| Abstract [eng] |
Summary God the Beggar: the Image of Beggar in Lithuanian Customs and Mythology Begging in the Lithuanian tradition manifests itself as a special phenomenon that has retained the features of pre-Christian culture. This paper attempts to research the peculiarity and origins of this phenomenon by means of historical data as well as data on Lithuanian customs and narrative folklore. The present paper analyses beggar-related daily and festive customs that prevailed in rural Lithuanian during the period between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The analysis of customs reveals the significance and the importance of beggars to the rural society of that time. Whilst beggars are perceived as certain social outcasts they are treated with much consideration and respect. This is particularly evident in festive customs. Such special behaviour towards beggars may be accounted for by the social and the mythological aspects. The social aspect is underpinned by the analysis of data, such as historical sources and folklore data, which are concerned with magi of the old Baltic tradition. This analysis suggests that begging can be the niche, which in some way could have conserved the “institution” of magi of the old Baltic religious tradition. The mythological aspect is based on researching the image of the beggar in Lithuanian tales and sagas. The image of the beggar is inseparably linked with the image of God the Old Man, which appears in tales. Even though three popular Lithuanian mythological deities, i.e. Perkūnas, Velnias and Dievas manifest themselves in the form of God the Old Man, most data related to the image of beggar are found in the group of tales where God the Old Man appears walking around the world. While travelling around the world and pretending to be just an old man or a beggar the God teaches people how to do certain household tasks and tests their morality. The ones who disobey the God, insult him or do not follow the norms of morality are punished, while the righteous are rewarded. The image of such God the Old Man and the description of actual beggars in rural Lithuania during the period between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century bare similarities in appearance (the old age, the stick) and behaviour (wandering across the villages, begging, asking for a place to spend the night). The image of beggar in both Lithuanian customs and mythology is influenced by the Christian thought; however, the sources, especially Lithuanian tales and sagas, researched reveal layers of pre-Christian worldview of the image. The motif of God travelling incognito around the world may have common roots of the Indo-European culture. Yet the case of the Lithuanian God travelling incognito is considered highly provocative as it acquires major significance through the image of beggar. |
