Lithuanian religious and ceremonial terms of semitic origin: the phenomenon of Azazel

The article deals with the so-called phenomenon of Azazel, i.e. the scapegoat icon, examples of which can be found in the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language and in dialectal sources. Its relics are also traced in three-day Shrovetide rites before the Lenten fast, which begins on Ash Wednesday (Shrove Tuesday in Lithuania), and in the Easter feast from Pievėnai in Samogitia (the histrionic so-called “Easter Jews” vigil on the night before Easter). Using different methods of investigating cultural realia, i.e. cross-cultural comparison and linguistic analysis (based on the inner and external reconstruction (or historical) methodology), two main types of religious terms of Semitic origin registered in the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language and dialectal sources are identified: (i) Hebraisms with neutral or hereditary connotation; and (ii) pejoratives or semantically modified words with an anti-Semitic background. The paper also explains the origin of the xenophobic elements of the Easter feast, the way it has been celebrated in Pievėnai until today.

Introduction: a short prehistory of the origin and purport of the scapegoat or Azazel icon The mythonym of Azazel or Hazazel (Azael, Azozel) 1 is traditionally explained as an appellative of one of the chiefs of the 200 fallen angels mentioned in Enoch VIII: 1, IX: 6, X: 4-6, LIV: 5 (or the Ethiopic book of one of the most important of the apocalyptic works, dating from the period of the Second Temple, i.e. 6 th c.B.C.; cf.EJ VI: 442-443, XIX: 608-610).However, Azazel is also portrayed as the scapegoat: this function is indicated in the rabbinic literature, the Targum, and in Leviticus 16: 8-10 (cf.Davidson 1971: 63;EJ II: 763).
The so-called Phenomenon of Azazel or scapegoat hunt was initially associated only with the animal as a symbol of the elimination of bad luck caused by human depravity.George A. Barton (1918: 186) states that the part of the ritual when the goat was sent out into the wilderness to carry the sins of Israel, i.e. to cleanse the people of their sins, is very old (cf.also EJ II: 763;Harrison 1913: 45).This tradition of purification was also proper to IE communities, not only to Jews.In the Hellenistic world, there were also φαρμακός or scapegoat rituals, but in contrast to the Semitic tradition they customarily consisted in taking a human being as a scapegoat -"the one responsible for the difficulties and miseries of mankind" (Dougherty 2006: 20).Although the ritual of Magical Purification was unknown to Homer (cf. Harrison 1913: 44-45), it was common enough in historical Greece.For instance, according to Walter Burkert (1979: 64-66), the Greek city of Abdera was purified by emptus homo/ὠνητὸς ἄνθρωπος, i.e. a slave, who would walk around the city walls while Basileus and others citizens would throw stones at him (Cameron 2004: 181).These rituals were performed in the case of trouble or at a particular time of the year.However, in the Hellenistic world the scapegoat was usually not killed but expelled.Only in some places was it actually killed (EJ II: 763; cf. also Graf 2009: 76, 88).Romans also practised a similar method of avoiding disaster or finding those responsible for them, e.g., Nero accused the Christian community (mali homines) of the fire in Rome in 64 C.E. (Adkins and Adkins 2004: 325;Dunstan 2011: 540;Kuiper 2009: 162).The praetorian prefect Tigellinus accused the Jews of the misdeed and made them "the target of people's rage" (Malitz 2005: 69).
Later the scapegoat or the Phenomenon of Azazel transformed itself into ethnic cleansing (see Beker 2008: 90): in 1290 Jews were banished from England, in 1400 from Prague, in 1420, 1438, 1462, and 1473 from Mainz, in 1420-21 from Austria, in 1424 from Cologne, in 1440 from Augsburg, and in 1492 from Spain (EJ VII: 523).This finally deteriorated into the Holocaust.
For the Azazel phenomenon or violence against Jews to become widespread, i.e. to erect borders between Catholics and confessors of Jewish faith, there had to be a way of making it licit through tales and whispering campaign (cf. Gaunt et al. 2010: 3).Two main examples of this are presented in medieval written sources: (1) Jews were incriminated with killing Jesus (which incrimination was one of the ideological foundations of the Spanish Reconquista, whereby Spain was to be transformed into a new "Promised Land" or "God's Land"; see Beker 2008: 90); (2) there was a "blood libel" accusation buttressed by two notions: (a) that of Jews kidnapping and killing Christian children in order to use their blood in preparing their ceremonial Passover matzot food (this defamation caused many anti-Jewish riots; cf.Gaunt et al. 2010: 3); and (b) that of Jews being responsible for stealing and damaging the Holy Cross (and the Host or images of Christian saints) by beating it with a rod and driving nails into it to draw blood (see Anglickienė 2004: 45).

Lithuanian ceremonial terms of Semitic origin
Shrovetide carnival or Lith.Užgavėnės Next to the terms of the Jewish religious system or cultural realia, anti-Semitic relics can also be traced in three-day Shrovetide rites before the Lenten fast, which begins on Ash Wednesday (Shrove Tuesday in Lithuania; Sužiedėlis 1976: 131), and the Easter feast from Pievėnai in Samogitia (the histrionic so-called "Easter Jews" vigil on the night before Easter).Shrovetide carnival or Užgavėnės is a traditional holiday, one of the merriest events in Lithuania, which escorts winter.
According to Simas Sužiedėlis, Shrovetide mummers, i.e. feast participants in costumes of the Jewish peddler, the tramp and the cunning gypsy, the pretended beggar, the doctor who was rarely seen in the village, the uniformed soldier begin roaming from early morning.The maskers would make speeches, sing derisive songs, act out the story of the decrepit old bachelor trying to woo a fair young maiden, splash and spatter single men and women because they had not found mates.In Samogitia the groups of makers would haul around on a sledge an effigy in woman's clothing called More or Kotre.(Sužiedėlis 1976: 132) They are its retinue and symbolize purely negative personages.One of these mummers' name is Maselis.The authors of the Dictionary of Lithuanian Language (LKŽe) present it as a Lithuanian inherited word with unknown origin (cf.also Fraenkel 1962Fraenkel -1965: 413): 413): Lith.maselis 'a man dressed in the clothes of Shrovetide mummers', in Šeduva (Radviliškis district).The lexeme is used in the area of eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys.

The "Easter Jews" feast in Piev ėnai
On the night before Easter, the natives of Pievėnai (a village in Samogitia, Tirkšliai subdistrict, Mažeikiai district municipality) celebrate the so-called "Easter Jews" feast.According to officials of the local municipality (MRS 2015), "the custom is unique in Europe and has survived in Pievėnai until today".Domantas Pipas (TM 2015), who visited the village of Pievėnai, reports that a group of lads in uniform stays all night in the local wooden church of the Holy Cross, built in 1788 (see Jovaiša 2014: 186), in order to ensure the proper way of the Easter procession.On that special night, young local men (the guards2 of the Holy Cross) act against "Easter Jews", i.e. natives who wear masks and are dressed in clothes of orthodox Jews, and try to get into the church so as to preclude the evening mass.The guards also prevent them from stealing the crucifix, which is placed in the middle of the church.Pipas claims that the locals do not know the origin of the tradition.He also adds that most Lithuanians today are unaware of this outdated tradition.[M]any of those who are aware of it, [. . .] regard it as a relic of the past and an outdated remnant of old-world fascist mentalities.For them it is out of step with modern times.However, those participating do not see it that way.For them it is simply a local tradition derived from the Bible that is not meant to offend or demonize anyone.[They believe that] "Easter-Jews are tempting believers" [and . . .] "are equated to devils.And this scenario is taken out of Jesus' Crucifixion (from the Bible).
Unfortunately, the ignorance of the locals does not change the anti-Semitic origin of "Easter Jews" feast in Pievėnai.No doubt, the background of the festival is a prolongation of the "blood libel" accusation against the Jewish community of stealing and damaging the Holy Cross by beating it with a rod and driving nails into it until blood is drawn.

Conclusions
Four major conclusions can be proposed: 1. Lithuanian religious and ceremonial terms of Semitic origin are to be divided into two main groups: (i) Hebraisms with a neutral or hereditary connotation; and (ii) pejorative or semantically modified words with an anti-Semitic background.
3. The "Easter Jews" feast in Pievėnai is anti-Semitic due its origin.The background of the festival is a prolongation of the medieval "blood libel" accusation against the Jewish community of stealing and damaging the Holy Cross by beating it and hurting it with nails so that blood is drawn.
4. Stereotypes from ancient and medieval times (lies, the blood libels, defamation, etc.) and ignorance of the locals contributed to the emergence of cultural borders between the Jewish community and the citizens of Lithuania.