Lithuanian Folklore, Traditions, Mythology

This course, taught in English, is specifically designed for foreign and Lithuanian students of different study programmes. It offers an overview of different aspects of the traditional Lithuanian way of living: folklore, festivals, family customs and traditions, mythology, and the main features of material culture. The course focuses on the issues of continuity, transformation, or disappearance of specific traditions as well as on the various forms traditional phenomena acquire in contemporary culture. Moreover, the traditional Lithuanian way of living is compared to those of other European peoples, giving students a possibility to learn about cultural phenomena in a wider context.

To introduce students to the traditional Lithuanian culture – folklore, mythology, customs, and the main phenomena of material culture.

Competence of English B1 level.

The main features of traditional Lithuanian culture; how the Lithuanian way of living, folklore, and traditions developed, changed, and continue to change in the 21st c. Scholarly research on ethnic Lithuanian culture and folklore: major names and ideas. Narrative folklore: tales, legends, minor genres of folklore, contemporary Lithuanian folklore. The Baltic mythological tradition: the main features of mythical thinking and mythical worldview; the ancient Baltic pantheon. The relationship between the ancient Baltic religious mythological tradition and Christianity in folk religiosity, modern (re-) constructions of ancient mythological traditions. Ancient calendar and work-related festivals: the understanding of time and the reform of the calendar, Christmas and Shrovetide customs, spring jobs and moveable festivals, St John’s Day, autumn festivals, developments of festival traditions. The main national holidays. Customs and rituals of the cycle of life: baptism, wedding, funeral. Various phenomena of ethnic material culture in the 19th-20th c.: villages and scattered homesteads, monuments and memorials, major trades, food, clothing. Changes of the material aspects of the lifestyle in Lithuania since the second half of the 20th c. until present.

1. The main features of traditional Lithuanian culture and their transformations are clearly described; the most important concepts and ideas by major researchers of ethnic Lithuanian culture are identified. 2. The main genres of Lithuanian narrative folklore are properly described, their main characteristics are identified. 3. The main features of the Baltic mythological tradition are clearly described; the most important deities of the ancient Baltic pantheon are indicated; the main aspects of the relationship between the ancient Baltic religious mythological tradition and Christianity in folk religiosity are described; contemporary (re-) constructions of ancient mythological traditions in present day Lithuania are described. 4. The main traditional calendar, work-related, and family festivals are clearly described; the meaning of the most important customs and rituals is explained and their development described; the main national holidays are identified. 5. The main features of ethnic Lithuanian material culture (villages and scattered homesteads, monuments and memorials, major trades, food, clothing) are identified and briefly described.