bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Vaižgantas in Lithuanian Schools
Authors: Vanagaitė Gitana
Published: November 2022

The author of the article examines the representation of Juozas Tumas - Vaižgantas’s biography and works in gymnasium literature curricula and textbooks from 1916 to the present day. The focus is on the canonical short story “Dėdės ir dėdienės” [Uncles and Aunts], highlighting its place in gymnasium literature curricula and the semantic-interpretive points of reference in literature textbooks.The research had revealed that Vaižgantas was included in gymnasium literature curricula in the second decade of independence of Lithuania, when the state was already being established and the opportunities for the creation of a national education system opened up. The gymnasium curricula in interwar Lithuania included a number works by Vaižgantas: extracts from “Pragiedruliai” [Cloud Clearing], impressions, journalistic articles, and fragments of the short story “Uncles and Aunts.” Vaižgantas’s stories were studied in lower and upper grades. Only starting in 2002, they were no longer part of the lower secondary school curricula.Even before World War I, excerpts from Vaižgantas’s works entered various reading books (earlier than gymnasium curricula). Soon after the publication of author’s main works, “Cloud Clearing” and “Uncles and Aunts,” Vaižgantas was added in school curricula as an important 20th century Lithuanian author. His reception in literary science and Lithuanian school went hand in hand, as the major academic studies of Vaižgantas’s works appeared after his death. Undoubtedly, the school played the role of preserving or memorializing Vaižgantas’s life and works, and to some extent began the process of canonizing his oeuvre.The ideologies of different political periods led to distinct idea- and value-based points of reference for reading the Vaižgantas’s biography and works, which prevented the creation of a solid approach to perception and interpretation of his oeuvre that was binding on the canon. The obligatory ideological interpretation in the Soviet period overshadowed the aesthetic dimension of writer’s works; even though it was this dimension that had guaranteed constant renewal and change of Vaižgantas’s works in the literary canon.
Kęstutis Nastopka's Texts That Speak (Kęstutis Nastopka, Įsiklausymai (Lending an Ear))
Authors: Vaitiekūnas Dainius
Published: November 2022

Kęstutis Nastopka, Įsiklausymai: monografija, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2020, 306 [2] p., ISBN 978-609-425-299-0
Maps, Synagogues, the City of Vilne, and Zalmen Szyk
Authors: Levin Vladimir
Published: November 2022

The absolute majority of maps of East European cities marked only one or two major synagogues, while tens or hundreds of smaller synagogues and Jewish prayer houses were omitted. Using Vilnius as a case study, the article argues that this omission was not only a consequence of viewing the Jews as a ‘not indigenous’ part of the population, but also reflected the reality. The absolute majority of synagogues and prayer houses had no role in the cityscape of Vilnius and other cities of Eastern Europe, and therefore were not noticeable to non-Jewish people. Either synagogues and prayer houses were situated in courtyards, or they had no external features designating them as Jewish sacred places. Only the Great Synagogues and the Choral Synagogues of ‘modernised’ Jews attempted to be visible and prominent in the cityscape. The discussion of the issue of visibility of Jewish sacral buildings is based on the Yiddish guidebook to the city of Vilnius published by Zalmen Szyk in 1939. This book is a unique work, which combines the description of Vilnius ‘in general’ with special attention paid to the Jewish public institutions existing in the city, the majority of them synagogues and prayer houses.
Reading Vilna in the First World War
Authors: Weeks Theodore R.
Published: November 2022

The outbreak of war in August 1914 marked a new era in the history of Vilna for all of the city’s inhabitants, but perhaps for the Jews most of all. The world war accelerated the processes of political and economic modernisation, to the detriment of local Jews. These processes were not, however, immediately evident to local residents, though the more far-seeing among them feared for the worst. After all, when had Jews gained from military action? In this short paper, I will give an overview of the impact of the First World War on Vilna, and highlight two specific, very different, sources: Paul Monty’s Wanderstunden in Vilna, a guidebook for German soldiers, and Hirsz Abramowicz’s Profiles of a Lost World, a memoir published later (in Yiddish) by a long-time Vilna resident.
Gastro-Poetics in Lithuanian Yiddish Literature of the Interwar Period: The Early Work of Moyshe Kulbak (1896-1937)
Authors: Leitane Iveta
Published: November 2022

For almost a hundred years, literary critics and scholars have been trying to reach the depths of Moses Kulbak’s work and find the most appropriate keys to interpreting his sophisticated and puzzling works. This article is an attempt to approach author’s work by focusing on seemingly less important details and reconstructing their relational network. The depiction of eating scenes, meals (including ruined and imagined ones), as well as food and drink have been chosen as focus point. Such strategy, emphasizing body in the humanities, allows to draw attention to other key issues, such as the relationship between body and soul, nourishment and intellect, intellect and faith, etc. The article deals with the first decade Kulbak’s work and examines less discussed sources of inspiration of the great Yiddish poet and prose writer. Using metric and semantic analysis, the place and role of eating habits, meal scenes and spectacular food representations in Kulbak’s poetic universe are explained and reconstructed. Food metaphors help uncover hidden interconnections, and although they often play only a connotative role, they are still powerful means for expressing the author’s message, while simultaneously concealing it.
Music in the Works of Ignas Šeinius: A Few Chords
Authors: Ivanova Giedrė
Published: November 2022

In this article, the author focuses on the expression of music in the early texts of Lithuanian prose innovator Ignas Jurkūnas Šeinius (1889–1959). Starting with Werner Wolf’s typology of the relations between words and music, and incorporating insights from other scholars (Lars Elleström, Siglind Bruhn, Vytautas Kubilius, Irina Melnikova, etc.), the article discusses the different forms of music and the meanings they produce in Šeinius’ novel Kuprelis (1913, 1932), in one segment of his short story “Vasaros vaišės” [Summer Feast, 1914], and in the novella “Marių daina” [The Song of the Lagoon, 1914].

The analysis has shown that in the novel Kuprelis, music expression explicates the experiences of the main characters, their self-perception and relationship to other characters, becoming a symbol of love, and pointing to and predicting important moments in the story. In the analyzed passage from the short story “Summer Feast,” one can notice a parallel with the musical form of fugue, which creates the impression of multiple motifs sounding and being perceived at the same time, and which emphasizes the aspect of the existential climax that is being developed by the narrative. Combining music, literature and painting, the novella “The Song of the Lagoon” echoes the synthesis of these arts captured in Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis’s pictorial sonata “Jūra” [The Sea].” The ekphrastic nature of the novella invites the reader to see the figures from the paintings reproduced using words, and to hear the musical motifs that accompany them.
Jonas Aistis’ and Sigitas Geda’s Notion of Open Cultural Identity: Between Universality and National Self-Preservation
Authors: Bagdonė Karolina
Published: November 2022

In this article, author uses the theory of intertextuality to examine how the works of two Lithuanian poets, Jonas Aistis and Sigitas Geda, revised Western literary works during the Soviet era and what kind of European identity they conveyed by creating intertextual connections. Both poets during the Cold War looked for the ways to make vital links with Western literature and to continue to reflect on the relationship between Europeanness and Lithuanianness that had taken place in Lithuania before World War II. Aistis turned to the classical era that was popular in the interwar period, especially the myths of Medea, Orpheus and Eurydice, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Using intertexts, he reflected on the ideas of double homelessness (love for the lost Lithuania and Europe), post-catastrophic identity, and the painful disappointment with the diminished impact of his poetry. The ideas of national and European identity as a synthesis of the West and the East reflected in the works by Stasys Šalkauskis and Adomas Mickevičius, as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s vision of the universality of world literature, were important in Geda’s poetry. They were significant in creating authentic intertextual links with the works of Western literature (such as Ovid, Homer, Rainer Maria Rilke and Georg Trakl), in order to preserve the complex historical European experience and to provoke readers’ self-consciousness in opposing the repressive Soviet regime.
About War
Authors: Šidlauskas Marijus
Published: November 2022

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The Unfinished Case of Folksong Study by Norbertas Vėlius
Authors: Stundžienė Bronė
Published: November 2022

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Alone – without Alan
Authors: Voigt Vilmos , Būgienė Lina
Published: November 2022

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Chronicle
Authors: Džekčioriūtė Vita , Žičkienė Aušra , Šlekonytė Jūratė , Kadžytė Gražina , Ūsaitytė Jurgita , Būgienė Lina , Vyčinienė Daiva
Published: November 2022

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Regarding Expressions of Landscape in Folksongs
Authors: Stundžienė Bronė
Published: November 2022

The aim of the article is revealing ways and extent of reflections of the natural Lithuanian landscape taking place in folksongs during various periods of their development. From the modern perspective it is attempted to grasp the meanings of the landscape reflections and what it used to mean to the people composing those songs. The analysis in the article is limited to just two objects of the landscape, namely, the field and the mountain as interpreted by folksongs. Survey of the poetical meanings of these two landmarks is expected to suggest the right direction towards further elucidation of patterns of the meaning construction attributed to the landscape in folksongs. The ploughlands and meadows, characterized by the most typical feature of the Lithuanian scenery – its flatness, open up in Lithuanian folksongs as form of the landscape spiritualized (cultured) by human activity. Although the social and economic contextual plane of the fields and meadows is apparently given prominence in the songs, as the main source for the farmer’s living, the poetic expression attributed to these elements of landscape enables interpreting them as representations of the peasant idyll and blissful space. Further analysis of the folksong images of the field is related to the landscape semantics based on mythic and ritual notions. Manifestations of mountain in the folksongs lend even greater prominence to the ritually motivated symbolism of landscape. Two main conclusions are made by the author:1) The retrospective view of the ritual memory provides the key for further deciphering of the more general and broader meanings of the poetical landscape in folksongs; 2) The historical survey of the landscape expressions used in folksongs makes it clear that only folksongs of the latest period do break free from the mythic and ritual background, which is then replaced by other kinds of meaning construction attributed to the landscape, including the patriotic one.
Two Songs from the Great War
Authors: Aleksynas Kostas
Published: November 2022

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A Fervent Plea for a Lithuanian–English Proverb Collection
Authors: Mieder Wolfgang
Published: November 2022

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The Lost Book World of the Lithuania Minor
Authors: Petreikis Tomas
Published: November 2022

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Full bibliography of Tautosakos darbai / Folklore studies: 1935 – 2015 (Vols. 1 – 50)
Authors: Daugirdaitė Vilma
Published: November 2022

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“There Are So Many White Roads that One Would Like to Walk!..” Folklorist Professor Bronislava Kerbelytė Is Interviewed by Her Student, Professor Rimantas Balsys
Authors: Kerbelytė Bronislava , Balsys Rimantas
Published: November 2022

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A New Folktales’ Index: Slovenian Animal Tales and Fables
Authors: Šlekonytė Jūratė
Published: November 2022

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Sky in the Ancient Baltic Worldview
Authors: Laurinkienė Nijolė
Published: November 2022

In the Baltic mythology and folklore, the sky covering the Earth and its bodies – the Sun, Moon, stars and their constellations are among the most prominent archaic images, comprising rather integral mythical celestial world. This article aims at reconstructing the model of the sky and highlighting at least the most outstanding features of this significant universal. The analysis comprises linguistic data preserving the relics of the ancient worldview, the written sources on the Baltic religion and mythology, and the rich and thriving Lithuanian and Latvian folklore tradition.The Lithuanian word dangus ‘sky’ derives from the verb dengti ‘to cover’. The old Prussians used similar denomination: dangus (acc. dangon, dengon, -an). Latvians, however, use the word debess ‘sky’. This word in Lithuanian denotes the visible atmospheric phenomenon: debesis ‘cloud’. Therefore, only Prussians and Lithuanians had the same lexeme denoting sky, which allows assuming that it was imagined as a certain cosmic cover or lid, placed high above and covering the humans and their earthly living.The article addresses the following subtopics: the etymology of the word dangus ‘sky’ and the notion of the sky; sky as God; the stony sky; the heavenly “pastures”; the levels of the sky; mediators between sky and Earth; sky as an afterworld; the gates of the sky; and the holiness of the sky.The author concludes that the Baltic mythology has preserved the image of the sky as the God, the heavenly Father, and as the light enveloping the human world or a mysterious power and energy affecting it. People used to imagine the sky as a certain entirety, as a transcendental boundless ephemeric space comprising the upper sphere of the mythical world. Observation of the sky and the movements of the celestial bodies used to inspire in the observing people feelings of religious kind, along with inevitable reverence manifested in the traditional social customs and rituals. There existed an entire system of taboos related to the sky and the celestial bodies, which also testifies to the sense of holiness attributed to this space.The reconstructed Baltic images of the sky preserve certain elements of the ancient IndoEuropean worldview. They present an important source for reconstructing not only the Baltic, but also the Indo-European mentality.
Attitudes of the Inhabitants of the Lithuania Minor towards the Medical Treatment in the First Half of the 20th Century
Authors: Tilvikas Jonas
Published: November 2022

The aim of the article is elucidating the attitudes of the Lithuanian-speaking inhabitants of the Lithuania Minor (lietuvininkai) towards the medical treatment (the choice of the doctor and healing) that prevailed in the first half of the 20th century. The author addresses the following issues: 1) who used to treat the members of families and communities; 2) whom people most commonly turned to in case of serious illness and what methods of healing they used; 3) what kind of distinction (if any) there was between the official and the folk medicine. The purpose of analysis is discerning the sociocultural peculiarities of the Lithuanians living in the Lithuania Minor in the first half of the 20th century.The author analyzes unpublished ethnographic materials collected during fieldwork sessions by the students of the Department of the Baltic Philology, Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences, Klaipėda University, and compares this data to the published sources and research studies. Altogether, the subject of analysis includes 107 narratives by the local inhabitants of the Lithuania Minor. Exact time framework is not established. The social surroundings of the informants include families and communities of their native villages and small towns. By using the historical comparison and the analytic method to deal with ethnographic narratives and historiographic data, the author attempts reconstructing the notions of Lithuanians living in the Lithuania Minor in the first half of the 20th century of their “own” and “foreign”.According to the results of the analysis, the author maintains that the concepts of illness and ways of treatment, entrenched in the family and community traditions, as well as people’s “own” habits and conservative attitudes supported and widened the gap between the official and the folk medicine.In the beginning and in the middle of the 20th century, the Lithuanians living in the Lithuania Minor habitually regarded the verbal charms, commonly used in the folk medicine, rather negatively. The performed comparison of analyzed narratives with the available historiographic research enables the author to maintain that in most cases the Lithuanians living in the Lithuania Minor adopted rather more modern ways of behavior than the inhabitants of the mainland Lithuania. Therefore, their attitude towards the “magical” means of treatment indicates the peculiar aspects of social modernization in the Lithuania Minor.However, in case of serious illness the gap between the official and the folk medicine closed or lost its importance. The fear of death made the economic and social considerations irrelevant. Similarly, the fear of death or disablement could reinforce the cultural differences affecting the outcome of the choice between the official treatment and the folk medicine.
Folksong Perception by Balys Sruoga
Authors: Stundžienė Bronė
Published: November 2022

In 2016, Lithuania celebrates the 120th anniversary of Balys Sruoga – “the author of diverse talents”. While surveying ample contemporary research and memoirs on the cultural activity of this outstanding personality – poet, writer, playwright, critic and translator, journalist, and one the most famous specialists in theater and drama of the interwar Lithuania, one may consider Sruoga’s contribution to folklore to be rather modest. Indeed, Sruoga’s works on folklore seem to embrace his miscellaneous cultural activity, producing a peculiar circular composition, since he wrote “Etudes in Folksong Poetics” at the very start of his creative life, in 1924, while during his last years Sruoga edited a collection of selected folksongs. However, due to the ideological constrains of the time, this work saw publication only after his editor’s death, in 1949. Actually, Sruoga used to react quite vividly to various relevant issues of the time, raised by the emerging Lithuanian folkloristics. He contributed articles and press reviews, enthusiastically participated in various discussions, frequently dealing with rather controversial and inconvenient topics. As Sruoga’s inheritance in folklore clearly testifies, folksongs were constantly in the very center of his attention. When discussing folklore, this literary man employed research instruments devised mostly for the literature analysis, which, although rather unpopular nowadays, corresponded to the methodological concepts of the time and enabled him to reveal the artistic qualities of the folksongs. However, even the modern folkloristics does not question the historic value of the studies in folksong poetics by Sruoga. In terms of the modern perspective, the author of the current article discusses various aspects that along with determining the persisting value of Sruoga’s research in the folksong poetics also pushed him towards the margins of the Lithuanian folkloristics. However, the outstanding quality of Sruoga’s writings, his polemic and provocative scholarly discourse, which, far from being formal or routine, displays rare and suggestive essayistic style and language, rendering the readers with ageless enjoyment of reading, deserves special emphasis here.
Sensual Relationship between the Individual and the World in the Literary Fiction by Žemaitė
Authors: Bleizgienė Ramunė
Published: November 2022

The basis of the article comprises the theoretical insights formulated by cultural anthropologist Michelle Z. Rosaldo and the phenomenological approach to the study of emotions. It aims at elucidating ways that emotional experience relates the bodily experience to the personal involvement into the network of social connections, participates in perception and understanding of the world, and defines patterns of personal activity. On the grounds of investigation of the preserved fragments of everyday speech and folklore compared with essays and fiction by Žemaitė, the author of the article describes the feeling of compassion and love, which binds the world and people together by mutual caring. Based on the analyzed sensual experience and expression of compassion and love, she reveals that personal feelings, tightly connected with the sensual (bodily) experience, form the basis for the social relationships, also correlating with the experience and understanding of the world in terms of perception of the self and the others. In the worldview model elaborated by Žemaitė, the world comes up as a certain order, supported by sensual and family relations. Just like in the social world, feelings are inseparable from the bodily bearing also in the natural world and pass from one body to another. Since human feelings belong to the mutual circle of emotions circulating between the world and individuals, the order in the social life depends on the similar feelings ensuring individual involvement into mutual relationships as in the nature. Obstructions in the flow of emotions, caused by and manifesting through rigid, immobile, unresponsive body, lack of empathy in relation to somebody’s feelings and inability of acting accordingly, or unrecognizing of the emotional bonds supporting the natural order, result in collapse of the personal life. Adequate sensual existence manifests itself not only through participation in the social relationship, but generally through being in the world and getting involved in the circle of emotional circulation. The analyzed examples of experience and expression of such feelings as compassion, love, and caring present evidence of such existence being based on human capacity to understand and recognize emotional states experienced by the others, as well as the ability to react and to respond, i. e. to experience emotions that are adequate to the situation and to act accordingly, including the ability to pass one’s emotions to others.
Folkloric Elements in the Internet Image of the Professional Basketball Player
Authors: Krikščiūnas Povilas
Published: November 2022

This article deals with folkloric and similar materials, namely, with texts and polycode pieces (consisting of both verbal and non-verbal elements) published on the Lithuanian web. The author focuses on certain more popular groups of typologically related texts / images or their combinations, and on the items particularly prone to variation. Demotivational posters and anecdotes are the most popular ones.Analysis of these materials reveals variations in content and form. Having grouped them, the author describes peculiarities and plausible origins of certain variants in separate sections. Mainly synchronic analysis is employed, but in cases of numerous facts revealing genesis of particular pieces, diachronic method is also applied.Unfortunately, only fans of the biggest Lithuanian basketball clubs (Žalgiris and Lietuvos rytas) and the national team are active enough to create an amount of material sufficient to analyze. The author is interested in aspects of team activities and personal features of the players that seem most notable for the internet users. These include relationships between teams, their attributes, personal and physical qualities of the players, professional level of the game, perception of teams as sports units, and style of the game. In case of international matches, the internet users associate players with national symbols or pieces of cultural heritage.Apparently, imperfect aspects of the game (both individual and as a team) are more popular, while moments of successful play receive less powerful expression. Internet users skillfully manipulate various elements of classical folklore borrowed from folktales, anecdotes, proverbs and proverbial sayings. For visual demotivational posters they most frequently use group pictures of the players or moments of the game. Graphically edited photos are also popular. The analyzed material is clearly a product of subcultural activity, since its creator is a community united by the same interest and using a special channel for communication. Peculiarities of creative paraphrases of this community depend on aspects of virtual and written, partly – of verbal folklore dissemination. This creativity not only enables basketball fans to perceive themselves as belonging to an integral socium, but also allows them to demonstrate their creative capacities, thus upgrading their own image.
Ethnological Background of the Sheep’ Names
Authors: Norkaitienė Milda
Published: November 2022

The subject of analysis comprises 287 Lithuanian sheep’ names. According to the author, traditionally the naming of sheep rests on somatic motivation (204 names, or 70.7 percent), including the animal’s color, its inborn or acquired bodily peculiarities or shortcomings, height, complexion, and age. Along with visible features, tactile appreciation of the wool’s quality and audible perception of the animal’s sounds are also important. 25 names (or 8.7 percent) of ethologically motivated zoonyms are related to denotative sphere, being influenced by the animal’s character, habits and manner. 53 (or 18.5 percent) names of evaluative and 5 names (1.7 percent) of subjective motivation reflect not only emotional, but also pragmatic relations between humans and animals. In order to emphasize belonging of the animal as a tangible property to a certain person, the sheep may acquire its owner’s name, surname or a metaphorical denomination of a specific mark that is exclusive to the owner and is tied onto the animal, or cut out on it, etc.Comparison of the motivation and metaphoric character of the names with broader linguistic, ethnological and folkloric context (including stable epithets, parallels, paremias, nicknames, zoomorphisms, the devil’s names and other mythical denominations, endearing names of the animals, customs of herding, relics of folk magic, etc.) shows that naming of animals is such a sphere, research of which enables experiencing vitality of the ancient beliefs, customs, and the mythical worldview. In terms of ethnology, the mythological contents of motivation for the name Rasa (‘dew’) seems particularly fascinating. The name has a magical function, as its etymon relates to the notion of water, thus naming of the sheep aims at ensuring and enhancing the quantity of its milk. In addition, this onomastic situation is far from accidental: a goat is known of having acquired a similar name (in diminutive, Raselė) for similar reasons. Besides, cows are also frequently given names deriving from appellatives or hydronyms related to water, e. g.: Banga (Lith. banga ‘wave’), Upė (Lith. upė ‘river’), or Agluona, Šešupė (Lithuanian hydronyms). Therefore, such phenomenon may be considered a systematic quality of the Lithuanian zoonyms.
Symbolic Meaning of Ring as a Grave Good in the Samogitian Burials
Authors: Valotkienė Šarūnė
Published: November 2022

This article falls in the realm of ethnoarcheology – a branch of archeology, resting on an analogy of the cultural continuity applied in it: analyzing and comparing archeological and ethnographic materials in terms of the same cultural context. The analyzed data of the ring comes from the Samogitian cultural region.The analyzed archeological material is from pre-Samogitian and Samogitian burial sites of the 1st – 16th century. During this period, Samogitia was among those few archeological cultures that predominantly used inhumation. Inhumation graves allow establishing the placement of the grave goods in relation to the deceased, which is especially important for the analysis of the ritual providing the grave goods and its symbolic meaning.The article also dwells on customs and verbal folklore from the Samogitian ethnographic region, comparing them to those coming from other regions. Folktales, folk legends and linguistic data from the academic “Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language” represent all the cultural areas of Lithuania.In the 1st – 4th century Samogitia, ring as a grave good was used both for men and women, while in the 5th – 12th centuries rings were most frequently placed into the graves of men. From the 13th century, the situation altered again: rings became typically female grave goods. In the graves, rings are most frequently found on the deceased person’s fingers or on the breast, occasionally – alongside the body.Both written sources and folklore depict rings as adornment of the young girls, who mostly wear a single ring, rarely – several ones.To elucidate the symbolic meaning of the ring, the author of the article uses images that are especially prominent in folktales. Ring is primarily analyzed as a personal memento, also – as a personal sign and means of establishing and strengthening the relationships. The ritual of giving the ring as a present reveals its multiple meanings. The presented ring immediately becomes the memento of the person who gave it, and is associated with its giver. Certainly, the ring ties two people together, supporting and guarding this connection.All the above-mentioned aspects are important in the funeral context too. Rings served as the memory of the living for the dead, or vice versa – of the dead for the living. Ring was regarded as a token – significant when meeting each other after death in search of the close ones or relatives. Placing of the ring into the grave could have been used to establish or strengthen the connection between the living and the dead.Nine graves from the mediaeval and modern times supply data regarding the ring fingers. No rings were found on the thumbs of the deceased; they were most frequently wearied on the middle finger and on the ring finger, rarely – on the index finger and only once – on the little finger. The actual choice of the finger must have depended on the mythical meaning attributed to the hand and fingers.
Rolandas Petkevičius as Researcher of Lithuanian Ethnopsychiatry
Authors: Vaitkevičienė Daiva
Published: November 2022

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A Share of Silent Existence in the Local Culture: “Oh, Blossom forth, You Dried Apple-Tree...”
Authors: Daujotytė-Pakerienė Viktorija
Published: November 2022

The article deals with phenomenon of silence manifested in Lithuanian local culture. The author follows the course of consciousness, in which human being appears as a silent one, asserting that silent existence seems supported by the silent natural phenomena, including silent existence of things. The local culture is essentially a silent one. Life in close proximity of nature and earth encourages silent concentration of people. Work and movement ensure survival. However, when a person disengages from necessary actions, submerging instead in oneself, in one’s own silence – such act is very important for culture and creativity. The folk sculpture indicates that its makers were working in silence and concentration, attempting to express their inner state. Silence is meaningful also in folksongs, in their metaphors. The classical folksongs stem from silent experience of their performers, from their moments of inner clarity. Researchers of folklore and folk art have long ago noted its silent creators and their special way of cherishing silence. However, separate research is required to investigate the bearers of folklore and folk art.The article draws from folklore, classical literature, and phenomenological philosophy; such course of research that also involves experience merits definition as a phenomenological one.
Identity without Lack: Reflecting on Three Memory Images
Authors: Jonutytė Jurga
Published: November 2022

Employing several perspectives, the article deals with different individual attitudes towards the social and material environment. The subject of analysis comprises everyday life trajectories of three individuals that could formally be defined as “weirdos” expelled by the Soviet society, and the peculiarities of their attitude to the living environment. All these three people were rather elderly in the 1980s, and had completely established their peculiar individual relationship with their own life. The most vivid aspects of this individuality are completely at odds with standard ways of shaping the modern identity and with social roles enforced (or cultivated underhand) by the Soviet regime. The author of the article demonstrates that minimalistic living surroundings in each case can indicate entirely different context of the human life. Thus, external poverty of the individual living conditions can testify to absolutely different attitudes and discrepant experiences. The question is, to what extent does common social norms and publicly shaped patterns implying scales for measuring human worth apply to individual lives? The author goes on to give critical discussion of concepts defining the essentialist society and the related individual identity that is allegedly shaped by making constant choices and following socially valid patterns, as well as presenting the possibility of contingent identity without lack.
The Magnificent Opus on the History of Lithuanian Folklore Research
Authors: Skabeikytė-Kazlauskienė Gražina
Published: November 2022

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Small Folklore Forms in the Life of Signatory Petras Klimas
Authors: Kašėtienė Rasa
Published: November 2022

The 100th anniversary of the Lithuanian independence prompts one to remember the members of the Council of Lithuania who signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania on February 16, 1918. Among them, there was a lawyer, historian, journalist, editor and diplomat, the future Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania – Petras Klimas (1891–1969), who very significantly contributed to establishing of the independent Lithuanian state.Klimas published his first articles and a humorous essay “Christmas Is Fun for Some but Trouble for Others” as early as 1908, while still studying at the Marijampolė Gymnasium. He signed those pieces by pseudonym Vabalėlis (‘little beetle’), since at that time he felt particularly fascinated with texts by a left-wing journalist Albertas Vabalas-Prūseika. Therefore, Klimas used the above-mentioned pseudonym until 1913, relinquishing it afterwards. Klimas became actively engaged in the Lithuanian Science Society, which aimed at encouraging the intelligentsia to join in various cultural initiatives and take part in preservation of the national cultural heritage, promoting interest in local history and native language. Among other things, Klimas was interested in small forms of Lithuanian folklore. This is evident from a little (nine pages long) manuscript collection of proverbs, still preserved at the Lithuanian Folklore Archives and marked LMD I 858. This collection, compiled by Petras Klimas – Vabalėlis contains 244 items belonging to this folklore genre. Klimas listed proverbs (144) separately from proverbial phrases (100), explaining the difference between them in a short introduction to his collection.Already in his first publications, Klimas seemed apt at using proverbs and proverbial phrases properly and according to the situation. Apparently, the signatory-to-be knew a lot of them and willingly inserted them in his speech for added playfulness and figurativeness.Klimas enthusiastically contributed to editing of the periodical “Aušrinė”. As a university student, he published 16 articles there. Editing texts for the Lithuanian periodicals helped Klimas to improve his literacy skills in Lithuanian, which became very handy somewhat later, when he started working in the Commission for Textbooks established by the Lithuanian Science Society.Klimas led an interesting, rich and colorful life with many complicated turns: from attending the Marijampolė Gymnasium to very important, tough and stressful work at establishing the Lithuanian independence. Subsequently Klimas worked as a Lithuanian diplomat and suffered at Nazi prisons and Soviet deportation camps. However, he did not crack even in the most difficult situations, still upholding his principles and denouncing the Soviet regime openly and boldly.
“...Working as Hard as I Can”
Authors: Aleksynas Konstantas Algirdas
Published: November 2022

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The Flowering Fences and the Greener Grass on the Other Side of Them: Reasons for Borrowing Paremias and Prerequisites for Their Adaptation
Authors: Zaikauskienė Dalia
Published: November 2022

The language of any modern society is affected not only by its inner cultural, political, economic and social changes, but also by the external environment. Modern technologies and cosmopolitan tendencies of the global development form favorable prerequisites for faster and broader dissemination of paremias. This article focuses on the borrowing of foreign paremias, including translation loans and full loans. The subject comprises the Russian and English sayings supplementing the pool of the Lithuanian paremias in the course of the 20th – 21st centuries. The author aims at establishing whether the pool of Lithuanian paremias is open and receptive to foreign cultural influences, whether paremias enjoying global popularity become successfully adapted in the Lithuanian medium, and what determines the acceptance of “alien” paremias into the national pool or their rejection, as well as describing possible causes for the new translation loans and full loans, and their functioning.Summarizing of the accumulated data, as well as analyzing various aspects of using and functioning of the borrowed paremias enabled drawing the conclusion that Lithuanians adapt new translation loans and full loans for reasons similar to those that have been discerned in sociolinguistic research dealing with linguistic borrowings. Namely:– borrowing of the foreign saying may be caused by the absence of the native one (i.e. the communicative void);– when the native saying is ill-suited (i.e. the communicative-stylistic discrepancy, when the saying is too archaic, or excessively figurative, and so on);– when the native saying seems ill-fitted for expressing various semantic nuances;– when stronger and more universal argument is required, or there is intention to demonstrate familiarity with foreign culture.That paremia has successfully entered or is about to complete process of adaptation in the local medium can be indicated by the following criteria:– paremia is used only in Lithuanian;– its form has acquired considerable stability;– paremia is accompanied by characteristic introductions indicating its inherent (Lithuanian) character, long-time usage, vernacular affiliation, etc.;– the loan is modified, rephrased, and so on.The Lithuanian language most readily adapts the foreign sayings that are:– characterized by their user-friendly form;– attractive stylistically;– embodying a clear-cut message;– easily applicable and adequate to the contemporary situation.The loans are more readily adapted when native paremias expressing the same message are absent or on the verge of extinction.
The Cognitive Representation of SHAME in Lithuanian and Polish Paremias
Authors: Bogdzevič Monika
Published: November 2022

The article provides a glimpse at wider research on the conceptualization of shame, fear and anger in Lithuanian language. The author attempts to present the semantic and axiological substance of Lithuanian gėda and Polish wstyd (Eng. shame, embarrassment) encoded in the consciousness of two different – namely, Lithuanian and Polish – linguistic-cultural communities.The cognitive representation of the concepts mentioned above has been construed by applying S-A-T methodology, proposed by Jerzy Bartmiński. The data have been drawn from dictionaries and paremias collected from the compendiums of Lithuanian and Polish proverbs by searching for the conceptual and lexical keys of gėda and wstyd. Examination of the lexical data sketches the semantic core of gėda and wstyd, while the semantic analysis of paremias reflects its textual potential, giving an insight into its ethno-conceptualization.Thus, the construct of the mental image of shame illustrated in the Lithuanian and Polish proverbs under study draws on the dictionary definitions of the lexemes, and on semantic analysis of paremias containing those lexemes. The study concludes with a synthetic definition of the Lithuanian gėda and Polish wstyd with an emphasis on its similarities and differences, entrenched in proverbs and language systems as well.
Folkloristics without Illusions. Some Thoughts on the Contexts of Folklore Research by Donatas Sauka
Authors: Ivanauskaitė-Šeibutienė Vita
Published: November 2022

The 90th anniversary of birth of the famous Lithuanian literary scholar and folklorist, professor of the Vilnius University Donatas Sauka (1929–2015) is celebrated in 2019. The article discusses various contexts of the folklore research and academic activities by Donatas Sauka, revealing his own attitude towards folklore as well. Donatas Sauka is rightly placed among the most original and creative Lithuanian folklore researchers. His works and lectures that he gave to the students of the Vilnius University encourage regarding folklore as an integral part of the human life in the traditional community, and emphasize an imperative of grasping the mentality of the folklore creators. According to him, “a collection of folklore, if read intently provides an important source on the social and psychological experience”. Donatas Sauka also merits praise for his unique writing style that combines the research precision and poetic reflection. His most important folklore research works include the monograph Tautosakos savitumas ir vertė (‘Uniqueness and Value of Folklore’, 1970) and the textbook for students Lietuvių tautosaka (‘Lithuanian Folklore’, 1982).The current text rests on the posthumous edition of Donatas Sauka’ diaries and recollections Apie laiką ir save (‘On Time and Myself’, 2019), in which the author remembers and evaluates his personal experiences and those of an entire generation of the Lithuanian intellectuals living under the Soviet occupation, submits auto-commentaries for his books, and reveals details on his research work.
Walking along the Story Road: Research on Relationship with Place
Authors: Kaniava Andrius
Published: November 2022

The article presents a new research perspective on Lithuanian ancient sacred sites. The author adopts the phenomenological approach instead of the usual historical one. The phenomenological approach is centered on human experience, thus the focus shifts from the archaeological artefacts or historical data to the stories and meanings behind them. The author of the article introduces a new term – story-places, as a different definition for places that we usually call sacred sites. This allows him to temporarily set aside the religious meaning of these places and apprehend them as objects of consciousness. The research focuses on folk narratives from two different places in western Lithuania. The first one is told by Bronislava Kučinskienė living near one of the most famous hills in Lithuania – Šatrija. Bronislava spins a complex story of her own experience while singing and dancing on top of the hill, combined with a legend about a girl encountering a witch. We learn that a folk story could be much more complicated than it seems from the first glance. It reveals different meanings of the place. On the one hand, Šatrija appears enveloped in a warm memory about activities this woman loved doing in the past. On the other hand, the hill seems unpleasant, even horrifying, when the story line turns to witches.The second case in point evolves around Kazimieras Sereckis and Stasė Sereckienė. This couple have spent all their lives in the vicinity of the Plateliai Lake. They can tell numerous stories about this place. Both of them have a strong relationship with the lake. They know this place very well: every part of the lake has a name, and Kazimieras knows them all. Moreover, the inner calm characteristic to this couple not only affects their stories, but also their relationship with the place. The couple seems to have some kind of joint knowledge – they always tell stories together, finishing each other’s sentences. On the other hand, the Plateliai Lake, like Šatrija, also has multiple meanings. While the surface of the lake is well known and familiar, the underwater space has a completely different meaning: it is attributed to the dead, to the underworld, which also is reflected in the stories told by Kazimieras and Stasė.The author of the article seeks to reveal the complex and uneven relationship between the human mind and the place. The phenomenological approach helps us to shift our attention and take a walk along the story road. If we look close enough, there appears a host of different meanings. No meaning is permanent – it can and it does change. There is no universal picture of a place in human mind, because every new encounter, every new story has a new perspective. This article proposes an argument in favor of using a phenomenological approach for researching the sacred sites. It focuses on people’s stories, since every place, before anything else, is a story.
Ethnographic Character of the Novel “Vilius Karalius” by Ieva Simonaitytė in the Context of Lithuanian Wedding Customs and Rituals of the 19th – the First Half of the 20th Century
Authors: Kavaliauskienė Aušra Žemyna
Published: November 2022

The aim of the article is introducing a new approach to the Lithuanian classical novel – “Vilius Karalius” by Ieva Simonaitytė, and appreciating it as an ethnographic source supplying data regarding the wedding customs practiced in the Lithuania Minor in the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century. The author compares the literary text and the historical ethnographic facts, also paying attention to the dialect peculiarities. More attention is payed to those segments of the wedding that are more or less explicitly depicted in the novel by Simonaitytė (the matchmaking, the bride’s dowry, leaving for the church, gifts, gaubtuvės, etc.). It appears that although the Lithuanian wedding as a whole is not described in “Vilius Karalius”, the relatively numerous fragments of the wedding customs and rituals, as well as other ethnographic details substantially enrich our knowledge of the wedding practices in the 19th – the first half of the 20th century, also revealing the change of the tradition. Research works by Angelė Vyšniauskaitė serve as the ethnological background for the article, since this researcher has studied the Lithuanian wedding customs very actively and in most detail.Ieva Simonaitytė has recorded in her novel some wedding customs and rituals from the Lithuania Minor that are particularly deeply rooted in tradition and vividly reflect the regional peculiarities: i.e., the adorning and “guarding” of the bride’s corner, the ceremonial covering of the bride (gaubtuvės), the gift giving / ransom, etc. Obviously, some unique aspects of making the dowry came into being in the 20th century Klaipėda Region, possibly determined by intense adoption by the inhabitants of the shop-bought clothes instead of the homemade textiles. The woven trousseau survives as a distinctive mark of the wealthy bride upholding the Lithuanian traditions. The professional matchmaking is explicitly described in the novel as well. In the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century in the Lithuania Minor, searching for a suitable bride or groom was primarily the women’s business. Spread of pietism and increasing modernization of the society resulted in the negative attitude being increasingly directed at the traditional wedding songs, dances and superstitions of the Lithuania Minor.