Ar buvo Lietuvoje mirusiųjų žibintai? Žemaitijos mediniai paminklai su žvakėmis ir žvakidėmis

LTStraipsnio objektas: Žemaitijos XIX a. mediniai stogastulpiai ir koplytstulpiai su medinėmis žvakėmis ir žvakidėmis. Tikslas: aptarti šių motyvų galimą ryšį su mirusiųjų žibintais. Metodai: lyginamasis, istorinis, analizės. Išvados: antkapiniuose paminkluose esančios mirusiesiems skirtos žvakės, kaip ir paminklų struktūros bruožai (stulpai su nišomis, žibinto tipo paminklai), rodo, kad Žemaitijos mediniai paminklai galėjo būti kitose šalyse (Prancūzijoje, Vokietijoje, Austrijoje, Lenkijoje, Japonijoje) žinomų mirusiųjų žibintų saviti vietiniai atitikmenys. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Koplytstulpiai; Mirusiųjų žibintai; Stogastulpiai; Žemaitija (Samogitia); Žvakidės; Žvakės; Candles; Candlesticks; Candlestics; Chapel columns; Latterns of the dead; Roofed columns; Samogitia; Samogitian; Shrines; Wooden candles; Wooden monuments.

ENPaper discusses 19th с Samogitian wooden monuments - roofed columns and shrines with wooden candles and candlesticks, the issue of their origin and significance in an international context: the forms and functions of French medieval lanterns of the dead (latentes des morts) are overviewed, as well as the Irish version of the columns; German, Austrian and Polish monuments with light sources, the evolution of their forms. Briefly discussed are the possible influences of Benedictine monastery and church processions, where lanterns are used; ancient written sources mention the use of candles in Prussian and Samogitian religious and family celebration rituals. It was discovered that the Samogitian monuments with wooden carvings depicting candles are not only decorative, but also symbolic candle substitutes, while wooden candlesticks can testify that the monuments used real candles as well. The latter features' and the monument's structural similarity (columns with niches) shows that the functions of the wooden monuments could be a distinctive local equivalent of those in France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Japan, while the major difference between them - the candles and candlestick motives' alignment with the architectonics of the monument. The issue of the origin of this motif remains problematic, so there is only a primary hypothesis that there may have been influences not from the ecclesiastical tradition, but from earlier sacred flames for the dead in the traditions of Samogitia, alluded to in historical sources; partly too from other countries' analogues. It is quite clear that at the end of the 19th century, Samogitian cemetery monument wooden candles and real candles in wooden candlesticks expressed the light of faith and the symbolism of a light for the dead. [From the publication]