Das Opfern des Schweins in der baltischen Tradition<br>Žrtvovanje svinje v baltskem izročilu</br>

Abstract

/Pig Sacrifice in Baltic Traditions/
The article analyzes pig sacrifice and the use of pork as a ritual dish in customs connected with sowing and practiced by descendants of the Prussians. The author explores the custom, which has been described by various sources and practiced in East Prussia in the second half of 17th – century, in relation to the data collected by Lithuanian ethnographers of the 20th century that link the pig to various agrarian processes.
Performed during the sewing period and often employing pig parts such as the head, legs, or the tail, the practice may be explained as an echo of sacrificing a pig to the earth and to Žemyna, the goddess of wheat who personifies the earth. It may be presumed that Žemyna had the same function as Demeter had for the Greeks and Ceres and Tellus for the Romans.