AI-FONSAS MOTUZAS. PIt-ICRIMACE IN TO TFIE IIII, I- OF CROSSES i,, rrr,rlt'ridlS describing the Hill of Crosses are very poor. The first to men- , r . the Russian archaeologist S.V. I'okrovskij. He introduced it in the list ALFONSAS MOTUZAS ' , ,, 1,, r, r rlogical heritage in Kaunas gubernatorial map. On August 22, 7900 a " il''l.r11glr ir-rvestigation of the Hill was done by the Polish scientist PITGRIMAGF TO TI-]F I-JILL OF CROSSES i r rr it ki. Tl-re historical analysis about the origin of the Hill was published TATVIAN ' CATHOIIC TRADIIION' r | , rLIys in the encyclopaedic edition "Churches in Lithuania", vol.3 [81. 1,, l,rr k of materials and the fact that practically no reseatcher has tried to Introduction I rr1,1111 this topic show that the work is novel and original. Thcre.rc cou.trie-s all .ver the r,r,orltr where crathoricisrn t,' , ,rr It,r to rcveal the Latvian ritual customs on the Hill of Crosscs, firstiy we decply r.oiecr is mucrr rrr,,rr tha'in r,iilrra'ja, . t, , there, to but yotr .,,,".,", fi'd srch speciar nr;rkc a brief overview of the origin of devotional practices then spiritual L.xLrressions crevoti.rr:,,rrrrl that are , on thc Hill of Clro, far-frc,rn r | lrr,rintcd with the materials collcctcd during the summcr cxpeditions of riai. Trre Hiir rrrc city or ri,.rrr uf c-.o.r..;',.';;,",,,::::,T'ilj'.1_t.ii""t:,not 'r)()3, witnessing about the Latvian ritual customs, thirdly, to describe the- rr a' o'er rrr ' r)rr e w<, rr cr ri'g rhc tc. r":l' :.i..':,1:T,":iilr,:iff]f , ,', ,,1 these rituals, and finally, to show their way to thc' Hill of Crosses. mrrsic <'>i thc Hi, of c..,.r", rrrere werc . ,", thc pilgrinrs L ;l:;: frorr all cr "i'ollll',lill"ill[i::,tJ,il r I'r'ief history of the origin of the Hill of Crosses m,,sic a ccorcr, u,,ilii,'l., H,: l'T :iliJl:i";::1, "1",J}:;**, llr, llill of Crosses is situatecl 12 km north of the'town of Sirtrli.ri, ntrt far groLrps are also", ilfi il met amorrg ,, t them with their bt antl ,,, lrc motorway to lliga. Nowadays it belongs io the Siatrliai diocese. I'eople Iowing tl.reir rituals. the.prayers, l"l Tl]" ,,.,t1.,..,. of thc article ..l.l'j*.--*tltt"t ,il rlri'hill differently: thc Hill of the Castle, the cemetery of furgaiiiai. rit'als tike, wrrcrc cl. rrrev origirrare *",", ;;;1,,.:,iJ::"t I lrt' I{i11 itself is on the left bank of a small Iliver Kulpe and it is surroundcd ancl :,'l:'r:li.:T:J,ll,: existcncc, whcr. these c-ievotiolls come f.,u'. ir.'' L;rtvia? i ,r r,nrall tributary which does not even havc'a name. It is about 70 tn long, Hencc. rftc jr,r f,c rcscnrclt thc. rituals oh | ,,7 - of Latvia' pilgrims | | | r \\,icle anr-l it is as high as a two-storey house high. From the geological pornt 'l ,* in" ,r,,, oi Crosscs. ht'nirr,s tci irvestig.ie Latvia'.ir".r, p".r..mecl by r,atvian i \ r,'\v it is thc highest point of the arca. The first data about the hili are from Hill of pilgrims.rr rlrr crosses. rrr.rc'rtr to reach trris.im."s..n.cl., excavations: people's skeletons, swords and mcdals from has bcen cro'e for more,r,r,r ",lr,reoiogical ;l#I'ii,lil:i1i.il[T[,,;:,T.:i'l:::iffi .,' , , Iish times have- been found lcf .14,4014061. I lrere arc. a lot of legends about thc Hill of Crosses. One of thcm hars it th:rt rn kt. -t;7; t)1. :]1fJ:lilli:i:iliinlf l' I r, ('hristian Lithuania, at thc present piace of the hill there was a big batilc. Rtstnrch tnsks: 1,, t\\'cen Riga crusaders ar-rd the local pagans which cnded in serious casualtics. 1) to analysc rituals of Latvian piigrims; 1,, r('nlembrar-rce of thc battle the local people moundccl a hill with a sacred firc, 2) kr establish the origin of these .iiuotr; l,rri rring on it, kept by pricstesses. Supposedly, there was a castle, in the Livonia 3) to revc'ar r'r'rry Laivi.n pirgrims .l',,r,,r., trrese ritut-rrs , lrtrnicles it was callccl "Kr-rle, Kulan", which was burnt by the crusaders rn the as fheir c.rev.tions Hill of Crosses. 'rr I i lfi. Aftcr the introcluction of Christianity the altar and thc castle were demol- Tlr lrypo,rsis of ,rc rcscnrtrt: thc. boncrs of I_atvi., a'c-r lrt'rl, and a chapei/church was built instead [cf. 8,2551. cultnrc that Litrruanian Carr.rrr ' startcd fror-r. At thc. beginning of ther 19th century the peasants of thesc arears took a very Hlr or Crc,sse, rr,, ",; ;;;.;Tl:..TTllll,];Iilli.,i'"i1,'.,1; "''.",,"Jo,, r, livc part in the revolt against tsarism. It is said that thc first crosses were built llcstttrcl t t ne I Jrcttl s.. analytical, comparativc and rc.trospectivc. tlrt'rc by the relatives of Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish lost rebels of the.l831 ', r'olt, because the tsarist power had not allowed to pay tribute to their graves. 172 I(ULTURAS KRUSTPUNKT] 2. I.Ii(I]cnS I\I-FONSAS MOTUZAS. PILICR]MAC]E IN TO THE HILI- OF C]IIOSSES The .umber of crossrs increascd aftcr the rev.lt .f 1g63. During 18(r.r rI liorn€ as the sign of public confession of the belief in Christ and Holy the gc-ncl.rmes *lri{ k,red , Litrruanian ancr Irorisrr rebers a'cl put them t.1,,r,rrr.l . ,i l, I rr, 34-351. rn a prt rn the hiri. si'ce thcn the rocar pcoprc usecJ to buird crosses irr,,,rrr i l,, r rtrr,rl to kneel at the stations of the cross in commemoration of Christ's ntemoration of thc sla.in, br-rt_the tsarist power clestroyed them. ,, ,r ntl c-lcath came from Jerusalem, when in the Basilica of Holy Sepulchrc, soviet Durirrli tlre ',r times, communists ancl athcists orga.isc.cr five attempts to destr.y rrre ,r,,, .rritlrthel5thcentury,thepilgrimstogetherwithlocalFranciscanmonks hill, and all the built crosses werc. knocked clown. It happencd I r,,111111 the Stone of Anointmcnt which is in the centre [cf. 11,99]. The 1961; on Apqll r April 26, 1973; November 23, 1974; the psalms are suI'rg while at crrristmas , 1971 and in surrrrrr,.r ' ' rrf ', of the rituals when prayers are said and 1976 Then the rri'was totaty crearcd, part of rr was even bulltlozed, h.r't,r ,ll ,,, . rti)es back to 380 AD when the first Christians visited the sacred places er' belicvc'rs wcnt on praying the'rc a'cr btrilding crosses at nigrrt. An.r , in Jerusalem on the night of Palm Thursday to Goocl Friday had the Hill of rr,,,, 'tlr,,lics Crosses survived. ,, ,,,rrling different chapters from the Bible, saying the prayers, singing the on scptember 7, i993_when the.'.pe. John paur II w's celcbrated ,1,,r ,nrd other hymns, but starting with the 15th century, they were led by Mas-s thc rr,r1 in the built c^apel opposite thc mr-rsicologists, thc ntu- ^cwly Hill, it becamc famous all ovt,r. tlu, , , ,, I t rns lcf.5,2151. Nowadays according to Latvian worlil [cf. 72, 2]. t rrr',irrg mourning psahns Ot't'icium DefunctLtrunt (Office of the Dead) during After a brief rriskrrical srrrvey of thc origin of ihe. F{ilr, we ,, tLrr[.r,rl, was introduced at the end of the lTth century. In 1U20 ihe Jesuit obclisk sc€r that rt r:; ,rr to the fightc'rs for religi.rrs a.cr Dct'ttnctorttm stu"- national freedom who were buriecl lrr.r,. rr,,rl lr tsarist I{nssia was suppressed but the ritual of Ofr:itnr , , , | ,r'' r clcvotional folk tradition fcf .3, 12-74]. The rituals used by Latvian pilgrims on the Hill of Crosses ililr,. w,e may say that the singing of psalms during thc funeral in Latvta and their origin ,,,t,l,,, l thcm to use the same ritual on the Hill of Crosses and to vcnerate the Using the matcriars of the 7gg2).04 paying tribute summer exprcji1i611r, let us anirrv,n, , ,,rr which Jesus Christ was crucified and died. The ritual of what the rituals of Latvian pirgrims were . 9,92, 93]. duri.g iheir stay on trre H'l .f Cr.s:;r,r , | | ,, ( ('rretry and thc dead goes back to the first Christian agc [cf The rnaterials of the ,992 2004 summer rc.vel, that pilgrims,rrr,l \rrothcr ritual - the silent prayer - is also knr:rwn since the early Chr:istian tourists from Latvia arrive ""p.r,rru.,, at ihe. Hit of Crosses: pirgrims , , , ,, l, rvhich later became a tradition in Roman liturgy to conccntr;rte before Da'gavpils, fr.m Rezcnrrr, Rigtr trncl Jergava Catholic 6, 971' parishes and tourists from diffcr.t,rrl , I | ,, \'('r'. It was exceptionally practiced by Jesuits in the 16th century lcf ' places irr Lat'ia' I-ots of pirgrims art' of a ve.erable age ancl are lecl by '', , \\'e have to admit that the tradition of silcnt prayer in Latvian folk devo- or a catechist a prit,,,l [cf. l]. i, ,r,,(()ltlesfromtheJesuitheritage,whichisstillfarirlyvividinrccentLatvtan Thc m.terials srrow trrat Latvian pirgrims ,, the table is includecl.