Atmosferos "valdymo" būdai Lietuvoje XX a. pirmojoje pusėje: etnokultūrinio tapatumo savybės

LTLiaudiškas atmosferos „valdymas“ etnografinėje literatūroje netyrinėtas. Tėra vienas kitas aprašas ir pavienės užuominos kitoms temoms skirtuose darbuose. Visų pirma paminėtina Jono Balio paskelbti su Perkūnu susiję tikėjimai ir jų komentarai, Pranės Dundulienės kalendorinių papročių tyrimas, kuriame aptarti tikėjimai apie kalendorinių draudimų nepaisymo pasekmes, ir Marijonos Čilvinaitės paskelbtas laukų apsaugos nuo krušų ir audros būdas Skaudvilių dvare bei lietaus iškvietimo ir jo išblaškymo Merkinės apylinkėse aprašymas, taip pat Nijolės Laurinkienės knyga, kurioje minimi kitų autorių anksčiau aptarti perkūnijos ir lietaus suvaldymo būdai. Šio straipsnio autorė šiek tiek savo lauko tyrimų duomenų, kaip bandyta paveikti atmosferos reiškinius5, paskelbė kalendorinėms šventėms skirtuose straipsneliuose. Tai dar kartą patvirtina, kad per mažai skiriame dėmesio tai etninės kultūros daliai, kuri apima žmogaus santykius su jį supančia gamta bei metafizinio pasaulio suvokimą. Šiuo straipsniu siekiame atkreipti dėmesį į tikėjimus nepaprastomis žmogaus galiomis ir jų etninį bei lokalinį tapatumą XX amžiuje. Remsimės asmeninių lauko tyrimų 1989-1993 m. Lietuvos istorijos instituto etnografinėse ekspedicijose duomenimis (ES, b. 1332, 1338, 1340, 1341, 1343, 1346, 1411, 1412, 1638, 1639, 1990-1992). Jų metu apie kalendorinius ir kitus papročius buvo apklausti 166 žmonės. Be to, pasinaudota Lietuvos istorijos instituto Etnologijos skyriaus tikėjimų kartoteka, lietuvių ir kitų tautų etnografine bei folklorine literatūra. [p. 208].

ENThis article aims at drawing attention to the ethnic culture elements that point out to man’s relationship with his environment and the metaphysical world. The theme „Ways of Managing Natural Phenomena“ deals with two aspects of ethnic culture: 1) knowledge of nature, and 2) understanding of the relationship between the action and its consequence. Activity that is directed at achieving personal or communal goals is based on people’s world outlook, their economic needs and attitude towards religion. The author makes an effort to answer the following questions: 1) How much is the Christian outlook revealed in calendar religious holidays’ prohibitions and rituals that aim at managing natural phenomena? and 2) Do parachristian rituals contain ethnocultural identity features? In the first half of the 20th century rituals aimed at managing natural phenomena (to call out rains, to avoid hails, to prevent storms destroying buildings) used to be held in advance during the permanent Sun, Moon or phenological calendar dates connected with Christian religious holidays (Easter, Whitsunday, Christmas, St. George’s day), i.e. during the period when the Church regulates the believers’ behaviour. The vernal equinox was the time for providing oneself with herbs for „atmosphere management“. A more exact date was usually determined by the Moon calendar. It was Palm Sunday which usually falls between the vernal equinox and St. George’s day (April 23), which coincides with the beginning of phenological spring in Lithuania. Then twigs of the trees possessing an apothrophic value, such as oaks, nut-trees, junipers, willows, as well as some herbs such as cranberry stems and others were blessed. The other date of herb blessing coincides with the beginning of summer, at the approach of Summer solstice (rarely after St. John’s day).Up to the 20th century phenological spring holidays such as St. George’s day, the Cross worshipping days and the Ascension day most probably included some rituals aimed at managing natural phenomena. Special abilities were attributed to all things hit by lightning, as if they had been touched by Perkūnas (God of Thunder worshipped by pagan Lithuanians). In some parts of Lithuania chips of a tree hit by lightning were kept to protect the household, whereas in other parts of Lithuania it was believed that they might draw in the lightning. Thus, we may assume that in the Lithuania of the beginning of the 20th century three crosses made of juniper needles as well as small piles of juniper needles or blessed herbs placed on window-sills during thunderstorms could be treated as a sacrifice to Perkūnas (God of Thunder) or God of Heaven, transformed by Christian consciousness. The ritual of burning juniper and other herbs before a thunderstorm can also be considered as a sacrifice. This ritual used to be performed by burning blessed herbs and letting the smoke go through the chimney or incensing the buildings and the storm-bringing clouds. In the middle of the 20th century in the world outlook of Lithuanians the image of a sacrifice by burning had lost touch with the action itself, and only the idea of fight between God and Devil in which Perkūnas (Thunder) represented God’s side remained.Therefore, the insencing of buildings had to mean the banishment of the devil and protection of the household. So, in such a way the meaning of archaic rituals and their performance turned into the means by which Christians directly communicated with God seeking His protection from unpredictable and undesirable natural phenomena. In the 20th century the ways of taming rains, hails, thunderstorms were actually linked with the Christian world outlook. All rituals were started and ended by crossing oneself and by using Christian sacraments for the performance of the rituals and protection against any disasters. However, a number of rituals, especially those held at home, contained quite a lot of parachristian elements with obvious traces of local traditions. These were the beliefs that the objects hit by Perkūnas (Thunder) held some magic power, that by magic actions like tearing clothes from the body (rolling them up), notching an axe into a log or tearing a leaf of a plant could scatter storm-bringing clouds. Special locally grown herbs were used while performing a sacrifice to God Perkūnas by burning or insencing them. In the middle of the 20th century, due to the change of the environment and appearance of new flora species, the identity of herbs used in rituals became of less significance, and the practice of such magic almost disappeared.