Velykiniai pavasario ženklai: Baltijos regiono kultūra XX amžiuje

LTTyrimo objektas - velykiniai, kaip ir kitų svarbiausių kalendorinių švenčių, papročiai yra sudėtingos ir nepastovios sandaros. Darome prielaidą, kad jos ištakos yra liaudies religijoje egzistuojančių krikščioniškų ir parakriščioniškų elementų vietinėse kontaminacijose. Jos kinta keičiantis žmogaus pasaulėjautą veikiančių sąlygų kompleksams, t. y. ekologinei aplinkai, ūkinei veiklai, susiduriant skirtingoms pasaulio pažinimo kultūroms: ikikrikščioniškajai ir krikščioniškajai, taip pat katalikiškajai, stačiatikiškajai, reformatoriškajai ir ateistinei. Mūsų tikslas atkreipti dėmesį į tų kontaminacijų formas XX a. etnokultūrose. Keliame sau uždavinius: 1) išanalizuoti velykinių papročių sandarą, 2) apibūdinti vieną struktūrinį elementą - ritualinį sąlytį su atbundančios gamtos simboliais - paukščiu ir kiaušiniu, 3) apžvelgti jų etninį suvokimą, tradiciškumą ir naujumą Baltijos regione. Čia keliami tik hipotetiniai teiginiai ir bandoma tik bendriausiais bruožais aptarti, kas vienija tautų pasaulėjautą ir kokias jos apraiškas galėtume laikyti XX a. etniniais, regioniniais ar bent lokaliniais savitumais. [p. 187].

ENIt is equally complicated to speak about the genesis of cultural phenomena, sources of their elements and about the structure of holiday customs and traditions characteristic of different nations. All that is subjected to a wide scope of analyses the goal of which would be to show how due to culture interaction ethnocultural areas are being formed. Conveying and acquiring knowledge about the metaphysical world vertically (from one generation to another), horizontally (relations between different culture communities) and trajectorically (in the course of the population migration and due to educational and other institutional instructions), a relative integration of the world outlook and an analogous or similar direction of its expression occurred in the sphere of culture connected with ways of making the living (hunting, agriculture) and the image of metaphysical existence (certain Easter rituals have consequences in the future) (Fig.). In the first half of the 20th century the Easter customs and traditions observed by a family and a community joined elements of sacral (Christian, pre-Christian, paraChristian) and mode-of-life (organisational, technological, economic and other) origin. Mode-of-life elements became mythological after certain spheres of activity disappeared and a new generation, although aware of them, did not understand them. While conveying the information to the third generation, ritual and mode-of-life elements come to be confused, and obvious lies start to be spread which in a new cultural context are taken as destorted reminiscences of the past realities.So, a very popular among children „hare hunting“ when they look for hidden eggs might have originated from two separate activities - catching baby hares in spring and gathering wild birds’ eggs. Upon losing their economic significance these two activities turned into a habit and finally were established as a custom and maintained in the folklore. The time dimension of activities became a joining link in their contamination and the reason for their further survival in Easter customs. Activities of the sacral origin undergone a similar process: the manner of baptising at the introduction of Christianity, the effort of the newly baptised to wash out the baptism and a yearly repeated ritual of baptising on Easter might have been a reason for pouring water at each other and women’s bathing in water bodies, without linking the action with rain and the future harvest.A lot of differences as well as certain similarities are characteristic of the ways and peculiarities of egg dyeing in the Baltic region. In the 20th century the Lithuanians joined into groups according to their age, education, occupation, depending on their inherited and newly acquired knowledge and skills as well as the need to express their ethnic or territorial identity and family traditions by the manner of Easter egg dyeing. They were more or less open to horizontally spread innovations of egg dyeing technique and to its revitalisation ideas popularised by mass media. The analysis of Easter customs and traditions reveals that in the course of breaks in world outlook, customs and traditions change, become fewer and those that are maintained acquire new meanings and expression in the whole Baltic region. In the 20th century separate Easter cycle elements possessing a ritual meaning aimed at improving one’s position gradually lose their sacrality. The continuity of tradition acquires different forms both in nations and administrative territorial areas, but there a general tendency to imitation should be pointed out. A growing tendency to the elucidation of early local Christianity symbols based on religious and philosophical principles of the Orient should be also mentioned here.