Mergelės Marijos ir akmens sąsajos lietuvių folklore

Abstract

The object of this article is the relation between stone and the Blest Virgin Mary. The aim is to define the functions of stone in narratives about the Mother of God in the Lithuanian folklore, revealing the place of stone during the advent of Mary and finding parallels in the tradition of different Catholic countries. The aim is achieved by applying text analysis and comparative methods. Lithuanian folk stories tell us about growing or walking stones. Mary hurts her feet or toes and gets angry. She curses the stones by stopping their growth. Also Mary can ask God to stop the growth of stones because of the care about people who won’t be able to live in the world because of the big stones. In those narratives the Blest Virgin Mary (as well as God) participates in the creation of the world stopping the growth of stones. The other group consists of stories about the footprints left on the stone. People, animals, devil, God or Jesus as well as Mary can leave footprints on the stone. Mary left her footprint when stones were soft or while she was resting on it, also footprints can be left as a sing of the advent of Mary. Those stories are common in other countries, too. The main functions of the stone can be defined as follows: stone hides various objects, treasures. It marks the line between two spheres (mostly between the world of the living and the dead), also stones can protect people from mythological personages and mark the centre of something. In the stories about the advent of Mary, stone marks the line between heaven, where she comes from, and the earth, but it does not have a protecting function. Also stone footprints or other signs left by Mary during her advent can mark the centre of the church. The folklore texts mention the healing characteristic of stones. Some stones are honoured, people pray and walk on knees around them, break peaces off them and rub painful parts of their body.[...]