Kūrybinio individualumo ženklai lietuvių folklorinėje tradicijoje
Traces of Creative Individuality in the Lithuanian Folkloric Tradition.

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses various individual traces of folklore performers present in the folkloric tradition. The processes of change in relationship between the collective and the individual taking place during various stages of existence of Lithuanian folklore are also examined. The study mostly refers to the folksongs and various contextual materials. The poetical formulas of the ancient Lithuanian folksongs predominated by expression in the first person are analyzed in this article. They should be interpreted against the background of the folkloric tradition as archaic expressions of universals through the individualized speech. Differing means of individual expression used by performers of folksongs and folk narratives were noted. As proved by investigation, the performer has more possibilities to express his / her individual position when telling a tale than when singing a lyrical folksong. The folksongs used to be frequently adapted by community to suit particular communicative situations, answering the motives present in these songs, although the texts of the songs used to be preserved unchanged. In Lithuanian culture, the individuality of the members of traditional community was particularly encouraged by the rapid spread of literacy in the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century. Having learned to write, the folklore performers not only started putting down in their personal notebooks pieces of traditional folklore inherited from their parents and grandparents, but also became inclined to create individual poetic compositions. In this creative process they made use both of various poetic formulas taken from the ancient folksongs and literary motives found in the works of famous Lithuanian poets. Interestingly enough, in Lithuanian folkloric tradition the notion of poem was hardly ever used at all. Even the poetic pieces composed in writing by the folk artists used to be called songs. It should be noted, however, that early Lithuanian poets also used to employ motives of song and singing as descriptions of inner self-expression. The folklore performer’s individual self-perception used to be and still is strongly affected by the folklore collectors. The active cooperation between the collector and the performer enables the latter to feel exceptional and to believe in the social importance of the songs and tales that he/she performs. As illustrated by the life stories of many famous Lithuanian folklore performers, their meeting with folklore collectors resulted in essential shifts taking place in their lives. Some of these performers even became individual authors.

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