Pasaulio modelis liaudiškame ornamente

ENThe cognition of nature in prehistorical times begins with the observation of astronomical phenomena. In the neolithic time of the Stone Age astr momical knowledge has been gathered by the fixation of the azimuths of the solstitial sunset and sunrise and the lunar orbit movement (so-called archeoastronomy), using rather complicated and perfect observatories. The mythological thinking of prehistoric man goes this way: it develops the abstract structures of space and time from the imaginary chaos and concentrates the whole knowledge in the form of a model of the Universe. The practical result of this are calendar systems. Each ethnic group forms its own calendar considering the climate of the region and social life. The systems of knowledge and the models of the Universe are coded in various forms of the folk art, songs, tales and so on in order to pass them t> further generatiors. It was very important in the absence of writing. Thanks to very deep cultural traditions of the Baltic people, the old archetypes reached our days.The central axis of the model is the Tree of the Universe (also named the Cosmic or Life Tree). By no doubts this symbol is concerned with the Milky Way. 'the latter in the prehistoric man’s imagination represents the union of the parts of the Universe. The projection of the Cosmic Tree on the cardinal points divides the space into four parts. The complementary directions are obtained from astronomical observations mentioned above. The angle between the azimuths of the sunset or sunrise and the cardinal points in the Baltic region makes about 45 degrees. In total; all directions form a few cosmographs, well-known as basic elements of the Lithuanian folk ornament. In the most primitive form the cosmographs are represented on the Easter eggs. The other ornaments by their origin are derived from the lunar phase representations. In this way the flow of time is expressed. The time concept was of the cyclical type in the traditional culture of the Balts.