Lietuvių Kalviškųjų „Saulučių“ Simboliai Skirtybių Ir Bendrybių Priešpriešos Lauke
A Sun-like Cross Symbols of the Lithuanian Smithery in the Field of Confrontation of Cultural Differences and Commonalities

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the tradition of Lithuanian minted iron sun-like crosses as the visual sign and instrument of socio-cultural power. It examines how communities and Soviet state authorities could have seen unifying and dividing codes at the same time in the same signs. The personal stories of blacksmiths reveals how the iron sun-like crosses were used in the construction of national identity, the preservation of cultural peculiarity, the initiation of conflicting intercultural communication, and the development of isolation and resistance against Soviet cultural colonization. The investigation uncovers how another compromising, non-conflicting interpretation, more acceptable to Soviet ideology, was attributed to the smithed sun-like crosses in communication with the government institutions. Through a precise semiotic, historical and comparative analysis, the complicated and international aspects of their meaning, origin and migration are disclosed. The origins of the serpent-like rays may be traced not only from pre-Christian imaginery, they are found in the Gothic/Renaissance art motifs of Northern Italy. By the preservation of sun-like crosses, the folk art tradition made Christian semantics viable at the same time as the Soviet period.

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