TARP LAUKIMO IR GIMIMO: NĖŠTUMO ĮPRASMINIMO ŠVENTINĖS PRAKTIKOS LIETUVOJE XX A. PABAIGOJE – XXI A. PRADŽIOJE // TOWARDS BIRTH: FESTIVE PRACTICES OF MEANING-MAKING DURING PREGNANCY IN LITHUANIA, FROM THE LATE 20TH AND THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY

This article analyses festive practices through which pregnancy is given meaning in Lithuania from the late 20th and the early 21st century: maternity photoshoots, the maternity washing ritual (prausynos), baby showers, and gender-reveal events. These newly emerging festive practices were not documented in traditional rural culture; however, as the research has shown, today they bring together the expectant mother’s close social circle, family members, friends and relatives, and help to give meaning to pregnancy. The study is based on material collected during ethnographic fieldwork. It draws on Arnold van Gennep’s rite-of-passage approach, treating pregnancy as a transformative period, and festive practices related to pregnancy as ways of marking pregnancy that help to make sense of the waiting period.