Cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lithuanian family customs

Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas Švč. Mergelės Marijos kultas ir liaudies pamaldumo formos lietuvių šeimos papročiuose XIX a. pab. - XXI a. pr. Pagrindinis darbo šaltinis - empiriniai tyrimai, autorės atlikti 1989-2007 m. Lietuvoje, lietuvių gyvenamose etninėse žemėse Baltarusijoje (Gervėčių apylinkėse) ir Lenkijoje (Punsko krašte). Taip pat remtasi istoriniais šaltiniais, ankstesnių tyrinėtojų veikalais. Darbe taikomas istorinis lyginamasis metodas. Marijos kultą lietuvių šeimos papročiuose liudija keletas požymių: 1) Dievo Motinos kulto apraiškos lietuvių šeimos papročiuose; 2) malonės, patiriamos per Marijos užtarimą; 3) liaudyje paplitęs Dievo Motinos kultas.The article analyses the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the forms of popular devotions in Lithuanian family customs. The work is based on the previous sources and the investigation materials gathered by the author in 1989-2007 in Lithuania, West Byelorussia (Gervėčiai district) and Poland (Punskas region). Some factors testify the forms of veneration of Mary: 1) the popular devotions to Our Lady in Lithuanian family customs; 2) the blessings of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Šiluva, where people obtain divine graces today; 3) the cult of Our Lady is spread by simple people. The forms of venerating Mary were propagated by different monks in the 17-18th c. c. Later it was established in the Lithuanian family customs. The liturgical forms of venerating Mary were transformed into the new forms of popular devotions in Lithuanian family customs. The veneration of Our Lady testifies some forms of popular devotion in childbirth customs: the vow of a mother, prayers before a childbearing and after a childbearing, prayers after the Baptism, offering of a child to Mary, hymns, pilgrimages, the old rites of churching of women after childbirth. The veneration of Our Lady testifies some forms of popular devotion in wedding customs: blessing and reception rites of the newlyweds in their parents' homesteads, a prayer of the newlyweds before Mary's altar after the sacrament of matrimony; the shower rites of daughter-in-law in a bridegroom's homestead. The popular devotion to Our Lady was observed in such funeral rites: mortifying, laying out, and chanting rites. There is a national veneration of the Blessed Mary until now. Significant role belongs to Mary's shrines, such as Šiluva. [...