Paganism of Prussian: sacred caste tulissones, ligaschones

Анотація

The text of the Christburg Treaty is unique as the sole written source providing information about the performers of funeral rituals for Prussian nobles. We find reflections of the rituals of the tulisonys and lygašonys in the funeral customs, folk beliefs and folklore of later eras (and in some cases until today). The origins of the titles tulisonys and lygašonys are disputed even among linguists, however all scientists agree on the nature of the functions of these servants of the cult. No matter how we call them (supplicants, explicators of signs, vaidiluèiai, holy men, masters of the spirits, mourners, žyniai or fortune-tellers), their basic duty is to guide the spirit of the deceased and to serve in rituals of burial. Functionally, the tulisonys and lygašonys are comparable (identifiable) with the Prussian hierophant described in the 14th century and called the krivis (Criwe, crywe kyrwaito), and with the soldiers, servants and barons who mourned their noble chiefs and leaders abundantly attested in 13th–14^th century sources, and the mourners (women, men, loved ones, relatives) who mourned at peasant funerals attested in the literature of the 15th–20th centuries.

Most of the funeral rites ended with the burning of the deceased body. In antiquity for example some thinkers equated the soul directly with fire. The second reason was that the soul was separated (liberated) from the body when the body of the deceased was burnt. Therefore, the soul could move faster to another underground world. Prussian also believed that next to the deceased should burn the most necessary things and they will serve them as before. Particular attention was paid to the horse of the deceased owner. The horse had to deliver the soul of the deceased to the underground kingdom. The main part of the funeral was that the participants had to perform terrible rituals, wail, mourn, scream and howl with powerful voices, screech. Most often relatives had to sing songs or scrim special expressions nevertheless mourning and lamentation is performed not out of sadness, but more out of a sense of necessity. Some of the rituals are used up to this day for example when a person dies, he needs to be kissed, all guests must praise him and sing songs of mourning for his life, to make others cry; the deceased never should be condemned, for it is said, the spirits of the dead come in the night to avenge for desecration.

In all cases they sought to serve fittingly the deceased by performing the necessary ritual guaranteeing passage from this to the next world. With the advent and spread of Christianity, the tradition of songs of mourning at the funerals of the nobility (and later of the common people as well), together with the singers of songs of mourning, were slowly pushed out by Catholic and Protestant hymns and sermons delivered during funerals. Some rituals have remained up to this day in the form of traditions, including the well-known phrase: about dead speak only good or do not say anything. Some other elements of funeral ceremonies are condemned by the Catholic Church and are recognized as superstitions.