Sacred geometry of Sodai in the context of folk patterns
ENLithuanian traditional culture has a direct link to the physical and spiritual existence of the nation. In the traditional folk culture, which has been shaped over centuries and millennia, there are no random phenomena or coincidences - that would bean oversimplification. When studying Lithuanian folk patterns, I have long noted the complexity of their geometric structures and the direct link to the geometric structures of straw gardens known as sodai. Lithuanian folk patterns are a particularly ancient form of transmitting important information about the Lithuanian nation to the next generation. In this short study, I present the obvious geometric links between folk patterns and straw gardens, which become apparent as the deep layers of the national culture are revealed. Folk patterns (or what I call "folk texts") convey information through systematic groups, concepts and images.They are not the prototypical sonic (alphabetic) linear texts, which convey information in an agreedupon (letter) symbol representing a sound, whereby we read the letter symbol as a sound, which in turn creates a thought in the mind of the reader and constructs a sentence. Most people associate folk patterns with Lithuanian folk textile weaving techniques. This may have determined the stylistic peculiarities of folk patterns, but I have to note that those folk patterns appear in other materials and situations in a stylistically identical way, such as in vernacular small architecture of wood, concrete, metal and stone. [p. 73].
