Res Humanitariae

XXI a. aktuali tapo diskusija – ar verta, o jei verta, tai kodėl reikia skaityti. Ir ne tik grožinę, bet ir mokslinę literatūrą. Šalininkai pateikia daugybę argumentų – skaitantis žmogus gali pakeisti save ir pasaulį; lavina dėmesio sutelkimą, atmintį, vaizduotę, protą bei įvairius kitus gebėjimus ir t. t. Šiame žurnalo numeryje rasite dar vieną argumentą – „taip žmogus tolsta nuo žvėries“. Tai profesoriaus Petro Bielskio įžvalga, o jo rašinys šiame numeryje – paskutinis. Tad nuo jo ir siūlau pradėti pažintį su XX (jubiliejiniu!) „RES HUMANITARIAE“ tomu. O jau paskui publikacijų eiliškumą rinkitės savo nuožiūra. Jei Jūsų moksliniai ar bendražmogiškieji interesai siejasi su baltų ir kaimyninių slavų tautų mitologija, etnologija, fokloristika, etnolingvistika, šis numeris bus ir naudingas, ir įdomus.

The final phase of the Viking Age in the Prussian material culture was marked by the proliferation of media in the retinue of the Prussians and Curonians bronze and iron products, coated (plated) of silver. By the XIV century from the Prussian nobility extends the custom of wearing “knightly” zones, as the Order’s decorated and traditionally Prussian images. Later burials of Christianized Prussians plated items disappear along with the main array of other burial items.

The article reviews and attempts to verify mythical information provided by Matthaeus Praetorius (Matthäus Prätorius, the end of the 17th century) in his work “Deliciae Prussicae or Prussian Theater” (Deliciae Prussicae, oder Preussische Schaubϋhne), which is directly concerned with childbirth and christening rituals, at the same time the role of Laimė, Laumė and the Blessed Virgin Mary in the mentioned customs is revealed. In parallel with this, the article discusses interpretations by more significant researchers of the 19th–21st centuries who were concerned with M. Praetorius’s mythical material on childbirth and christening. The context of the researches of the 19th–21st centuries has shown that researchers of earlier periods did not consider the question of reliability of M. Praetorius’s mythical material. The present research has also revealed that mythical information on childbirth and christening described by M. Praetorius is reliable and that patrons of human birth – Laimė / Laumė / the Blessed Virgin Mary – should be treated as some kind of (each other’s) continuation or as a constant and variables. Human birth is a constant which is made meaningful by rituals that, taking into account historical and religious context, are patronised by a certain variable.

The article discusses problems connected with Balto-Slavic mythological parallels, including typology of mythological characters, lexical similarities resulting from genetic affinity and borrowing, as well as the influence of mythological systems of neighbouring peoples. Some new Balto-Slavic parallels have been suggested, viz. Rugių boba – Baba Ruga (Roga); Pikulas – pikulík; nelabais, and nelabasis – nelapši, nelapszy, with the focus on their ethnolinguistic aspect, both as mythological characters and as elements of the mythological lexicon. Special attention has been paid to the etymology of these words. The new parallels between the two groups of related languages provides additional material related to Slavic and Baltic ethno- and glottogeny.

The article deals with the issues related to the specifics of the incantation as a genre of oral folklore, history of collecting, publishing and the beginning of their studying in Russia. The main emphasis is put on the first monographic work dedicated to conspiracies. Scientific portrait of the author is represented, his work, translations and reprinting are analyzed. Features that have made the book classic are established.

The object of this publication is the anecdotes about famous people and personages of the movies and literature. The research helped to identify the most popular personages and describe the images of them. It can be done conclusion that in the anecdotes which are told in Lithuanian the personages of movies and literature are more popular than the real famous people (politicians, sportsmen or pop stars). The images of personages are ambivalent, they can be shown in positive situations but more often these personages are negative: the features of the characters are drawn ironically; the results of their activities are estimated in the mocking and even scornful way.

This article open national connection of spring Pydlyassha folklore on the base of comparison with repertoire of neighbour ethnographical regions. The comparative analysys of song examples from Pydlyassha is realized on the foundation comparison of main motive of Pydlyassha spring songs and neighbouring ethnographical songs. The article also analyses existing different kind of names for spring calendar songs on the territory of Pydlyassha and other neighbouring regions.

The author of the article deals with the nature of Ukrainian marriage ceremony and content of its main components. Regional differences of historical Uman wedding was investigated and revealed its educational potential. It was noted that Uman wedding with its songs accompaniment included a layering of many ages, the echoes of old ideas and beliefs, heathen symbols. The author proved that wedding had in its meaning high moral and ethical ideals of the people that included experience of many generations. The main task of the research is restoration and revival in youth-wedding ritual customary traditions, and most importantly, wedding texts with their deep educational content.

The article deals with the anthropometric measures that have been used in the dwellings construction, determined different types of measurement. Dwelling parameters and its components were analysed based on human body.

The article discusses the characteristics of the literary language used in Old Believer Russian folk pictures found during field investigations in the lower Yenisey river in the Republic of Tuva. Modern folk pictures are considered as a complete artistic whole in which all the visual tools convey the characteristics of the ideology of the Old Believer traditional culture and reflection of the modern world. Modern Russian folk pictures draw image and text from icons, manuscripts and printed books, wherein the contradictory tendencies of modern art are traced postmodernism with the elements of interpretation of ancient art.