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Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the religious rituals performed by individuals and communities meeting with uncertainty. I’ll discuss traditional ways of securing God’s protection, and how people today cope with uncertainty during the pandemic and in the face of war.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on the rituals performed by individuals and communities facing with uncertainty. Traditionally, to cope with natural disasters and diseases, people looked for protection and security in faith and religion. One of the common ways to seek God’s grace or protection was individual or communal offerings. In Lithuania, most often such offering was the construction of a sacral monument (cross or chapel). Depending on the intentions and supplications, specific locations were chosen for the erection of a monument, and certain rituals were performed. Facing a major disasters (pandemic, fire, and war), the community or a group of individuals used to build a religious monument to safeguard all the inhabitants of the area (village, town). People would gather at the monument to pray individually or collectively and to give specific offerings, asking for God’s help. Another way was to go to a place famous for miracles and perform certain rituals there. Sick persons often went to a holy spring or tree, or to churches with miraculous images of certain patron saints who were known to cure certain diseases.

In the presentation, I’ll analyse what rituals were performed individually and communally in times of uncertainty in order to protect against illness, natural disasters, war and how sites for erecting sacral monuments were chosen and why. I’ll also discuss whether today traditional forms of rituals still exist or new ones are developed in the face of pandemic and war.