Archaeologia Baltica

This article examines a specific kind of sacrifice to the pagan Lithuanian and Prussian gods recorded in the written sources of the 16th and 17th centuries, sacrifices made in and by water. There is a total of just ten such records known. Both Lithuanian and Prussian tribes practiced this kind of sacrifice. It is noteworthy that sacrifices involving water were not made to a single deity, but rather to several different gods; that the kind of sacrifice varied and that the most diverse sorts of intentions were pursued in making the sacrifice.

The current tendencies in global society are clear: the internationalisation of studies in HEIs, the expansion of the labour market, foreign employees with a different cultural background in almost all organisations, etc. A successful professional life depends on the readiness of people to be open to global changes and innovation. Intercultural communication may lead to openness and a better preparation for a future career. This form of communication strengthens a positive attitude towards new trends in the labour market, global business, immigrants and foreigners. In addition, intercultural communication can be used to promote the local culture to others, and to become familiar with remote cultures. This article reveals the importance of intercultural communication for careers, and presents students’ perspectives. According to the results of the survey, intercultural communication is beneficial for personal development: it strengthens qualities such as self-esteem and confidence, and can form new abilities such as critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork. This type of communication provides students with more opportunities to study abroad, and ensures a competitive advantage in business. As students noted, intercultural communication should be practised constantly, and its beneficial aspects have a positive impact on the broader world-view, cultural awareness and career prospects.

In today’s life, the formation of a new twenty-first century society structure, which is changing people’s personal, professional and social conditions of existence, more and more frequent are demands from the public and there is a trend of social competence development. First of all, thinking about the teachers, who often run initiatives, internal motivation, knowledge, sometimes in interaction with students in strengthening the social competence phenomena such as communication and cooperation. It is never too late to improve communication and cooperation culture. The article seeks to reveal the importance of social competence for self-assessment process. The article presents the theoretical background of self-assessment process. In order to reveal social competence, a model which illustrates the parts of social competence such as communication (reciprocity) and cooperation (activity) is presented. That‘s why teacher-teacher, teacher-student, student-student, student-teacher have been chosen as research subjects who reflect the characteristics of reciprocity and activity in the process of learning. The instrument of the research is a questionnaire. The research participants were 49 Lithuanian teachers, 142 students and 23 Belgian teachers and 86 students.

The current tendencies of a global society are obvious: the labour market is expanding, people are travelling for various reasons all over the world, every organisation can have foreign workers with different cultural backgrounds, the internationalisation of studies HEIs is constantly being implemented, etc. Successful and effective daily life depends on the readiness of people of any age to be open to global change and innovation. The intense pace of life requires adaptation to new circumstances and the use of internationally recognised tools to address global challenges. This article reveals the benefits of intercultural communication in a global society. This form of communication influences the quality of modern life, and strengthens positive attitudes towards new trends in the labour market, global business, immigrants and foreigners. In addition, intercultural communication can be used to promote local culture to others, and to become familiar with other cultures. The analysis and survey of various sources provides valuable evidence that intercultural communication is beneficial to the quality of daily and professional life, and creates a competitive advantage for labour market professionals. According to the results of the survey, intercultural communication is useful for strengthening self-esteem and confidence, developing new competencies, studying abroad, and managing careers in business.

This article addresses the current stage of research on Lithuania’s ancient sacred places. Numerous examples and discussions prove that these are cases for cross-disciplinary investigation. Although they are different, all the geographical, archaeological, linguistic and folklore aspects are important, and urgently require careful consideration, both by analysis and synthesis. The article discusses the Lithuanian term senoji šventvietė (‘ancient sacred place’) and difficulties concerning the understanding of it. The division of sacred places into areas is presented from a geographical point of view; historical factors are mentioned, as well. Attention is drawn to the local geographical features of sacred places, such as, for instance, their association with the points of the compass. The amount of archaeological stray finds with respect to sacred places is discussed. Finally, some important details are pointed out, while presenting research into place names and folklore associated with sacred places.