Karnavalas Lietuvoje

Abstract

In this article the author makes an attempt to analyse the transformations of the masking tradition in Lithuania from the early beginning of the 20th century until the present days. At the beginning of the 20th century we could find several forms of disguising in the traditional Lithuania village. But the main custom without any doubt was the walking of the maskers. By walking of the maskers we mean the custom when on certain feast days villagers dressed in different masks and visited all farmste ads of the village. The appearance of the maskers, their actions and the reaction of the owners of the farmsteads allow us to speak about the ritual functions of the walking, significant to every member of the village community. Over the centuries, almost till the First World War, the historical development of the customs was to some extent suspended by the stability of life in the Lithua nian village. But the new cultural and economic conditions, which were formed in the 1920ies, destroyed the social structure of the traditional village community, and changed the way of thinking and stereotypes of social behaviour of country people. The comparati ve analysis of the ethnographical data shows that in the processes of transformation most of the communal customs lost their ritual importance and gradually got new functions of entertainment. At that time not only functions but also the structure and the content of the customs changed. The cultural influence of town and modem education liberated the individual thinking from the authorities of the village community, and the villagers could interpret the stereotypical images of the rites more freely, at the same time increasing the possibility of their variety. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, due to the cultural influence of the town, the walking of the maskers had acquired some traits of carnival processions in bigger villages. The Lithuanian Rebirth Movement started with the motto of reviving Lithuanian national culture and ethnic identity. Restoration of Lithuania's independence also stimulated the interest in values of national culture. The enthusiasts of ethnic culture started organising the walking of the masked revellers on Shrove Tues day in all Lithuania. However, in our days the walking of masked revellers has lost its ritual function and has become only a game. Even more, in most cases the custom is sustained artificially by some local authorities. As usual, the acting of the maskers has a form of a carnival procession. Several years ago The Centre of Lithuanian Folklore in Vilnius started to organise the Christmas time, Shrove Tuesday and other carnivals. In such festivals numerous elements of the traditional carnival culture and even pre-Christian religion are used. At the same time, the Lithuanian society has become more modem and prefers contemporary public entertainment. The globalisation of culture and economics have formed two different tendencies in the present-day carnival tradition in Lithuania. On the one hand, enthusiasts of ethnic Lithuanian culture make an attempt to revive old customs, on the other, we see fast spreading elements of cosmopolitan culture.