausiajai mokslo darbuotojai dr. Daivai Vaitkevičienei už giluminius mitologinio pasaulėvaizdžio tyrimus, prigimtinės kultūros įprasminimą, puoselėjimą ir sklaidą. Šia proga ją kalbina Juozas Šorys.

ENThe 2023 National Jonas Basanavičius Award was awarded to the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore researcher, folklorist Dr Daiva Vaitkevičienė, for her in-depth research on mythological worldviews, the meaning, cultivation, and dissemination of innate culture. In the conversation, the main directions and topics of her research are presented. In the study of materials of Baltic mythology scattered in folklore, ethnographic, and written sources, she employs A. J. Greimas’ semiotic method and extensively uses linguistic and historical data. Her first book. Ugnies metaforos: lietuvių ir latvių mitologijos studijos (2001), was dedicated to fire as a cosmological element and mythical fire metaphors. In her latest monograph, Žydinti taurė: baltų gėrimai ir apeigos (2020), the mythology of ritual drinks - beer and mead - is reconstructed, the connections with the earth and heavenly gods are restored, and the archaic structure of the drinking ritual is recreated. The researcher has published dozens of articles on the Lithuanian pantheon of gods in the 13th century, the goddess of fate, Laima, Lithuanian house and farm gods, ancient burial and commemoration customs, etc. She also studies Lithuanian incantations and has compiled an academic collection of Lithuanian healing incantations.