When a girl turns to a tree or a rue or even a rock it‘s said that the widower takes cuts down a tree, picks up a rue or takes a rock instead of the girl. This shows that a man can incarnate in a natural object,but stay alive as well.

The spirit which lives in a tree simbolizes a baby

In the series of fairytales ”Ragana neša berniuką maiše” (AT 327 C, F) the ”old people” are advised to cut down a thick tree, make a doll, dress it up and and it‘ll become a child. Hte spirit from the tree will incarnate into the child. In a fairytale ”Apgautas karalius” [10] a queen gives birth to tree children, but her sisters trow them out true the window and write to the king, who is on a batle, that the queen gave birth to a dog, a cat and a treetrunk.

The religious and simbolical meenings of a tree

In the field of religion the most important trees are the deitys and treir mediators, the adobe of the deitys. The oak (Quercus spp.), linden (Tilia cordata Mill.), elder (Sambucus spp.),birch (Betula spp.),nut-tree (Corylus spp.). They are sacred. Personifined tree -a hero- blindė (Salix caprea L.). In an ancient religion of the Balts not only these trees were significant, but also the trees that are grown together, plumpy and those with many shoots. Even know these kind of trees are special. There are trees that simbolize the masculine and feminine rudiments, good and evil, growth and hierarchy. Oak represents a man, linden – a woman, an appletree (Malus spp.) represents them both. In the oaks group we can find the pine (Pinus spp.), the mountain ashtree (Sorbus spp.), ashtree (Fraxinus spp.), aldertree (Alnus glutinosa, A. incana L.), maple (Acer spp.), snowball-tree (Viburnum spp.). the line of the linden contains a firtree (Picea spp.), cornel (Cornus spp.), cherrytree (Prunus cerasus L.). They manifest them selfs in the folklore.

In the folklore the oak and the pine show the man‘s strengh, might, his manhood. When we talk about trees in folklore, which take part in hero action, the tree that is most oftenly mentioned is an oak. While on the other hand, when the devil is mentioned, we find alder or others moisture loving trees. The oak in this case means not only the strongest, toughest tree, but also the incarnation of a man. In the Old Prussian Ramovė (the grove of the holy oaks) the oak is the legendary adobe of the gods. In fairytales, folksongs, folktales the oak plays a part as a symbol for strength and manhood. If a something happens, it’s usually happening near an oak. In a folksong”Po ąžuolėliu” (”Under the oak”) a rue and a lilly is growing under the oak, while in reality it‘s actually imposible. Flowers need more sunlight, than the shade of an oak can provide. Here the oak represents the man while the lilly and the rue represent the girls inosence and the girl it self. In the tale of Adom and Eve it‘s said that they layed under an oak as well. In the Easter song ”Skrido, skrido du pilki karveliai” the pigeons bring some oak acorns while the golden dew falls on them. In the old initiantion ritual girls are lifted in to the oaks by the elder women. Here the oaks simbolize the mans strengh in a sexual act. The words sung by few people become a strong force, which can turn a person into a tree. In the fairytale ”Sesuo ir devyniagalvis slibinas” (”The sister and the nineheaded dragon”) a sister is hideing from the dragon in an oak. It symbolizes the defloration. The oak symbolizes the rudiment of a man. In Medžiokalnis near Kražiai there was a sacred oak, that was visited by women with all sorts of wishes. They oftenly knealed under the oak, brought offering and other things. Mostly however the oak was visited by childless women, wishing they could have babys and be healthy. After the christening people decided to build crosses there. This sacred oak is visited even now.

An oak can also be an adobe of the gods. In the niches the idols of the most important deitys Patrimpas, Perkūnas and Patulas oftenly stood. Under the oak the everlasting fire always burned. So, the oaks were understood both in the religious and symbolical planes.

In the Prussian cronicles of Grunau speaks of the oak in Rikojota: big, strong, tall, mighty, the adobe of the devil. The idols of the gods stood there and that this tree was evergreen in summer and in winter, the leafage of this tree was so thick that no raindrop could get throuh. It is said that in the XVI century the oaks ocupied about 15 – 20 % of the Lithuanian forests. However, now some researchers insist that this percentage is exagerated. In nowadays the percentage of the oaks is only 1, 8. The best climate and soil for the oaks to grow is in Lithuanian seaside region [11]. The oak in Rikojota was also near the sea.

Sometimes the functions of an oak is taken by the appletree. The nineheaded dragon wants to eat the girl siting in an appletree, the grass-snake which seduced.

Eve lays in an appletree as well. Apple oftenly symbolizes fertility. The picking of the apples symbolize a search and the finding of an object. The eating of an apple symbolize a new life – birth. In the underworld an apple symbolizes a human soul.

Herbs and plants are often used as a protection from the devil or the thunder. In the postilla of Wolfenbuttel (1573) the rituals, the worshipings and the traditions that are conected with the old religion, faith, magic are writed down. It is said that the herbs and the plants that are gathered during St. Johns day and the day of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin are oftenly used for fortune tellings or to keep off the devil and other evil spirits (Vėlius 1983: 150).

The plants are oftenly used to heal or to course somebody. For magic rituals people mostly used the whole plant. To heal a human they usualy spoke all sorts of magical words to a plant. A woman named Kotryna, who lives in Tilžė healed the blind ones with the tree barks which fell of the birch fences.

The names of the plants are usualy folkish, taken from the literature, the mythology or Christian. In the dictionarys the plants are introduced in a specific order: the main name of the plant, the Lithuanian synonyms for it, its Latin name, its species, family, tribe, its growing places, usage. There are many plants which got treir names from Lithuanian mythology. Jurgis Ambrozijus (Ambraziejus) Pabrėža published his work ”Botanika arba Taislius auguminis” in he wrote about all sorts of new plant species found in Lithuania and for the names he oftenly used folk ones, such as the names of the deities. Even if he was a priest he gave Lithuanian deity names to 43 plants, using the book of Lasickis ”Apie žemaičių, kitų sarmatų bei netikrus krikščionių dievus” (1969 m.) (”De deis samogitarum, ceterumque Sarmatarum et falsorum Christianorum” 1615 m.) and the material from an article by Ivinskis ”Diewajtej Lietuwiu ir Žiamaijcziu pirm Krikscionistes amžiaus” which was published in 1864 in a calendor.

The mythological names in this dictionary are used in botanical nomenclature. When Pabrėža presented the new species, some of them were from Lithuanias region - Žemaitija therefore got names that are connected to this region. That shows the deep patriotism of J. Pabrėža. He worked not only for him self but for his homeland as well [12-20].

The names pagans used were soon changed to the Christian ones. These names were given according to the color, function, the time of vegetation or blooming. For example the spring primrose were called rakteliai (in Lithuanian - pavasarinė raktažolė), but after the christianing it was renamed as St Peter‘s keys rakteliai. Many other plants also were given new names.

Conclusion

In mythology plants (trees, forests) carry out all sorts of functions. They are worshiped; one gives offerings to deity living within the tree. The plants are also the mediator between the gods and their subjects.

Spirits of the dead also live within the trees, therefore they are respected. When a tree dies the spirit passes on to a newborn.

1. A human spirit can hide not only among, but also within a plant.

2. Trees, herbs are used to protect from the devil.

3. The patriotism of the priest Jurgis Pabrėža alowed Lithuanian mythology to take root within the plant nomenclature.

4. The names of the plants are beeing changed, because the understanding of our suroundings, our religion changes as well. That why the old pagan names were changed to Christian ones.

References

1. Vėlius (1996) Baltų religijos ir mitologijos šaltinių pobūdis. In: BRMŠ I: Baltų religijos ir mitologijos šaltiniai, p. 22-49.

2. Beresnevičius Gintaras (2001) A short dictionary of Prussian and Lithuanian gods. Aidai, Vilnius, Lithuania.

3. Lasickis J (1969) Apie žemaičių, kitų sarmatų bei netikrų krikščionių dievus (De diis Samagitanim caeterorumque Sarmatarum et falsorum Christianorum). K. Korsakas and all. Vaga, Vilnius, Lithuania.

4. Daiva Šeškauskaite, Bernd Gliwa (2010) The Botanical Identity and Cultural Significance of Lithuanian Jovaras: An Ethnobotanical Riddle. Ethnobotany in the new Europe. People, Health and Wild Plant Resources 2010. In: Manuel Pardo-de-Santayana & Andrea Pieroni (Eds.), Oxford, Berghahn Books, New York,  USA, pp. 247-263.

5. Beresnevičius Gintaras (2003) ”Eglė žalčių karalienė” ir lietuvių teogoninis mitas: religinė istorinė studija (”Eglė Queen of Serpents” and the Lithuanian Theogenic Myth: a Religious and Historical Analysis). Culture, Philosophy, and Arts Research Institute, Vilnius, Lithuania.

6. Daiva Šeškauskaite, Bernd Gliwa (2010) Kas bendra tarp dievmedis ir dievai? Respectus Philologicus. Humanistyczno – Przyrodniczy 17(22).

7. Šeškauskaitė D, Gliwa (2005) Lit. kūkalis - Pflanze, Korndämon und Kobold. Res Balticae 10: 69-111.

8. Matas Pretorijus (2004) Prūsijos įdomybės, arba Prūsijos regykla. Inge Lukšaitė & Vilija Gerulaitienė (Eds.), Pradai, Vilnius, Lithuania.

9. Basanavičius Jonas (2003) Lietuviškos pasakos. Tautosakos biblioteka. 6 tomas. Vaga.

10. Navasaitis M, Ozolinčius R, Smaliukas D, Balevičienė J (2003) Lietuvos dendroflora. Kaunas, Lutute, Lithuania.

11. Dagys Jonas (1937) Kaip kunigas A. Pabrėža augalų vardyną kūrė. Gamta 2(4): 131-135.

12. Beresnevičius Gintaras (2003) Eglė žalčių karalienė ir lietuvių teogoninis mitas: religinė istorinė studija (”Eglė Queen of Serpents” and the Lithuanian Theogenic Myth: a Religious and Historical Analysis). Culture, Philosophy, and Arts Research Institute, Vilnius, Lithuania.

13. BRMŠ (2005) The sources of Baltic religion and mythology. (4th edn), The institute of Education and Publishing, Lithuania.

14. Ivinskis L (1864) ”Diewajtej Lietuwiu ir Žiamaijcziu pirm Krikscionistes amžiaus“.

15. Laurinkienė N (1990) Mito atšvaitai lietuvių kalendorinėse dainose. Vaga, Vilnius, Lithuania.

16. LBŽ (1938) Lietuviškas botanikos žodynas. Formed by the commision of botanical dictionary, led by L. Vailionis. In: J Dagys (Ed.), Kaunas, Lithuania.

17. Pabrėža J A (1900) Botanika arba Taislius Auguminis. JAV.

18. Šeškauskaitė Daiva (2001) Sutartinės-senovės apeiginės giesmes. Dakra, Kaunas, Lithuania.

19. Daiva Šeškauskaitė (2011) Erotika tautosakoje (Love and Erotic in Folklore). Kruenta, Lithuania.

20. Usačiovaitė E (1999) Augimo samprata tradicinėje lietuvių kultūroje. In: Augalų ir gyvūnų simboliai. Gervelė, Vilnius, Lithuania, pp. 38-139.