The theme of St. Mary in Polish funeral songs in the Vilnius territories

The present paper analyses a group of Polish funeral songs referring to St. Mary, com-prising those devoted to St. Mary or referring to her in the main theme. The songs were performed with reference to the funeral ceremony, ritualized in terms of liturgy or cus-toms, in the Vilnius territories. In the development of St. Mary songs in Lithuania the historical context of the cult of God's Mother in Lithuania and the history of the Catholic song 'of the time of death' in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is taken into consideration. At present the Vilnius repertoire of funeral songs comprises: 1. old songs, freąuently of Baroąue origin, which overpower with eschatological dread, 2. popular religious songs, paraphrased over the centuries, taken from the 19th century religious songbooks, and 3. local anonymous songs, written in the circles of singers and following the pattern of traditional songs that circulate owing to hand-written songbooks. The theme of St. Mary plays a significant part in these songs due to the ideology, the approach to the position St. Mary holds by the side of Jesus Christ, and her primary role in salvation. The image of St. Mary created in contemporary songs is influenced by traditional religious concepts and the former model of folk religiosityVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŠvietimo akademij