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STUDIA MYTHOLOGICA SLAVICA | Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU |
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STUDIA MYTHOLOGICA SLAVICA 6, 2003
Bernd Gliwa, Daiva Šeškauskaite:
Die litauischen mythischen Wesen Laime und Laume und die frühe Ontogenese des Menschen
(The Lithuanian Mythic Laime and Laume and the early Ontogenesis of Mankind)
Abstract
The article deals with the processes around procreation, childbearing and birth as they are described in Lithuanian tales, legends and customs. It asks the question at which moment the fetus or child aquires a soul. Mythic beings related to the early ontogenesis are laime ‘fortuna’ and laume ‘fairy’, who have been often mixed. It is shown that the changeling brought by laume refers to the custom of making a doll and exchanging it with the newly born or baptized child. Thus, laume is heavily involved in the process of delivering and may be responsible for getting a soul. Contrarily, laime begins to act only after the delivering, she may be similar to a God mother of the child. An explanation is offered off the changeling as a result of belief in metempsychosis which should ensure the passing of a soul from the tree to the child.
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