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What is a vote?
This strange name comes from the Latin word “votum”, which means desire, gift, promise. In many European countries, the votes are still called “ex voz” in Latin (as promised). The first vows, which appeared around the 5th century, were made of wax and therefore did not survive. Later, vows made of precious metals, usually silver or gold, were disseminated.
“These are visual testimonies of other people, because the gratitude expressed in public becomes a testimony of the goodness that people experience,” said J. Erminaitė-Šimkuvienė.
The artist says that the voices in her work come from her own intention: “The intention of my first voice was quite abstract: to heal the heart. It was only during my journey of faith that I felt my heart change. I felt lightness. So it wasn’t a specific event that motivated me to create a vote, but a feeling of gratitude.
The other vote was on hanging charms, which I made more than one. My sister was very ill at the time, so I first gave her that pendant as a sign of hope. Later, these pendants were also for other sick people. In the end, I wanted to bring all those people together, so I voted for that pendant and donated it to the church for those people who wear those pendants. “
According to the interlocutor, the vow can also be bought in stores near churches, but people often want it individually, then they feel that they put a completely different energy into this act of thanksgiving than they just bought.
Thanks for the conversion and healing.
The woman receives several requests. Some bring the jewelry of a loved one who has passed away and ask them to vote because they want to thank God for the person in their life. Others give thanks for the conversion or other grace experienced, for the healing. The third thank you for the family, the children, the grandchildren.
Votes can even be donated to newlyweds on the occasion of a wedding, in thanksgiving for this celebration, or donated by a couple who have lived together for many years, as a thank you for the harmony in the family. Vott can also be a commitment: a sick mother wanted to donate vott but was unsuccessful, so her daughter complied with her will.
“Whenever the process of creating a vote takes place, there is an internal process in both the person and me. I find things for myself that I really wouldn’t discover if it weren’t for that person. Each encounter is unique. Sometimes work stops because I can’t vote the way a person wants. Thoughts do not resonate, and as a result, even all circumstances unfold in such a way that it is not possible to complete that vow.
Then you talk to the person again, you talk, you share how work is going and somehow things work out. What is born in the end result is the communion of the three: the man who ordered the vote, God and me, because God is also involved. When you find yourself in a dead end, you feel that you are being pulled and tilted so that you simply raise your eyes to the sky and say “thank you”, shared the interlocutor.
During quarantine, the need to give thanks increased
Why is it so important to donate some supplies for Thanksgiving? “I’ve thought about it. I believe that God really doesn’t need gold or silver, and a sincere prayer of thanksgiving is no less than that vow of gold or silver.
However, we are not only spiritual beings, but also carnal ones. We need to touch, smell, see, and express our gratitude in a visible way so that we can remind ourselves later. Like we want to put all the best of us in the vote and sacrifice it.
Historically, voters have been sacrificed with particular frequency during difficult times for society, such as times of war. I felt the same tendency during the first quarantine. I don’t think it has to do with fashion. I think it has to do with need.
Also, the more the vote column grows, the more people think of it when they see it, or maybe I have something to be thankful for? The priest Mindaugas Malinauskas has said: with gratitude, hope grows and with gratitude, graces are experienced even more. And if you are grateful in advance for what you don’t have yet, believing in that grace can seem to attract him, “said J. Erminaitė-Šimkuvienė.
Photo by J.Erminaitė-Šimkuvienė / Votai
In the past, vows were often performed in the form of parts of the human body, such as the eyes, arms, legs, etc., that is, the part of the body that has recovered or is healing. However, the most popular symbol of all time is a heart that unites all lived graces. In later centuries, hanging expensive jewelry, roses, and crosses on sacred paintings and statues became common.
The largest number of votes in Lithuania was donated to the painting of the Mother of Mercy of the Vilnius Gates in 1927. About 14 thousand of them were counted.
In previous centuries, due to the accumulation of a large number of vows, picture ornaments, altar crosses or liturgical vessels were often cast and manufactured from the resulting metal, so most of the vows have not survived to this day. from today. However, the tradition of sacrificing vows in several Catholic countries, including Lithuania, has survived to this day. To date, every vow is recorded: a special book records the intention with which the sacrifice is made and who is sacrificing it.
Show how attached we are
“My smallest cue was probably made with a ring, others can be hand-sized or larger. Very often people prefer the heart shape, others come in the shape of a cross, a Grail cup or a loaf of bread.
I baked heart-shaped bread for a vote and took shape from it. For another vote that I wanted to hold onto St. Rock, which was usually depicted with a loaf of bread, I found the shape of the bread in my fridge. Until now I remember: there was little time, I was thinking how to express where I would get that bread from now. I go home, open the refrigerator, and there the children’s uneaten bread is a dry half-cut loaf with a crunch of the sign of the cross. Amazing, the form was ready right away, I didn’t have to do anything special.
God doesn’t really need gold or silver. However, we must express our gratitude in a visible way.
I really like creating votes. Some people speak very openly, others less, but still touch the lives of others each time. It seems like a very meaningful search to me, and when you still see that a person is surprised to see the final result, they like the thanks they received, even more fun. A man with a taco gets a visually significant speck out of his life. Cotton happens to be so popular that it is even a shame to give it to the church. And for a while, a person supports you at home.
In such situations, we can see how we become attached to our things, to our life, and how difficult it is to put that life in God’s hands, give up control. By the way, while the taco, it can look very large. But when you take it off and hang it on the altar, it becomes hard to see.
It can be compared to life: certain things or difficulties in our life seem very big to us, but in the general background they are just one more point. It helps to make no sense, “said the interlocutor.
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