Klaipėdos universitetas

The article searches for manifestations of the trickster phenomenon in Lithuanian folklore and folk customs, trying to investigate whether Lithuanian trickster traits are observed in folk culture, and what names they could be given. The search for an image that is well known to cultural researchers in the West in ‘one’s own’ Lithuanian culture opens up opportunities for a broader analysis and understanding of traditional culture. The study reveals a wide variety of destructive, mischievous, joking or even harmful figures in folk tales and stories, calendar feasts and work customs, which do not allow for naming a single one as a trickster, and thus the multifaceted nature of the trickster phenomenon is established. Future research into manifestations of the trickster in our culture could include a deeper reflection on the Lithuanian national identity behind the masks of the dressers, or the text of the folk tale and the story.

The article deals with a popular image in traditional peasant culture, that of a supernatural being that is believed to be stealing milk and dairy products, and bringing them to its (usually female) owner, thus enhancing her wealth. In Lithuania, this milk stealer figure is called aitvaras/kaukas, in Latvia pūkis, in Finland para, and in Sweden bjära. despite the different names and some other discrepancies in origin and nature, all these images are shown to be essentially similar. The author considers all of them to be rooted in the traditional peasant culture and mentality, which can be characterised to a considerable degree by the concept of ‘limited good’ (Foster 1965).