Juozas KUDIRKA THE LITHUANIANS an ethnic portrait (C) J. Kudirka 1991 (C) Copyright Lithuanian Folk Culture Centre 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COPYRIGHT NOTICE The copyright notice above and this permission notice must be preserved complete on all complete or partial copies. Any translation or derivative work of THE LITHUANIANS must be approved by the Lithuanian Folk Culture Centre in writing before distribution. If you distribute THE LITHUANIANS in part, instructions for obtaining the complete version of this book must be included, and a means for obtaining a complete version provided. Small portions may be reproduced as illustrations for reviews or quotes in other works without this permission notice if proper citation is given. Given the copyright above, you are free to print and distribute copies of this book. You may either distribute this book free of charge. Lithuanian National Culture Centre, B. Radvilaites 8, LT-01124 Vilnius, Lithuania Phone.: (+370) 5 261 11 90, 5 261 25 40 Email: lnkc@lnkc.lt http://lnkc.lt HTML version of "The Lithuanians" is at http://lnkc.lt/eknygos/thelt/node1.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION GENERAL INFORMATION Origin The name of the country The language Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania Lithuanian surnames First names Ethnic regions EVERYDAY LIFE Settlements and farmsteads Food Clothes CALENDAR CUSTOMS Christmas Eve Shrove Tuesday Easter Midsummer Day FAMILY CUSTOMS Weddings Funerals FOLKLORE Verbal folklore Musical instruments Dances FOLK ART Ornament Crosses and chapels Sculpture Wrought iron artifacts Large and small Distaffs Fabrics Sashes Palm Sunday flowers of the Vilnius region Pottery Easter eggs Straw compositions CONCLUDING REMARKS Books on Lithuania in english Introduction The little country lying on the south eastern coast of the Baltic Sea is Lithuania, inhabited by one of the Baltic nations, which started their history here several millennia ago. The Lithuanians have preserved one of the oldest languages in the world, a unique culture and unique customs. The earliest information about the Lithuanian ancestors come from the writings of Pliny the Elder, Marcus Claudius Tacitus and Claudius Ptolemy. Although in the Quedlinburg Annals Lithuania is first mentioned in 1009, the beginning of the Lithuanian State is considered to be the year of 1236 when Grand Duke Mindaugas united a large portion of the Baltic lands. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania survived for about 500 years, its most prominent rulers being Grand Dukes Gediminas, Algirdas, Kestutis, Vytautas. The Gediminaiciai Dynasty played an especially important role in the history of Lithuania. Their descendants were later to ascend the thrones of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary or to become prominent political figures in Europe. Lithuania has had a unique history. A small state at first, it was to become one of the largest in Europe in the Middle Ages. It stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, including Byelorussia, a part of Russia and a considerable portion of the Ukraine. Some Baltic tribes, however, such as the Prussians, the Skalvians and some others, remained outside the borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In contrast to a great many European countries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a paragon of racial and religious concord. It was also the Lithuanian sword that stemmed the drive of the Teutons to the East and that of Mongols to the West. In 1363, during the reign of Grand Duke Algirdas, the Lithuanian army defeated the Tatars and Mongols in the battle of the Blue Waters. In 1410 the joint Lithuanian-Polish army, commanded by Vytautas and Jogaila, inflicted a mortal blow on the Order of the Cross. And yet this country, which was in the vanguard of the political and democratic thought of that time, lost its independence for many years to come, for it found itself on the crossroads of never-ending wars among European states. The sunset of Lithuanian political history began in the 16th century when the Polish landlords took advantage of the weakening position of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and made it sign the Lublin Union Treaty of 1569 which started the united Lithuanian-Polish state (Republic). Lithuania lost the right to elect its own ruler, the Lithuanian Grand Duke. The elected Polish King, whose permanent residence was now in Poland, automatically became the Grand Duke of Lithuania. State affairs as well as foreign policies were decided by the united sejm. Still Lithuania preserved its own government under the Grand Duke, a separate budget, army, legal and judiciary institutions and its own laws (The Lithuanian Statute). The Lithuanian population did not lose their national and political awareness. However, since the Polish language was adopted as the official language of Lithuanian-Polish state, Lithuania was gradually polonized, that was the negative aspect of the Lublin Union, which however was offset by its restraining effect on Russia's expansionary aspirations. Despite the external and internal difficulties Lithuania was eager to absorb the progressive aspects of West European culture. It was governed in a democratic way on the basis of one of the most perfect codes of law in the then Europe - the Lithuanian Statute Book (1529, 1566, 1588). Later the formulations of some of its laws found their way into the legislation of other countries as well. In Lithuania Eastern and Western cultures lived and developed peace fully side by side. Its capital Vilnius became the seat of the first University in Eastern Europe (1579). After the Lublin Union the situation in Central and Eastern Europe was very unstable. In the period of 1558-1667 Lithuania was engaged in war with Russia and Sweden for 46 years. European rulers partitioned the Lithuanian-Polish state, weakened by war, three times. After the czarist occupation of Lithuania, which took place after the last partitioning in 1795, and which lasted for 120 years, the sons of Lithuanian nation were forced to spill their blood while fighting in the French, German or Russian armies. A great number of them found their death in uprisings, emigrated or were sent into exile, Russia made great efforts to assimilate the Lithuanians, and even tried to convert them to the Orthodox Church. Schooling in Lithuanian and the Lithuanian letters were prohibited (1861-1904). Since the language of instruction in official schools was Russian, children could receive education in their native language only in clandestine schools. Lithuanian books and newspapers were printed in Prussia (Lithuania Minor) and smuggled across the border into Lithuania. At the end of the 19th century and especially after the abolishment of the ban on the Lithuanian letters Lithuania experienced national rebirth. Although World War I stagnated that process, it destroyed the Russian Empire and helped Lithuania to attain its independence. The Council of Lithuania proclaimed the independence of Lithuania on February 16, 1918. Soviet Russia was among the first states which recognized Lithuania de jure. The 12 July 1920 Agreement made Lithuania's secession from Russia legal and recognized Lithuania as an independent state with its capital Vilnius. But the same year Poland seized Vilnius and Eastern Lithuania in defiance of the norms of international law. The occupied territory was restored to Lithuania in 1939. During those 22 years of independence Lithuania became a full member of the world community and pursued the peaceful policy of non-alliance. Great progress was achieved in all spheres: the national economy, which had been destroyed by World War 1, was rebuilt, a land reform carried out, agriculture and industry developed. Great significance was attached to universal education, including the education of ethnic communities. Lithuania created its own system of education, made primary education mandatory, and founded nine institutions of higher education. The first national Song festival was held in 1924, and, beginning with the same year, Lithuanian sportsmen became regular participants of the Olympic Games. In 1933 two Lithuanian pilots, Darius and Girenas, crossed the Atlantic from New York, but unfortunately were shot down over Germany. In 1940 after the gulp of fresh air which it got during the twenty two years of its independence, Lithuania fell victim to the deal between Hitler and Stalin and was incorporated into the Stalinist Soviet Union. Lithuania lost about a third of its population during the Soviet and Hitler occupation. After the war Lithuania was bled white by the mass emigration of intellectuals to the West, by the mass deportations to Siberia and by the bloodbath in the post-war years. Yet, before the growth of cities and professional culture, despite the numerous dark periods of subjugation, the continuity of Lithuania's creative activity was never broken. Material and spiritual values continued to be created and handed down from generation to generation. Together with religion, they played a major role in the preservation of the ethnic Lithuanian way of life. Lithuanian ethnic culture received its greatest blow between the 40's and the 70's, i.e. in the period of deportations, collectivization and reckless land reclamation which brought about the depopulation of villages, mass resettlement in the cities, and the destruction of millennia-long habits and traditions. But the Lithuanian nation and its traditional culture has manage to survive, for this tiny plot of land on the Baltic and its traditions have always ways been defended staunchly by at least 150 Baltic and 70 Lithuanian generations. Today there are about 4 000 000 Lithuanians in the world, three million of them live in their traditional homeland, one million in emigration. It means that there is one Lithuanian for every 300 inhabitants of the world. One of the major factors which enabled the Lithuanians to find each other in exile and emigration and to survive nation was the traditional culture of their forefathers which they away lovingly in their hearts when they were forced to leave their homeland land. Most of the world and the Lithuanian emigrants never recognized the forced incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union result of the secret Stalin - Hitler deal. In 1987, former Lithuanian political prisoners came together around the monument to Adam Mickiewicz in Vilnius to mark the anniversary of that deal and condemn it for the first time. A great number of Lithuanian people heard and learn a the pact for the first time. The curtain of lies was raised and soon a powerful liberation movement started all over Lithuania, uniting people of different age, political convictions and social standing under the banner of the Lithuanian Reform Movement Sajudis, which was founded in June 1988. It started in support of Gorbachev's perestroika, but beginning with 1990 the Sajudis movement became openly committed to the aspirations for Lithuania's independence. In the elections of 1 which were first free elections held in Lithuania after the 2nd World the candidates of the Sajudis movement won an overwhelming majority of seats in the. Supreme Council. The Council elected Vytautas Landsbergis its chairman, who exhibited a surprising integrity and determination nation at the most difficult and decisive moments for the Lithuanian nation. On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR claimed the Act of the Restoration of the independent Republic of Lithuania. Its flag consists of three bands of equal width, yellow, green and red. Its national emblem is a white mounted Knight galloping against a red background. The world looked upon that manifestation of Lithuania's aspiration for freedom with interest but it was in no hurry to render it any significant diplomatic support. It was Iceland alone who recognized Lithuania's independence as early as February 11, 1991. Later it was joined by the Russian Federation. The Soviet armed forces made several tempts to put down the Lithuanian liberation movement. They used fire-arms and tanks against the unarmed people who were keeping vigil around the most important objects in Vilnius - the government buildings, telecommunications and mass media centers. As a result of these attempts, 24 people were killed and many wounded. Andrej Sacharov's ideas and the Lithuanian resistence movement were among the major factors responsible for the awakening of the democratic forces in the other Soviet republics. By August 19 - 23, 1991, these forces had become strong enough to defeat the attempted coup d'etat in Moscow by using the tactics of the Vilniusites. At last the world became convinced that the Baltic states were really determined to get back their freedom and independence. Iceland was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Lithuania on August 26, 1991. In a matter of two weeks two and a half score countries renewed their diplomatic relations with Lithuania, suspended by the Soviet occupation. The United States was the 37-th country to proclaim its recognition (on September 2). The Soviet Union was the 49-th country to recognize the independence of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. It happened on September 6. The Baltic countries have regained at last their rights to their own land, and the half -a -.century -long struggle, conducted openly and secretly in Lithuania and in exile, has been crowned with victory. On September 8, 1991, Lithuania celebrated the Thanksgiving day: in all the churches of the land holy masses were heed to thank the Lord for independence and freedom. During the rally outside the Cathedral in Vilnius Vytautas Landsbergis, Chairman of the supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania, awarded the Order of the Knight to the heroes who distinguished themselves in the struggle for Lithuania's independence after January 13, 1991. September 8 is going to be a National holiday. At last the world is ready to put right the last injustice incurred by the 2nd world War. On September 17, the Baltic States were accepted intothe UNO. Today all over the world people seek to know and understand each other better. This book has been written just with this particular aim in mind. It does not claim to be a profound study. It is rather a short guide on the Lithuanian character to those who are curious to find out a little more about it. March, 1990 - September, 1991 GENERAL INFORMATION Lithuania lies in the western part of the East European Plain. Its area is 65,200 square kilometers. By the size of its area it takes the 110-th place among the countries of the world. In the north it borders on Latvia (610 km), in the east on Byelorussia 724 km), in the south on Poland (110 km), in the west on the region of Kaliningrad (former Karaliaucius, Konigsberg), which belongs to the Russian Federation (303 km), and the Baltic Sea (99 km). Lithuania lies at the very heart of Europe, for the central point of this continent is located 20 km from Vilnius in the direction of the township of Maisiagala, on the shores of Lake Pikeliskes. According to the 1991 census the population of Lithuania is 3,755,00, or 57.5 inhabitants to every square kilometer. 69 per cent of them live in cities and towns, 31 per cent in rural areas. 79.9 per cent of the population is Lithuania (2,985,000), the remaining part consists of different nationalities - Russians, Poles, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Jews and others. The population of rural areas is mostly Lithuanian, but in the south eastern parts of Lithuania it is mostly Polish. By the size of its population Lithuania takes the 102-nd place among the countries of the world. Life expectancy is 72 years, which gives Lithuania the 37-th place among the world nations. The rate of illiteracy is 1.2% (the 24-th place). At present there are 44 administrative districts in Lithuania, 92 cities and towns (11 cities being subordinated directly to the Republic's government) and 22 settlements. Lithuania's capital is Vilnius (its population is 598 000), second largest city is Kaunas (433 000 inhabitants), then follow Klaipeda (208 000 inhabitants), Siauliai (149 000 inhabitants), Panevezys (131 000). There are 4 000 000 Lithuanians in the world, 14 400 of them live in various republics of the Soviet Union, about 1,000,000 Lithuanians reside abroad, 80 per cent of whom in the USA. There are Lithuanian communities in 19 countries. The Lithuanian communities in Byelorussia and Poland live on the territories inhabited by ethnic Lithuanians from the earliest times. Lithuania was; the last European country to accept Christianity: in its eastern parts (Aukstaitija) this happened in 1387, in the western parts (Zemaitija) in 1513. At present the majority of Lithuanians are Catholics. There are 660 Roman Catholic parishes in Lithuania, and 142 Catholic Lithuanian communities abroad. In addition, there are 38 Lutheran communities (7 communities of Lithuanian Lutherans abroad) and 7 Calvinist communities (2 communities abroad). In emigration Lithuanian religious communities have done a lot to keep up the national and cultural traditions of their members. Lithuania is in the zone of temperate climate. Its average annual temperature is about 6 degrees Centigrade. In January it is 4,8 degrees be- low zero, in July it is 17.2 degrees above zero. Lithuania receives from 540 millimeters (in the Central Lowland) to 930 millimeters (in the Zemaitian Highlands) of rainfall a year. The greatest amount of rain falls in August, on the coastline it happens in October. The period of vegetation is from 169 to 202 days. There are about 4000 small and large lakes in Lithuania occupying about 1.5 per cent of the whole area. They are located mostly in the Aukstaitian Highlands. Lake Druksiai is the largest lake in Lithuania, it stretches for 44.5 square kilometers. The deepest lake is the Tauragnas (its depth is 60.52 meters), the longest is Asveja Lake (21.9 kilometers). There are 21 rivers which are more than 100 kilometers long, and 722 streams, the length of which exceeds 10 kilometers. The majority of them flow across the western part of the Central and Zemaitian Highlands. The total length of Lithuanian waterways is 628 kilometers. The Lithuanian in- land waters are inhabited by 57 kinds of fish. 35,3 per cent of the Lithuanian territory is arable land. The best lands are in the Central parts of the country, the worst are in Eastern Lithuania. Lithuania has deposits of peat, gypsum, limestone, chalk, clay and sand. Lithuania's forests are mostly of mixed deciduous and coniferous type. They occupy 28.4 per cent of the whole territory. The predominating trees are pines, birches and firs; alders, asps, oaks, and ash-trees are less frequent. The fauna of Lithuania is, in general, similar to that of north-western Europe and taiga. There are 426 species of vertebrates which include 61 species of mammals, 7 species of reptiles, 11 species of amphibians. The wooded areas are inhabited by wolves, boars, elks, hares and other wild animals. 293 species of birds have been registered in Lithuania, 200 species breed and 50 species live here all the year round, about 50 species pass through the country. The most frequent birds include ducks, pigeons, storks, woodpeckers, swallows, jackdaws, thrushes, magpies, srows, larks, hawks, sparrows and some others. The main agricultural crops include cereals (rye, winter wheat, barley, oats), legumes, potatoes, vegetables, fodder crops, sugar beets, flax. Lithuanian farmers rear cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry. Orchards produce a variety of fruits - apples, pears, plums - and berries - cur- rents, gooseberries. Every family of collective farmers is given a land allotment of 0.6 hectares which they farm for personal needs. Every city and town is encircled with a vast ring of collective orchards (the area of each orchard being 0.06 hectare) where town dwellers grow fruit trees, berries, vegetables and flowers. 1989 saw the coming back of the first private farms. Origin The first people who came to live on the present territory of Lithuania in the Paleolithic Period (the second half of the 10-th millennium B.C.) were representatives of two cultures. Those who came from the banks of the middle Vistula river in the south-west settled here permanently. Those from the north-west of Europe used to reach these parts in small groups and leave again after some time. In late Paleolithic Period when the climate became colder, this migration stopped, the two peoples settled side by side and it was inevitable that they should mix. In early Mesolithic Period, i.e. in the 8-th millennium B.C., the climate became warmer again, the deer retreated to the north and the people who had settled here in the Paleolithic Period, followed them. Those who stayed mixed with the fishermen who moved in from the west to form ethnic groups of Baltic culture. At the end of the 3-rd millennium B.C. the new wave of nomadic cattle raisers, who moved in from the south and south-west, brought corded pottery culture. The first typical Baltic culture of brushed pottery formed at the turn of the last millennium B.C. It was the time when the first hillforts and barrows appeared and the cremation of the dead was introduced. The first Baltic tribes emerged in the valleys of the Nemunas and Neris rivers in the period between the l-st and 4-th centuries A.D. to lay the foundations for the future Lithuanian nation, The Latvian, Yotvingian and Prussian tribes formed somewhat later. In the 9-th century the existence of the Baltic tribes was noted by travelers and historians. The Name of the Country In the east the Svebes washes the shores inhabited by the Aistian tribes (Aestiorum gentes), " this is how, approximately in 98 A.D., for the first time in history, the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus recorded the name of the Baltic ancestors in his book Germania. This name was used in reference to these tribes for quite a considerable period of time. In the 9-th century a Bavarian geographer mentioned the' name of the Prussians (Bruzi). Lithuania's name (Lituae) was first mentioned in Quedlinburg's annals in 1009. Scholars related Lithuania's name to the verb lieti "to pour". At present most scholars support Kuzavinis' hypo- thesis which derives Lithuania's name from the name of Lietauka river (tributary of the Neris in the district of Jonava) which could have been called earlier Lietuva. The Aistians were first referred to as the Baits by Professor of Konigsberg University Ferdinand Neselmann (1811-81). In his book The Language of the Prussians According to its Surviving Fragments he came up with the idea of giving the languages spoken on the eastern shores of the Baltic the name of the Baltic languages. At the end of the 19-th century this name came to be used also in reference to the people who spoke the languages, the Lithuanians, Latvians and the extinct Yotvingians and Prussians. The name of the Yotvingians disappeared together with their assimilation by other Baltic and Slavic tribes. The fate of the Prussians was different. After their subjugation by the Germans, their name was taken over by the new masters of the land and that was how it came down in history not as the name of a heroic people who fought for their freedom to their last breath but as the name of the great citadel of German militarism. The Language The Baltic languages belong to the Indo-European group of languages. It has been established that the Lithuanian and Latvian languages separated in the 5-th or 7-th century A.D. The Lithuanian language has retained more of its ancient features than the Latvian language. Beside this, the Lithuanian language comprises several distinct dialects which exhibit considerable phonetic, morphological, syntactic and lexical differences, which has been caused by their speakers' sedentary and isolated way of life and the late emergence of the common literary norms of the language (at the end of the 19-th century). Of all the living Indo-European languages the Lithuanian language has retained the ancient phonetic and morphological characteristics best of all. It has a complicated system of flexions and word derivation. Therefore, as part of general linguistics, it is taught at a number of foreign universities in the USA, Italy, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Japan and other countries). It is not very easy to classify all the Lithuanian dialects. Nevertheless it is generally recognized that the Aukstaitian and Zemaitian dialects are the main dialects of the Lithuanian language. The earlier classification of Lithuanian dialects, worked out by Jaunius and Salys, reflected the division of the country into ethnic regions rather closely. At present, however, the classification, proposed by Zinkevicius and Girdenis on the basis of the classification worked out by Baranauskas, is enjoying greater popularity among the linguists. The common literary Lithuanian language formed on the basis of the western Aukstaitian dialect, known as the Suvalkian dialect. It was mainly because in the second half of the 19-th century the center of the Lithuanian cultural life moved from Zemaitija to the south-western bank of the Nemunas river. This was also the birth place of the father of common literary Lithuanian, Jonas Jablonskis (1860-1930), who was born in Griskabudis district. The Lithuanian noun has two genders and seven declensional cases. the verb has four tenses. Lithuanian names of rivers and lakes occur from the Vistula to the Kama and Moscow rivers. The earliest relations of the Lithuanian language can by traced to the Finno-Ugric language in which words of Lithuanian origin make up 1.1 per cent of the total vocabulary. A very great number of Lithuanian words are used by Byelorussians and Poles in the areas formerly inhabited by Lithuanians. The Dictionary of the Lithuanian language, the publication of which is nearing its completion, will consist of 20 volumes and will contain about 400.000 entries. Vilnius, the Capital of Lithuania The name of Vilnius derives from the name of stream Vilnia which flows right across the heart of the city. Archaeological excavations have revealed that people inhabited the valley at the Gediminas Hill on the confluence of the Vilnia and Neris rivers as early as the l-st century A. D. Traditionally, however, the foundation of a city is traced back to the first official mentioning of the city's name. Grand Duke Gediminas was the first to mention the name of Vilnius in his letters in 1323. Therefore it is considered to have been founded in 1323. Grand Duke Gediminas was also greatly concerned with the growth of the city. The aim of his letters to the Pope and the greatest cities of Europe was to develop trade and crafts in the city. Legends grew up around the city, which developed together with the growth of the Lithuanian state and its rulers. Two of the legends are very popular. One is about the foundation of the city of Vilnius which was first recorded in the Chronicle of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and Zemaitija in the 16-th century. The other legend is about the marriage of Grand Duke Kestutis of Lithuania, one of the most outstanding rulers of Lithuania. T h e f o u n d a t i o n o f V i l n i u s. At first the Lithuanian capital was Kernave. But having found a beautiful place on a group of lakes during one of his hunts, Grand Duke Gediminas founded Trakai and moved his capital there. Soon after that he went on a hunt again and four miles away from Trakai, on a beautiful hill on the shore of the Vilnia river, he shot a huge aurochs. Since that time the hill has been known as Aurochs Hill. It was too late to return to Trakai, and the Grand Duke camped for the night in the Sventaragis valley on the Vilnia river, the sacred place where Lithuanian dukes used to be cremated. In his sleep Gediminas had a dream: he dreamed an iron-clad wolf which was standing at the top of the Crooked Hill (now called the Bald Hill) and howling as if there were a hundred wolves inside it. The High Priest, Lizdeika, interpreted the dream for the Grand Duke in the following way: the iron-clad wolf meant that Grand Duke was going to build a city, his future capital, at the foot of the hill. The howling of the wolf meant that the fame of the city would spread far and wide in the world. Grand Duke Gediminas collected a great number of people and built two castles - the Lower castle in Sventaragis valley and the Upper castle at the top of Crooked Hill. He gave the city around the castles the name of Vilnius and transferred his capital there. The legend has great deal of truth in it. In 1985 archeologists uncovered the remnants of the ancient pagan temple which had stood right on the site of the present Cathedral. The official emblem of Vilnius depicts St. Christophorus wading across a river. K e s t u t i s' m a r r i a g e. Gediminas' brother Kestutis ruled over Trakai and Zemaitija. Once he heard people talking about a beautiful vestal, Birute by name, who tended the sacred fire, kept perpetually burning in honour of the pagan gods on the shore of the Baltic sea at Palanga. People said she was not only beautiful but very intelligent too. Duke Kestutis went to Palanga to see the girl for himself and he fell in love with her. But Birute refused to marry him because she had given a vow to the gods to stay chaste all her life. Kestutis took the girl away to his castle in Trakai by force and with great honour he married her there, making her Grand Duchess of Lithuania. She was to become the mother of Vytautas, the most famous Grand Duke of Lithuania, who won the decisive battle of Tannenberg in 141 0 against the Teutonic Order, and expanded the Lithuanian state as far as the Black Sea. Those two legends have served as a source of inspiration for many works of art created by Lithuanian artists, Lithuanian Surnames By tradition, Lithuanians have two names - the surname, inherited from one's father (more rarely, from mother) and the given name. Surnames appeared in Lithuania with the introduction of Christianity when at baptism people were given a Christian name which was, as a rule, used before the ethnic name. This was how from the very beginning Lithuanians got surnames of foreign origin. Among the privileged classes surnames took root much sooner (in the first half of the 15-th century) where as among the peasants surnames became established as late as the 17-th century or even later. To the present time 50,000 surnames have been registered in Lithuania. The majority of them are of foreign origin derived from proper or common nouns of other languages. Surnames of Lithuanian or Baltic derivation constitute rather a small percentage. Their origin is usually traced to ancient Lithuanian personal names such as Budrys, Girdenis, Tylenis, Vilkas, Amantas, Bukantas, Rimgaila, Vizgirda, Tarvydas. Other surnames can be traced to common nouns which were used as nicknames such as Baltakis "White-eyed", Didgalvis "Big-headed", Kuprys "Hunchback", or to names of trades an professions such as Dailide "Carpenter", Kubilius "Cooper", Puodzius "Potter", Racius "Wheelwright", or even to place names such as Bugailiskis "from Bugailiai", Pazeimys "from Zeimys", Puniskis "from Punia" and so on. Surnames of foreign origin came to Lithuania at different times and in different ways. There are surnames of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Slavic, Germanic, Tatar and other origin. Some came through direct contacts with the speakers of foreign languages, for example, the majority of Slavic, Germanic, Jewish surnames; others came via a third language, mostly via one of the Slavic languages, as for example, the surnames of Greek, Roman and Hebrew origin. The greatest number of Lithuanian surnames and first names are derived from Greek names which came to Lithuania via the Slavic countries or Western Europe together with Christianity, for example, Aleksas, Aleksandras, Andrius, Dionizas, Eugenijus, Ipolitas, Jeronimas, Jurgis, Kipras, Kristupas, Leonidas, Petras, Steponas, Zenonas. Moving from language to language these names changed their outer form and became the linking elements between different languages. A lot of them developed into surnames, for example, Andrius (from Gr. Andreas "manly, courageous") gave the following surnames Andraitis, Andriulis, Andriejauskas, Andriukaitis, Andriukevicius, Endrasius, Endriukaitis, Indriulaitis and others, 245 surnames have been derived from Petras, 170 from Grigas, 160 from Jurgis, 145 from Steponas, 140 from Ambraziejus, 115 from Aleksandras. The most frequent surname in Lithuania is Kazlauskas, the second place in popularity belongs to Petrauskas. One of the peculiarities which strikes the foreigner is the difference between the male surnames and those of married and unmarried women. The surnames of married women are formed by dropping the en- ding of the male surname and adding the suffix - iene, for example, Katilius - Katiliene, Varnas - Varniene, Zujus - Zujiene (or Zujuviene). Thus, the suffix - iene carries the same meaning as the English Mrs. used before a married woman's name. The surnames of unmarried women are formed by adding the suffixes - aite, - yte, - ute, - te, for example, Katilius - Katiliute, Zujus - Zujute, Varnas - Varnaite, Banys - Banyte. The second half of the 20-th century saw the emergence of a new tradition for married women, artists in particular, to use their maiden names. First Names Up until the end of the 14th century Lithuanians used to be given ethnic names. Christian names of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German and Slavic origin came with the introduction of Christianity (e.g. male names: Andrius, Antanas, Jonas, Juozas, Jurgis, Kazys, Leonas, Petras, Simonas; female names: Agota, leva, Magdalena, Marija, Ona, Veronika, Simona and others). The revival of Lithuanian ethnic names came with the national rebirth at the turn of the 20th century, The first calendars with ethnic names were published in the 1920's. In 1930, the jubilee year of Vytautas the Great, his name became extremely popular. At present the popularity of Christian and ethnic names has increased again. Some people have two or even three names because only a Christian name can be given at baptism. Today Lithuanians are often given the names of the Lithuanian Grand Dukes (Algirdas, Vytautas, Mindaugas, Birute), Christian names, ethnic names of other nations, mythological names (Austeja, Laima), names of literary origin (Adam Mickewicz's Grazina, Vydunas' Daiva), names derived from place names (Naglis, Neringa are place names on the coast of the Baltic Sea which are used also as personal names). Very often female names are derived from male names merely by changing the ending, for example, Vytautas - Vytaute. At present, the list of names which are in use or are recommended for use, include 3500 names. At the beginning of the 20th century babies were often given names which they "had brought at birth", that is, the names of the saints on whose day the baby was born. The tradition of giving babies the names of the family is still alive, provided the relative is or was an honorable person. Lithuanians call each other by their first name. Their patronymics is indicated only in important documents. In earlier times in villages women used to be called also by their husband's first name adding the suffix - iene: Jonas - Joniene, Antanas - Antaniene. Ethnic Regions There are four major ethnic regions in Lithuania: Zemaitija (Western Lithuania), Aukstaitija (Central and Eastern Lithuania), Dzukija (south- eastern Lithuania on both sides of the Nemunas river), Suvalkija (the northern parts to the south of the Nemunas river). The westernmost part of Zemaitija around the port of Klaipeda is rather different from the rest of this region. It has been known as Lithuania Minor. (A part of what has been known as Lithuania Minor is now included into the Russian Federation and Kaliningrad region (formerly Konigsberg). The formation of Lithuanian ethnic regions was determined by different political, economic and sometimes even religious conditions. Zemaitija and Aukstaitija have always enjoyed the greatest degree of stability. At the beginning Zemaitija was a geographical concept, it referred to the lowlands to the west of the Neris river. The economic conditions of the Zemaitian peasants have always been better than those of the Aukstaitian peasants. Here farms were larger and older because they were never divided among the sons after the father's death. The culture of Zemaitija and Lithuania Minor have very much in common. Aukstaitija is the largest ethnic region. It includes the fertile Central Plain and the undulating hills and lakes of Eastern Lithuania. Aukstaitians used to divide their farms among their sons. Therefore there were a lot of small farms. Villages built along the single High Street survived here for a very long time. In the parts which were occupied by Poland in 1920, villages of this kind have survived to the present days. Aukstaitians have managed to preserve better their old crafts and the features of communal life. Eastern Aukstaitians and western Byelorussians have a lot in common, because Aukstaitija and northern Byelorusssia used to belong to the same ethnic culture. Dzukians saddle the Nemunas river. They owe their name to the phonetic peculiarities of their dialect (they pronounce t, d, tv, dv before i and e as ts, dz, tsv,dzv). Earlier Dzukija and the adjacent districts of Byelorussia belonged to one and he same unified ethnic area. To the present day Lithuanians residing in the Gerveciai and Pelesa district in Byelorussia speak Lithuanian. Suvalkija is the youngest ethnic region. It derives its name from the town of Suvalkai which belongs to Poland now. Suvalkija has also be- en known as Uznemune or Suduva. In the middle Ages this country was devastated by the Teutonic Order. In the 15-th and 18-th centuries it was settled mostly by newcomers from Aukstaitija, Zemaitija, and Lithuanians from Prussia and even Western Europe. After the partitioning of the Polish-Lithuanian state in 1795 this country, together with Dzukija as far as the Nemunas river, was given to Prussia, and later, thanks to Napoleon, it was included into the Warsaw Principality. Serfdom was abolished here in 1807, much earlier than in the rest of Lithuania. The movement of farmers from villages to farmsteads started here also much earlier. According to the census taken in 1897, the rate of literacy among the peasants of the Suvalkai Province was the highest in the Russian Empire. Up until as late as 1940, Suvalkija, differently from the other Lithuanian regions, adhered to Napoleon's Statute Book. At present two of the Suvalkai district, Punskas and Seinai, although inhabited mostly by Lithuanians, be- long to Poland. Although the border lines between different ethnic regions in Lithuania cannot be established very strictly because there is a lot of overlapping in their linguistic, architectural, artistic and natural characteristics, the study and comparison of these characteristics enables us to know and feel better the beauty of Lithuanian folk culture. EVERYDAY LIFE Settlements and Farmsteads Most of the rural inhabitants live in their own detached houses. The- re are a lot of prefabricated houses, turned out by the Alytus construction plant, which look very much alike. Recently, however., farm houses have become more varied, a considerable number of them being built according to individual and rather original projects. As a rule, in rural settlements dwelling houses face the street or the road. There is usually a front garden planted with decorative shrubs and flowers. Sometimes we can also see a drive leading to a garage under the house, but this is only in houses built quite recently. At the back there is usually a fenced farmyard with an outbuilding where the farmer may keep a cow, several pigs, some poultry and the fodder. More often than not there is a chain dog, the traditional guard of one-family houses. While traveling along the roads of Lithuania one can often see lonely oaks or groups of untended fruit trees growing in the middle of a vast field. They are the remnants of the former farmsteads abandoned by their owners many of whom have forcibly been moved to the settlements against their own free will. Here and there one can still spot a lonely house the owners of which, for better or worse, have been allowed to stay in their old place of residence. Today typical specimens of ethnic farmsteads can be seen in the open-air Country Life Museum at Rumsiskes, founded in 1966 off the Vilnius-Kaunas highway. There are also several old villages and farmsteads which have been conserved and protected by the state. There we can see the traditional Lithuanian scenery which has been cherished and cared for by several generations and without which we could not understand the spiritual and material culture of the Lithuanians. Old Lithuanian villages and townships grew up naturally. There was a lot of greenery in them and they harmonized, well with the surroundings. The Zemaitian peasants were the first to move from villages to farmsteads. In Suvalkija this happened in the 19th century, in Aukstaitija peasants moved to farmsteads at the turn of the 20th century. In Vilnija, which was occupied by Poland from 1920 to 1939, the old villages stretching along a single high street have survived to the present day. Farm buildings used to be built of wood. They were simple, sturdy and practicable. As late as the first quarter of the 20th century (the second quarter in Aukstaitija and Dzukija) farm buildings used to be thatched with straw. On small holdings the number of farm buildings was one, two or three, while on large holdings there were sometimes as many as 8 or 10. They invariably included the farmhouse, cowshed and pigsty, barn and granary; sometimes there was also a summer kitchen, bath house, smoke house and potato bunker. Every farmstead had a well, a kitchen garden and an orchard. Lithuanians liked to encircle their farmsteads with trees, mostly with maples and linden trees. Oaks, as the most beautiful trees, were planted at the front, birch trees near the barns, rowan trees at the fringes of the farmstead. Z e m a i t i j a. Sites for farmsteads used to be selected with great care so that they should harmonize well with the surroundings, get enough sunshine and be protected against the winds. In Zemaitija farmers used to have more buildings on their farms than in the other ethnic regions of Lithuania. They usually fenced them with diagonal palings, wattle-fences or sometimes walls of piled stones. Zemaitian farm buildings were rather large, sturdy, of medium height with thatched, hipped or broach roofs, broad eaves coming down very low. The plan of the farmhouse was rather complicated. There used to be from 5 to 15 rooms. In a separate room in the center of the house there was the chimney with an open fire, which was also used for smoking and storing meat and drying wood. Sometimes there was also a stove for baking bread. The chimney divided the house into two parts. On both parts of the chimney there were two entrance passages, one lea- ding to the best end of the house, the other to the living quarters. each end of the house was divided lengthwise by a wall. Beside this, there used to be pantries and boxrooms. On the outside the house was boarded vertically without any decorative elements. All the other farm buildings were also rather large, with a lot of partitioning. Even granaries used to have as many as 6 partitioned quarters. As a rule there was a pillar-type cross erected by or inside every farmyard. S u v a I k i a n farmstead are usually located in a flat field. Because of the great number of trees planted around them, they look like small groves from afar, Suvalkian farm buildings are narrow, long and usually have a saddle roof. The farmhouse is divided into three parts. Each of them contains from 4 to 8 rooms. At the back there is an entrance leading to the kitchen. The house is divided into the best end and the living quarters. At the front there is a porch with a saddle roof. Richer houses have shutters. On the outside houses are boarded horizontally, with carved decorations fringing the roof. By the side of the drive lea- ding to the farmstead an iron or concrete cross used to be erected but since it was located some distance away from the buildings, it was not considered to be a constituent part of the architectural ensemble of the farmstead, In wooded localities a small chapel used to be fixed on the trunk of a tree growing at the turn of the drive leading into the farmstead. The A u k s t a i t i a n Plain is dotted with farmsteads, but the hilly eastern parts of Aukstaitija have retained their old villages stretching along the high street. In some places Aukstaitian farmsteads are built on one side of the road, in other places they saddle the road with the farmhouses built with their ends to the street, and outbuildings grouped around the farmyard behind the other end of the farmhouse. The buildings are long, saddle-roofed (although there are some older ones which are broach - or hipped-roofed). The barns have wide entrances at the ends to let in a cart with hay. Farmhouses usually have a porch. The windows at the end of the house facing the street are fringed with carvings. Two inner walls divide the house into three parts - the living quarters, the entrance passage and the best end of the house. Each part may be further divided into smaller rooms by lengthwise walls. The wealth of the Aukstaitian farmer was indicated by the size and not by the number of his farm buildings, as was the case in Zemaitija. Every village and farmstead had a cross erected by the roadside. The architecture of D z u k i a n farmhouses and outbuildings was very much alike. In villages, houses clustered together, with streets running from the center in all directions. Most houses in Dzukija were built according to the same plan as the Aukstaitian houses, and contained from 3 to 6 rooms. But it should be pointed out that the number of small houses was greater here: they contained only the entrance passage and the living quarters, that is, they did not have "the best end". Barns were usually rather wide, whereas dwelling houses and cowsheds were much narrower. Outer decorations on buildings were rather scarce. In the sandy soil of the groves people used to dig holes where they stored their potatoes in winter. At the end of the villages there is very often a cemetery. The architecture of farm buildings in the C u r o n i a n s p i t and the Nemunas delta was quite different from what we could see in the eastern ethnic regions of Lithuania. Farmhouses here looked very much alike to those in Zemaitija: on the outside they were boarded horizontally or vertically and painted brown. Before the 20th century the majority of them had hipped roofs. Saddle roofs came in the 20th century. They were mostly tiled or thatched with reeds and decorated with gable posts carved in the form of horse heads. There were usually two entrances, one of them through a porch at the front. Houses had two ends separated by a passage: one for the family, the other for visitors. Each end was divided into 2,3 or 4 rooms. G r a n a r i e s played a very important role in folk culture. Usually a granary was a small building, made of logs with small windows or no windows at all. The smallest granaries were those built in Dzukija. Granaries were either divided into two parts, or there were two granaries on the farmstead. Granaries were usually decorated with carvings. In Aukstaitija they had open porches, with columns nicely carved. Granaries were used for storing grain, keeping clothes and bedding, also as sleeping quarters for the daughters of the family or the hired girls in summer and sometimes even in winter (in summer men usually slept on hay in barns). Granaries were also used by newlyweds in their honey-moon. They are very often mentioned in folk songs and legends. B a t h h o u s e s occur in the eastern and south-eastern parts of Lithuania. They are less frequent in Zemaitija and practically not known in Suvalkija. They are usually built at the end of the village, near streams and lakes. A f l o w e r g a r d e n was a traditional constituent part of every Lithuanian farmstead. In villages it was planted at the front of the house facing the road. In farmsteads it was usually located under the windows of the best end of the house. They were usually fenced with low carved palings or a wicker fence. The traditional flowers were rues, peonies, lilies, mint, pansies, marigolds, nasturtiums. There was also a clump of lilac or yellow acacia. The rue, which was an emblem of maiden chasity (like myrtle in other countries) was the most important flower in the gar- den. Lithuanians grew it in their gardens even in emigration. The Lithuanians have always loved and cared for b i r d s. They used to fix a cart wheel at the top of tall tree for storks to make their nest there. If a couple of storks chose the farmyard of a farmer for their home, it was a sign that a good man lived on the farm and it was safe for a traveler to stay the night there. Swallows were also welcome to make their nests under the eaves of barns and cowsheds, for they were believed to protect against lightning. Food Up until the middle of the 20th century farmers used food produced on their own farms: cereals (rye, wheat, barley, buckwhest, oats), milk (fresh milk, sour milk, cottage cheese), meat, fish, vegetables (potatoes, cabbage, betroots, carrots), legumes (mostly kidney beans), fruit and mushrooms. Honey was a highly appreciated delicacy, to flavour food Lithuanians used caraway, garlic, onion, mustard, horseradish, fennel, They used to process their food products at home, except for the grain which they used to take to the mill to be ground into meal or flour. Breads and Cereals Lithuanians are very fond of brown bread which is made from dark rye flour. They have bread practically at every meal and hold it in great esteem. Up until the middle of the 20th century every farmer's wife used to make her own bread. Dark rye flour was mixed in lukewarm water in a wooden pail or bucket (oak, if possible) and that thin rye mixture was left overnight. In the morning more flour was stirred into the thin rye mixture to make a stiff dough which was kneaded vigorously and left to rise. Then the dough was turned out and shaped into loaves on a board with a long handle which was covered with cabbage, marple or sweet-flag leaves to give the bread a special flavour. Before pushing it into the oven, the farmer's wife used to make the sign of cross over the first loaf and press the sign of cross into the last one. From the dough scraped from the sides of the bucket she usually made a little loaf for the baby of the family. Before the abolition of serfdom in 1861 serfs used to make bread from unsifted coarse rye meal mixed with chaff. In the second half of the 19th century Lithuanians discovered sweetish bread which was ma- de by mixing flour in boiling hot water and leaving it to ferment for 3 days. There are a lot of Lithuanian customs related to bread. A piece of bread used to be inserted under the foundations of a new house to en- sure that the family should never run short of bread. While moving into a new house, a loaf of bread was brought in first together with a cross and pictures of saints. A loaf of bread covered with a towel was always kept in the most honourable place in the house - on the table in the corner of the best room under the pictures of saints. A piece of bread was always ploughed into the first furrow in spring, and the farmer's wife placed a piece of bread under the first sheaf of rye during the harvest time. Newlyweds were greeted at the threshold by their parents with bread and salt, and brides always took a loaf of bread and some leaven from their mother's mixture to their husband's home. Children were taught: if they dropped a crumb of bread on the ground, they were to pick it up, cross themselves, kiss the bread and eat it. Even now there is a tradition in Lithuania to greet an important visitor with a loaf of bread on a towel. To mark some special occasion Lithuanian emigrants bake their own brown bread, Cutting bread has always been the duty of the head of the family. P o r k d i s h e s take the second place of importance in the traditional Lithuanian menu. Even at the present time almost every family who lives in the country keeps pigs. Pigs are usually killed before Christmas and Easter. The meat from a pig is preserved by salting and smoking. The most popular products of preserved pork are flitches and skilandis, a kind of Lithuanian sausage. After having been kept in brine for about 2 weeks, flitches are hung in the chimney or a specially constructed smoke house and smoked for 3 or 4 weeks. For this purpose Lithuanians mostly use alder and juniper wood. In the ethnic regions of Dzukija and Suvalkija smoked flitches are less popular. After having be- en kept in brine for some time, flitches are hung in the attic where the fresh cold air makes them ready for use after some time. Slices of salted or smoked flitches are served with brown bread oh trips or when- ever people have to do some hard physical work. Cubed flitches are fried and used in soups or they may be fried with eggs. Skilandis is made by smoking a pig's stomach filled with minced meat, salted and seasoned with pepper and garlic. Sometimes it is ma- de by filling a pig's bladder in the same way. Skilandis was the traditional dish, served with bread or cooked in beetroot soup, during rye-harvesting. D a i r y p r o d u c t. Lithuanians use both fresh and sour milk. Very popular is soft and hard cottage cheese. Hard cottage cheese is made by heating sour milk, straining the curds in a triangle linen bag and pressing them into a hard piece. In Zemaitija a pinch of caraway is usually mixed into the curds. There is another kind of cottage cheese - sweet cheese - which is made by bringing fresh milk to boil and then adding some sour milk to turn it into curds. After straining the curds, some eggs, sugar, sometimes some caraway are added and the mixture pressed into a cheese. Cheese used to be served with coffee on special festive occasions, usually it was placed on a piece of buttered bread. Cheese was very often given as a present while visiting. Shepherds were always treated to cheese on Whitsunday. During the honey-taking season cheese was always served with honey. This way of serving cheese is still considered to be a special treat. Kastinis is a kind of butter known only in Zemaitija. A few tablespoons of sour cream with a small piece of butter are whipped in a warm earthenware bowl with a spoon till the cream thickens, then the bowl is warmed up again, some more sour cream is added and whipped again till it thickens. In this way sourish white butter is churned without producing any butter milk. It is seasoned with salt, onion, sometimes pepper and cooled. It is served with hot potatoes or brown bread. P o t a t o d i s h e s. Potatoes came to Lithuania in the 18th century. Very soon they were to become the most popular vegetable, Lithuanians love boiled potatoes served with sour milk and even with fresh milk. A typical Zemaitian dish is boiled potatoes served with pounded and fried hemp seeds, Sometimes potatoes are boiled in jackets. Potatoes are used to make soups and porridge. There are a lot of dishes made from grated potatoes such as pancakes, porridges, small balls cooked in milk, a potato pie, which has become a particular favorite among the Dzukians. Each housewife has her own pet recipe: so- me add chopped onion, hot milk, melted butter and other ingredients. Potato pie is baked in a hot oven and served with sour milk, cottage cheese, sour cream or fried cubed bacon. Another dish made from grated potatoes which has become a special favorite since the turn of the century is zeppelins. Grated potatoes are strained through cloth, combined with some mashed boiled potatoes, salt, pepper and eggs. This mixture is folded around minced meat, shaped into oblongs and boiled in salted water. Meat can be substituted for by soft cottage cheese. Grated potatoes are also used to make sausages which are baked. in oven. This is a very ancient Lithuanian dish. Pancakes are popular all over Lithuania. Usually one tablespoon of batter is used per pancake, but in Aukstaitija pancakes are also made by spreading the batter over the whole pan. Such pancakes are the traditional breakfast dish in Aukstaitija served with butter, fried bacon or sour cream. Sometimes, especially in towns, they are folded over a tablespoon of cottage cheese or minced boiled meat. M u s h r o o m d i sh e s. In Lithuania about 20 species of mushrooms are used as food. Up until the first decades of the 20th century mushrooms had been an important food product. They were fried and served with potatoes, they were also used to make milk soups. Mushrooms were preserved for the winter by salting and pressing them in wooden pails. Those of the highest quality were dried in ovens and used to flavour various dishes, for example, beetroot soup during fasting periods. Fresh water fish make an important part of the diet of people residing near rivers and lakes. Smoked eels are considered o be a delicatessen. Eels inhabit the Curonian Lagoon, some rivers and lakes, and they grow to be 1.2 meters long and up to 4 kilograms in weight. Beetroot and cabbage soups are popular among village people. Up until the middle of the 20th century every farmer's wife used to prepare a pail of pickled beetroots and sauerkraut for winter. To improve the taste, sauerkraut is mixed with caraway, carrot, sour apples and cranberries. During fasting periods soup used to be flavoured with dried mushrooms. In summer Lithuanians, both in town and in the country, are fond of cold beetroot soup, flavoured with raw onion and cucumbers and served with hot boiled potatoes. For supper Lithuanians often have milk soup with vegetables - potatoes, carrots, cabbage, peas, sometimes with pasta pinched into small bits. D r i n k s. One kind of soft drinks, called salde, is made from simple or germinated rye. Rye meal is mixed with scalding hot water. When it cools, yeast is added and the mixture is left to ferment for several days. Then it is strained and diluted with water. A similar kind of drink is also made from brown rye bread. Birch sap was also very popular. It used to be flavoured with black currant leaves, crusts of brown bread, germinated barley or oats, and it was stored in wooden vessels in a cool place. Lithuanians learnt to brew beer in the 16th century. Even nowadays homemade beer is brewed in the district of Birzai and Central Lithuania. In Zemaitija homemade beer is less popular and not so strong as in Aukstaitija. Midus is an ancient alcoholic drink made from honey. At present it is produced commercially by the wine distillery in Stakliskes. Recently the Lithuanian diet has become more uniform throughout Lithuania, although we can still note certain differences between different ethnic regions. Zemaitians are still fond of all kinds of porridges and kastinis. Dzukians specialize in buckwheat and mushroom dishes, Suvalkians in smoked skilandis and sweet cottage cheese. Aukstaitians love to have large pancakes for breakfast; eels remain a special treat among the inhabitants on the Baltic coast. Clothes The Lithuanian national or folk costume of the present time was formed at the turn of the 19th century on the basis of the festive or holiday dress, which tended to differ considerably from parish to parish. At the turn of the 20th century the Lithuanian national costume, particularly women's dress, was considerably influenced by urban traditions. Today national costumes are usually worn by the participants of folk music and dance concerts, religious processions, various public festivities. Most of the national costumes today are produced according to the design made by professionals and only a small number of them are woven by craftsmen. There are ethnographic groups which consider that one or two elements of the ancient dress are enough. Recently the tradition of making one's own national costume has been revived and is gaining ground, According to their characteristic features Lithuanian national costumes can be classified into several regional varieties: those worn in Aukstaitija, Dzukija, by Kapsai, in the Klaipeda region (Lithuania Minor), Zanavykija and Zemaitija. The national costumes of each region have their particular weaving technique, pattern, colour, accessory ornamentation, style of tailoring and manner in which they are worn. Men's dress differed from region to region less then that of women. The entire outfit consisted of a shirt, trousers, vest, lightweight coat, greatcoat, sheepskin coat, head dress and footwear. Men's shirts usually had long sleeves and were made of thick linen or tow cloth. They usually had a stand-up collar of cotton cloth embroidered in black and red cotton stitch. Up until the 20th century trousers were made of homespun linen, wool on linen or on cotton, or wool. They used to be of medium width. Trousers for everyday wear had a drawstring while those for holiday use had a waistband. Dark or grey cloth of solid colour was used to make winter trousers. Summer trousers were made of white or white-on-blue checked cloth. In winter, spring and autumn or on longer trips men wore greatcoats, lightweight coats and, later, jackets over the vest. Greatcoats used to be double breasted and grey in colour. Strips of matted woolen cloth in a contrasting colour, plaited narrow bands, cord or leather were appliqued to the edging, cuffs, collar and pockets. Trousers and greatcoats were girded with sashes around the waist. Many kinds of caps were worn by the country men, but in warm weather Lithuanian men, young and old alike, preferred straw hats. There were several kinds of traditional footwear in the countryside, but the most striking of all were, perhaps, solid wooden shoes called klumpes, which appeared in Lithuania in the 18th century and were ma- de of soft wood that did not split or crack. In Zemaitija people wore so- lid wooden shoes up until the middle of the 20th century. There are even folk dances which are danced by young dancers who wear clogs (e.g. klumpakojis). Women's dress was more colourful and varied than that worn by men. The clothes of a Lithuanian woman reflected her industry, accomplishments and sense of beauty. Women's costumes consisted of a skirt, shirt, bodice and an apron. The outer garments consisted of a greatcoat or a sheepskin coat and a head-dress. The women of A u k s t a i t i j a preferred light colours, particularly white. Their skirts were mostly checked, aprons were woven of light- coloured linen with horizontal patterns in red cotton at the bottom. The background of the apron was checked, striped or patterned in cat-paw motifs. The front, sleeves, shoulder tabs, collar and cuffs had horizontal red cotton stripes of equal or unequal width, woven in float, overshot, twill diaper, or pick-up patterns, The distinguishing feature of the Z e m a i t i a n women's and girls' holiday attire was the abundance and variety of costume pieces which were of sharply contrasting colours. A typical costume consisted of a characteristically tailored bodice, a vertically striped skirt, an apron, which was also striped vertically with horizontally patterned bands. It was customary in Zemaitija to weave shawls of various sizes to be worn on the head and over the shoulders. Solid wooden shoes (klumpes) were the typical Zemaitian footwear. At the turn of the 20th century contrasts in the colours tended to become less sharp. The women's folk costume in the K l a i p e d a region were mostly dark in colour and revealed several characteristic features which distinguished them from the other provinces of Lithuania. Skirts had narrow vertical stripes or checks. The most typical feature of the aprons was their single panel which was usually white in colour (dark aprons appeared in the second half of the 19th century) with vertical stripes and a wide-patterned band at the bottom. The shirts worn in the Klaipeda region had a uniquely gathered neckline. Pick-up patterns, found not only on the bottom portion of the sleeves and cuffs, but also in a wide band below the shoulders, had designs such as clovers, tulips and oak leaves. The most characteristic feature of the women's costume in the Klaipeda region, which distinguished them from those of other areas, was the intricate pick-up patterned sashes and stoles. The stole, consisting of two panels, had a narrow lengthwise insertion, called perdrobule of a palm's width was usually embroidered in white plants motifs. Almost every woman and girl in the Klaipeda region had an especially decorative handbag, called delmonas, which they fastened at the side or front of the waistband. S u v a l ki a n costumes stand out for their splendour and rich colours. Skirts have vertical stripes, aprons are adorned with pick-up pat- terns such as stylized lilies, clover leaves, peas and suns. Skirts are often adorned with openwork. There are two kinds of Suvalkian costumes - those of the Zanavykai (the northern part of Suvalkija) and those of the Kapsai (the southern part). The boundaries of the area in which they were worn coincide with the boundaries of the respective subdialects. The most splendid part of the Zanavykian women's costume is the apron, adorned with patterns made up of vertical lines of stylized lilies. Beside the openwork, the shirts are beautified with lilies embroidered in red cotton. Zanavykian women also wore embroidered stoles. In their colours and weaves costumes worn by Kapsai women were similar to those worn in Zanavykija. Shirts were usually embroidered in white, and aprons were even richer in colour then those of the Zanavykian women, the lilies woven into them were somewhat smaller and we- re laid out in groups along horizontal lines. Differently from the bodices worn by women in the other parts of Lithuania, those worn by the Kapsai women were rather long, girded with broad sashes. D z u k i a n skirts were checked, aprons were checked or striped, wide sashes were woven in pick-up technique. In the eastern part of Dzukija white linen aprons predominated, just like in Aukstaitija. In the 19th and 20th centuries amber necklaces became a highly sought-after accessory of every woman wearing a folk costume. The head-dress worn by a married woman was usually different from that worn by an unmarried woman. The latter wore either no head- dress at all or a head-piece made of ribbons and beads of various colours. In the 19th century married women were not supposed to appear in public bare-headed. They wore either a kerchief, or a cap, or a head- dress called nuometas (in Aukstaitija), which was a symbol prominent in the rites of initiation into the status of a married woman. CALENDAR CUSTOMS The ancient Lithuanian customs were formed on the basis of the life of farmers and parish communities. The 20th century has witnessed rapid social changes: its first half was very favourable for the individual initiatives of farmers, but in the 50's with the appearance of collective farms, individual initiatives were suppressed altogether. After the farmers were deprived of land, agricultural customs related to every foot of the native land, its fields and forests which had been lovingly cherished down the centuries, lost their meaning for the farmer. Calendar customs have been luckier. Despite the attempts of the official ideology to destroy them, they have been preserved much better. Christmas Eve There are not very many nations in the world that celebrate Christmas Eve so devotedly as the Lithuanians. The celebration of Christmas Eve is part of the late autumn and winter holiday cycle which includes the commemoration of the dead and the celebration of the winter soltice and the New Year. Christmas Eve customs center round the celebration of the birth of Infant Jesus, and intertwine with the symbolism of Last Supper, the clan- destine social meals of the primitive Christians, agapae, Adam and Eve (December 24 is the name day of Adam and Eve). Christmas Eve is the day for family reunions, both their living and dead members. Everyone observes the unwritten law: Christmas Eve determines what kind of year it is going to be. It is a day of thorough cleaning, both inside and outside the house. People try to be nice to each other, pay all their debts and have confessions with the priest. On this day neighbours do not visit each other without a good reason. It the Christmas Eve table is poor, the whole year will be poor. After the day's chores and a good bath the master of the house or the grandfather brings in an armful of hay to be spread under a new white tablecloth. To make it more aromatic "so it could entice more good spirits", the hay is sometimes mixed with mint. A basket with hay is also placed under the table "for the Infant or the Lamb to lie on". In some localities a little hay is spread in or under the plate with Christmas Eve wafer which is placed together with bread and sometimes a little cross in the center of the table. Lithuanians know more than one hundred recipes of Christmas Eve dishes. Some are popular all over Lithuania such as for example preskuciai or slizikai (1 or 1,5 square centimeter biscuits with poppies) served with poppy seed milk, also herring, fish and mushroom dishes, oatmeal or cranberry puddings. Others are popular only in some regions. For example Zemaitians are fond of hemp seed dishes, soups and herring, Dzukians prefer mushroom soups and buckwheat dishes, Suvalkians are fond of peas, apples, Aukstaitians of wheat dishes. Late in the evening, with the appearance of the Evening Star in the sky, which showed the way to the shepherds to Bethlehem, families sit down to supper. There are usually seats reserved for the absent members of the family. The seats are marked with a fir twig or a myrtle. The family members who have died that year are treated as being simply absent, except that the seats reserved for them are marked with a fir twig and a burning candle. The master of the house makes a sign of cross over the table and says a grace to thank God for the food and the harvest of the year and asks Him to bless the house for the coming year. The supper -starts with the thin Christmas Eve wafers, hallowed in church. The wafers are handed out by the father or the oldest member of the family. On accepting the wafer the members of the family exchange their best wishes for the season. There are usually 12 dishes on the table, one dish for every month of the year so that the family should have enough food all the year round. At the Christmas Eve table people behave gracefully and respectfully. Grandparents and parents are the first to speak. They remember the dead and absent members who cannot take part at the supper. The conversation centers round the birth of Infant Jesus, the coming holidays, the most important events of the past year and the harvest. People look hopefully to the future and their visit to church on Christmas day. Beekeepers discuss the industry of bees. After supper and a grace of thanks for the food, both the grown-ups and the children enjoy telling fortunes by drawing out stalks of hay from under the tablecloth. The grown-ups are interested to know what the harvest is going to be like the next year, the younger people mostly want to find out their prospects for marriage. In many districts of Lithuania the Christmas Eve table is not cleared for the night, for people believe that the souls of their ancestors and other dead members of their family come home for supper on this night. Not a single living being, thing or spot inside or outside the house is neglected that day. Apple tree trunks are tied with the straw which has been used to strain the boiled peas for the supper to protect them against the sharp teeth of hares and to increase the harvest of apples for the next summer. Beekeepers go to listen to their bees, treat them to bits of food from the Christmas Eve table, the farm animals get the hay from the table and the fowl the yummy bits and leftovers. People discuss various unheard-of things - water that has turned sweet all of a sudden or has turned in- to wine, animals speaking a human language and other curiosities. After leaving the table young people enjoy fortune telling by trying to embrace an even number of fence palings, to fetch an armful of an even number of fire wood blocks, by burning bits of paper, by throwing wooden cogs, melting wax and lead. All this is done mostly to find out one's prospects for marriage the next year. The Christmas tree is the greatest joy for children. The tradition of deco- rating a Christmas tree came to Lithuania at the turn of the 20th century Christmas tree decorations used to be made of pieces of straw strung together on a thread into intricate geometrical figures, coloured egg shells and pastry were used to make birds, horses, squirrels, lambs, moons, suns, stars, flowers and other figurines. Christmas trees were also decorated with apples, fir or pine cones, nuts and paper cuttings. The Christmas tree has always been the place where family members leave presents for each other. Christmas Eve customs reflect the best moral traditions of the Lithuanian nation. It is a day of thanksgiving and national unity. Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday is a merry carnival. It is celebrated on Tuesday, the eve of Ash Wednesday, to mark the winter's end. Earlier, up until the beginning of the 20th century, the celebrations used to start on Sunday and continue for three days. Shrove Tuesday celebration was particularly popular in Zemaitija. In so- me Zemaitian villages these traditions have survived to the present day. The traditional figures in the carnival are the loan Kanapinis (the Hemp Man), Lasininis the Fatty, a "Jew" offering his goods in broken Lithuanian, a "Gypsy" looking for something to pilfer, and a great number of other funny, caricature masks. Men disguise themselves as women, and vice versa. Shrove Tuesday celebrations were first recorded in Prussia in the 15th century. The old maid More - a female symbol of the clash between winter and spring - is trundled about in a cart. In one hand she usually holds a flail and in the other a broom, for she cannot make up her mind whether she should continues flailing last year's harvest or start sweeping the yard and do the spring cleaning. Shrove Tuesday celebrations are full of humour, jokes, superstitions and fortune telling. It is a popular theatrical, held before the busy summer season. Carnival members deride farmers who lag be- hind with their winter chores, old maids and bachelors. Shrove Tuesday is a pancake day, for the pancake is a symbol of the sun. But this is also a day for universal gluttony. People glut themselves on the last rich meat dishes, for example, pork stewed with peas, before the long Lent fasting period. The next morning mothers will tell their children that the previous night there was a fight in the chimney where flitches used to hang, and the lean Kanapinis or a Gypsy carried them all away so that up until the very Easter the family will have to make do with lean food flavoured with hemp seed or herring which they will buy from the local Jew. A "Jew" and a "Gypsy" entered Lithuanian folklore at the turn of the 19th century together with the boost in the commercial life of the countryside. In the Shrove Tuesday carnival people made fun of all the social groups of the village community (except the priest, of course) and thus Jews and Gypsies became traditional figures in the carnival, celebrating the victory of spring over winter. The Jew came to substitute Kanapinis, and the Gypsy took the place of Lasininis. Other figures of the carnival include animals - a horse, a goat, a stork, the devil, death. All of them take part in a simple theatrical. Masks are ma- de of wood or bark with as terrible a countenance as possible. This is a day of universal relaxation and entertainment. Everyone can be made fun of, even those who cannot be derided on any other occasion. This is how the Lithuanian writer Zemaite described the celebration of Shrove Tuesday at the beginning of the 20th century: "At dusk large groups of people disguised as Jews leading a horse or a goat appear in the high street of the village. They take the goat inside one of the houses and try to sell it to the master. They praise the goat, demonstrate how much milk it gives, try to milk it. The goat bleets, kicks and sends the milkers rolling on the floor, spilling the milk all over. Or they take a horse inside a house and try to sell it by praising its strength. They say the horse has lost all taste for water, soon it is going to lose taste for fodder. The horse jumps, neighs, kicks, the farmer's family all rush out. The "Jews" pretend they want to buy old maids, they haggle over the price, rattle "money bags", filled with fragments of glass or ash, under the nose of the master of the house. They grab a young girl, pretend they want to take her away, sometimes drag her out and roll in the snow. Children and young girls scatter around, but the bolder ones sometimes take a tow of hemp or flax and try to set the "Jew's" beard on fire. There is a lot of laughter, noise and hilarity." People do not do any hard work on Shrove Tuesday. They go on swings and merry-go-rounds, visit friends, enjoy sledding down the slopes while others try to pour water on them. All this is done to make "flax grow tall", to ensure hens lay more eggs, birds do no damage to the corn, and so on and so forth. Easter Folk customs associated with the celebration of Easter are livelier than those related to Christmas. Celebrations used to start on Palm Sunday and continue for a fortnight. Palm Sunday, which commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, used to bring a lot of fun into the peasant's life. This is a day when the reviving nature makes people's hearts rejoice. It is a long standing tradition to attend church on this day with a bunch of green twigs in one's hands. In most districts it is invariably a bunch of juniper twigs, but in the eastern parts it is usually a bunch of pussy willows. It is always desirable to find juniper twigs with as many berries as possible, and willow twigs cove- red thick with yellowish furry flowers, for their number shows, as people used to believe, for how many more years a person is going to live. Some- times juniper or willow twigs are mixed with twigs of birch tree, lilac or thuja. In the Vilnius region Palm Sunday bunches are made of dried flowers. The bunches of green twigs, hallowed in church, used to be dried and preserved because it was believed that the smoke of these herbs when burning protected the house against evil, brought good luck and averted lightning. These dried herbs were also used as incense in the spring rites when the cattle were first let out to graze in the pasture, or the farmer ploughed the first furrow. Early on Palm Sunday morning family members compete in getting up as early as possible so that they can flog playfully the others who are still in bed with the Palm Sunday bunch. This playful flogging is accompanied by a simple ditty: "It's not me who is flogging you. It's the Palm Sunday juniper doing it. Easter comes in a week. Do you promise me an Easter egg?" On Easter morning the "flogger" is repaid with a nice Easter egg. On the way back from church young people try to tap each other on the hand, shoulder or head with the hallowed bunch and wish each other to be as healthy as the green juniper. This tradition of smacking each other with the Palm Sunday juniper was very much alive as late as the second decade of the present century. It has not been forgotten to this day as a gentle reminder that Easter is coming. The Holy Week is the time for spring cleaning. In olden times all Easter food used to be cooked in hallowed water on hallowed fire which was brought from the church. As late as the beginning of the 20th century, on Easter morning people used to take food to church in special baskets as well to be hallowed by the priest. After the Holy Mass was over, every one hurried back home trying to outdo each other in starting the Easter meal as soon as possible, for it was believed that those who were the first to sit down at the Easter table and break an Easter egg would be the first to finish all the field chores in the coming season. The first dish to be eaten at the Easter table is always an egg. People strike one egg against another to find the strongest ones which are usually saved for rolling or even till the next Easter. For children, Easter is a day for eggs. Early in the morning they find a present of nice Easter eggs from Easter Granny who leaves them in a nicely made nest outside the house or in a basket hanging in a tree. But the children can never see her, for she comes before sunrise in a little cart pulled by a wax horse which could melt if she came while the sun was shining. Children get presents of Easter eggs also from neighbours, their own mother and always from their Godmother. After all their eggs are collected, children enjoy testing them for hardness, He whose eggs are the hardest can win all the eggs from his friends. Therefore sometimes some "wise guy" fills his egg with salt or tar or smuggles in a wooden egg. When this is discovered, the cheat is punished and he must leave the game. Another popular Easter game is egg rolling. When a rolling egg touches another egg which is lying in its way, it wins the latter for its owner. There are experts who manage to roll their eggs in such a way that they win all the Easter eggs from the other players. Girls enjoy swinging on swings in hay barns or in the open. The higher they go in their swings, the taller their flax is going to grow in summer. This superstition is sometimes responsible for accidents and injuries. In Zemaitija people used to sprinkle each other with water. A lot of Easter customs-such as egg decoration, egg rolling, swinging on swings, hurrying home from church on Easter morning - have survived to this day. A very widely-known Easter custom in olden times was visiting homes on Easter night by groups of young men and musicians, called lalauninkai. They sang songs and religious hymns, wished the girls to find a good husband and everybody else good luck. For this they were given presents and Easter eggs. This custom was still alive in the middle of the 20th century in Dzukija. Most of the Easter games were repeated on the next Sunday after Easter. Beside Christmas Eve, Shrove Tuesday, Easter and Midsummer's Night Lithuanian still observe certain customs, associated with St. George's Day and Whitsunday, which is a shepherds holiday. Quite recently certain customs have come back to Lithuania, such as the commemoration of the dead at Halloween and the celebration of Mother's Day. Midsummer Day The holiday, in fact, is not the Midsummer Day, June 24, but the evening and night preceding it. The holiday coincides with the summer solstice. At the beginning of the 20th century it was observed all over Lithuania, now it is more popular in the northern and central parts of the country. Although St. John the Baptist occupies a very important place in the hierarchy of saints, the Church does not attach any great importance to the celebration of his nativity, which falls on the Midsummer Day. It is a festival of simple people, connected with the veneration of fire. Young girls adorn their heads with flower wreaths. A tall pole with a wooden wheel soaked in tar or filled with birch bark is hoisted at the top of the highest hill in the vicinity. Men whose names are Jonas (John) set the wheels on fire and make bonfires around it. In some places a second pole is hoisted with flowers and herbs. Young people dance round the fire, sing songs about rye, play games, men try to jump over the fire. The burning wheels on the poles are rolled down the hill into a river or a lake at its foot, men jumping over it all along. On the Midsummer Day people weed the rye and burn all the weeds. On Midsummer Day's morning witches acquire special powers, they drag towels over the dewy grass to affect cows' milk. To save their cows from the witches' magic farmers shut them in cowsheds for the Midsummer Night and stick bunches of nettle in the door to scare the witches away. On Midsummer Day cows are driven out to pasture in the early after- noon when there is no more dew on the grass. Horses, however, are left to graze in the open throughout the night, or the witches magic has no effect on them. On Midsummer Day dew has special healing powers. Young girls wash their faces in it to make themselves beautiful, older people do the same to make themselves younger. It is good to walk barefoot in dew on Midsummer Day's morning, for it saves the skin from getting chapped. Midsummer Day and the time immediately preceding it is believed to have special powers. Medicinal herbs collected from June 1 to the Mid- summer Day can cure 12 (some say 99) diseases. There are girls who save their Midsummer Day's wreaths all the year round. Great importance is attached to the Midsummer Day's fire. Its embers are brought home to make the hearth fire, and its ashes are spread in the fields. There are numerous stories about the fern, which comes into blossom in the thick of the woods on Midsummer Night. He who finds a fern blossom becomes a wise, rich and happy man. But it is not easy to find a fern blossom, for horrible monsters and witches try to scare everybody away so that they could snatch the blossom themselves. Everybody who wants to find a fern blossom must know that only nine-year-old ferns can burst into blossom, that it is necessary to spread a silk kerchief under the clump for the blossom to fall onto, to draw a circle around oneself with a rowan stick hallowed in church, light a candle and pray in defiance of the monsters around. The blossom that drops onto the kerchief looks like a speck of gold. It is best to saw it under the skin of a finger or the palm, then nobody will steel it from you. Only a very good man can hope to find a fern blossom and it can happen only once in his lifetime, Sometimes the fern blossom drops into a poor man's bast shoe unawares and suddenly the man acquires knowledge of the hidden treasures, of the speech of animals and birds, trees and bees. But when the man comes home and takes off his shoes, the fern blossom falls out, all the man's knowledge disappears. Young people play games all through Midsummer Night until sunrise or until dew falls out, Girls float wreaths on rivers to find out their prospects for marriage. The farther their wreaths float the sooner they will get married. It is also very important which bank the wreath will stop at. Sometimes a burning candle or a bowl filled with burning tar is fixed in the middle of the wreath. A great number of Midsummer Night's superstitions and customs are similar to those observed on Christmas Eve. A girl will marry the man whom she will see in her dream walking along the straw placed across the bowl of water under her bed or who will dry his face on the towel placed beside her bed. The future husband will come from the direction in which she notices the first bonfire on Midsummer Night. On the eve of Midsummer Night people adorn the wayside shrines which contain figurines of St. John. They also honour all Johns they know. This they do in various ways, for example, by fixing a wreath of oak leaves around his door. This is usually done in secret and the man thus honoured must guess whose job it was (or catch him doing it) and give him a treat. The research done by the author of the present book in the past five years has convinced him that the customs of Christmas Eve and Midsummer Night, which coincide with the winter and summer soltices, are very closely connected. Sometimes the Christmas Eve table is covered exclusively with the hay mown just before Midsummer Night. Superstitions and customs of the two feasts are very similar. Christmas Eve customs are dominated by darkness, veneration of death and the dead, expectation, feeding of birds in a cart wheel, running round the house with a bowl of pudding, walking round the orchard. Those are all symbols of time. The summer soltice - Mid- summer Night - is dominated by symbols of the sun, such as burning cart wheels hoisted high on poles which are adorned with wreaths of herbs and flowers, symbols of growth. In honour of the sun the fire from the bonfires is brought home to light the hearth, the fields are sprinkled with ash. Later the- se customs blended with those of Easter. The lighting of bonfires is the privilege of men who are called John. Sometimes it is the privilege of the oldest of all Johns in the vicinity. Those and other details in the celebration Of Midsummer Night testify that in the pre-Christian period Midsummer Night was celebrated as a feast of the sun. FAMILY CUSTOMS Deep changes in the life of rural localities, the resettlement of farmers, particularly their movement to the cities, have changed the traditional family customs quite considerably. Customs related to the christening of a child have disappeared almost completely. Wedding customs have been preserved a little better, whereas funeral traditions have survived best of all. Weddings A hundred or fifty years ago the wedding season - autumn and winter - used to bring a lot of joy to Lithuanian villages. Girls used to begin their preparations for marriage in their early teens. They span and wove linen and wool for presents, for herself and for her future husband and children. After the ostensibly playful but really rather tough negotiations over the bride's dowry, the family drank the bottle of wine brought by the prospective son-in-law, which the bride adorned with a wreath of rue, and the preparations for the wedding started. If the bride changed her mind, the bottle had to be reimbursed. After the bans in the church, the bride never appeared publicly alone, even in church she prayed surrounded by her friends. A few days before the wedding both the bride's and the bridegroom's families sent out messengers who invited relatives and neighbours to the wedding party. Up until World War 11 in some regions, for example among Zemaitians, Suvalkians, Dzukians and Prussian Lithuanians, this messenger used to be the main figure all through the wedding. In Zemaitija and Aukstaitija guests were invited to the wedding party by the bride and bridegroom or their parents. The wedding messenger was usually a witty and eloquent man from among the relatives or good friends. He was given a two- or three- branched stick with a ribbon and a bell (more rarely, silver rings) tied to it. He wore his best clothes and a hat with a white band. His horse was decorated with a flower fixed in the harness near its ear. To maintain his dignity the wedding messenger never went deep in- to the house. He stopped at the threshold, rang his bell and started his speech. He addressed both the grown-ups and the children. If there were any young people in the family, his speech was longer. It was al- ways full of witticisms and humour. After saying on whose behalf he was speaking, where the wedding was going to take place and how long it would last, the messenger went on to describe the future wed- ding in some such way: "Mr. Ambrasa is no beggar, he has always be- en rather well off. Before I left, he had killed five oxen and now he has a mountain of meat. We invite you to partake of a hen's leg and a tit's liver. If you feel it is not enough, we have two sparrows which are being fattened. When they are fried, everyone will be satisfied..." Or: "Please come, but don't rely entirely on us, bring some food for yourself, for you may or may not find enough food in our house. If you bring no- thing, you'll have to go home hungry," The messenger used to deliver his speech with his hat on, and said hello at the end of his speech be- cause he was afraid he might laugh in the middle of his speech. When the invitation was accepted, young girls gave presents - ribbons, sashes, handkerchiefs, mufflers, which they used to hang on his stick. The speeches of all wedding messengers were similar, differences concerned mainly the way they were delivered. In the 19th century wedding parties lasted four days. They used to start on Tuesday when the bride said good-bye to her flower garden, to her parents, neighbours and friends and asked them to forgive her if she had ever hurt them by word or by deed. The other important figures of the wedding were the match maker, matron of honour and dowry carriers. The parents used to procure dowry chests for their daughters well in advance, Dowry chests were often made of the wood of a tree inhabited by storks, for storks were believed to bring luck and babies. The bride kept a lot of things in her dowry chests - her jewelry, documents, letters, money, her rue wreath, dresses for her future first-born, candles, medicinal herbs and, of course, her linen. The number, size, and beauty of her dowry chests was the indication of the bride's wealth, taste and industry. Thus in the Lithuanian tradition dowry chests have become veritable objects of art. Dowry carriers wore hats and towels tied across their shoulders. The relatives of the bride sat on the dowry chests and pretended they were unwilling to give them away. To make the chests heavier they sometimes put stones inside them. The dowry carriers tried to fetch as many things from the bride's home as possible. They "stole" household utensils, hens and some other small things. Usually they returned those things later, but sometimes they did not. Only a small part of the wedding traditions has survived to the pre- sent day. Some traditions have been simplified quite considerably. Nowadays the bride says good-bye to her parents and family on the morning of the wedding day. The cars in which the wedding party leaves are adorned with flowers and ribbons. After the wedding in church or in the Registrar's Office the wedding party's way home is often barred and roped with garlands of flowers. The match maker and the bridegroom's friends have to buy out their passage with sweets and a bottle of whiskey. the last garland is usually stretched across the gate of her home. The parents meet the newly- weds at the threshold with bread and salt and wine glasses of pure water. While coming back from church, the wedding party usually gives out sweets to children all along their way. Inside the house the wedding party usually find the seats at the table occupied by neighbours, "gypsies", another bride who is actually a man in disguise, and another bridegroom who is a woman. Both groups start haggling over the price of the seats and in the end, after much banter and laughter, the seats are sold for a bottle of whiskey. The backs of the bride's and bridegroom's chairs are adorned with wreaths of flowers. On trying the first bite of food the guests find it bitter and start singing the traditional song: "Bitter, bitter is the food. It will be sweet when the bridegroom kisses the bride". Then there are lot of funny instructions to the bridegroom how to do it better. A very important part is played in the wedding by the matron of honour who is usually a married woman, closely related to the bride. In church she and her partner stand next to the bride and bridegroom. She is usually responsible for the meal on the last day of the wedding. The duties of the master of ceremonies used to be performed by the wedding messenger, but now he has been replaced in this function by the match maker or the matron of honour's partner. At present one of the funniest moments during a wedding party is the execution of the match maker. Toward the end of the wedding party the bride's relatives come to realize that their sister has been taken in by the promises of the match maker. Having proved that his description of the bridegroom's possessions was highly exaggerated they decide to hang the match maker. Sometimes he is sentenced to death by burning him in water, by freezing on the stove or by sending him to sleep in a hay loft with all the girls of the neighbourhood. The match maker asks to be allowed to say good-bye to his friends. Then he smears his face with soot and tries to kiss every woman in the house. The wit- tier is the match maker, the funnier is his "execution". At last the bride or her mother takes pity on the poor man and as a sign of her forgiveness she throws a towel across his shoulder. The match maker is saved and the merry guests hang a dummy match maker instead, Another merry wedding tradition is the handing over of the bride's rue wreath to the chief bride girl. A lot of merriment is also created by musicians. Now people, especially those who are members of all sorts of ethnographic groups, are trying to revive as many ancient wedding traditions as possible. It is customary nowadays for a wedding party to last two days. Funerals In villages the dead are laid in state at home, but in town this is usually done in funeral parlours. The duration of funerals in villages and towns is also different: in villages they last three days, in towns two days. Coffins have six sides and taper off toward the foot. The dead are laid in state in the best room, the walls are adorned and covered with beautiful home-woven bedspreads; a cross, some pictures of saints and two burning candles, hallowed in church, are placed at the head. There may be more candles and seats for the immediate kith and kin at the side of the coffin. Wreaths with ribbons inscribed with words of condolence (sometimes in a poetical form) are hung on the walls on both sides of the coffin. They are also placed round the coffin on the floor together with baskets and bunches of flowers. A little picture of a saint and a rosary are placed in the dead man's hands. The funerals of young people are more pompastic, they are sometimes laid out in their wedding clothes, adorned with sprays of rue. Wreaths are made of oak, pine or fir twigs studied with flowers. While attending a funeral it is customary first to stand for a while by the coffin, or kneell down to say a prayer, kiss the cross on the table flanked with two burning candles, approach the beraeved family, ex- press sympathy, inquire about the last minutes of the dead man and discuss the sadder aspects of life in general. Relatives and close friends kiss each other. In the evening singers of religious hymns sing the Rosary, the Litany of All Saints and the psalms. In some localities singers have hymns created by the local poets or selected from various books suited to be sung on a mother's, father's, sister's or brother's death. A few decades ago in Dzukija it was customary to accompany the funeral rites by laments, i.e. songs or poems which express sorrow on people's death. Laments used to be sung or said by the relatives of the deceased man or by professional lamenters. The singing of religious hymns is followed by prayers for the dead members of the family of three generations, each one being mentioned by name. Every evening after the prayers a funerary meal is served, prepared by the best cook of the neighbourhood. If the family has a pig, it is killed on this sad occasion. In villages the dead are usually buried in the morning. In some localities before closing the lid of the coffin a cross is burnt into the lid with a hallowed candle. The Lithuanians have also preserved the tradition of kissing the dead by way of saying the last good-bye. A few decades ago children were bound to kiss the feet of their dead mother. The coffin is placed on a platform in a truck. Three men stand at the head of the coffin, the middle man holding a cross the other two the funerary flags which were hoisted at the door of the house where the de- ceased man lay in state. Sometimes the way leading into the flat where there is a funeral is strewn with twigs of fir. After the funeral service in church, if the cemetery is within a walking distance, the procession with a priest at its head, moves to the cemetery singing hymns. In cities the coffin is not taken to church, the mass for the dead is said in the morning and the priest accompanies the procession right to the cemetery. In Zemaitija drums and a brass band accompany the funeral procession. In villages the hole is dug out by the neighbours. A cross made of burning candles or a single candle is placed at the bottom of the hole, the sides are adorned with green twigs and flowers, especially if it is the funeral of a young person. After the rites performed by the priest close relatives throw a handful of earth into the grave. In some localities children are not required to throw a handful of earth onto their parents' coffin lowered into the grave. Recently a new tradition of throwing flowers into the grave has appeared. After burying the dead, a cross is pressed into the top of the grave mound with the haft of a spade, and candles, flowers and wreaths are placed on it. In villages more religious hymns are sung then, the people who have attended the funeral are invited to the funeral repast. At the end of four weeks after the death, it is customary to commemorate the dead by visiting his grave, by attending a mass of intercession for the dead, by inviting close friends and relatives to dinner and by singing religious hymns. In a similar way the dead man is remembered at the annual recurrence of the date of his death. As a sign of mourning for the death of one's parents it is customary for women to wear black or dark clothes, while men usually wear a black ribbon on the lapel of their coats. Funerals, particularly in villages, are attended by as many relatives, friends and acquaintances as can possibly come. FOLKLORE For long centuries verbal and musical creations, dances and games have been an important part of both the spiritual life and the practical activities of the Lithuanians. Although folklore has already lost touch with natural surroundings, it has kept coming to the attention of the public more and more often during the past few decades. It has become an object of investigation, a source for free interpretation by state ensembles (which call themselves folk companies). To this day folklore has always been alive in the spiritual world outlook of the older generation. Folklore files are constantly increased by new pieces. In 1988 the files of the Manuscript Department of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature contained over 1 100 000 items, while the files of the Folk Music Laboratory of the Conservatory of Lithuania had about 70 000 pieces. The mid 60's saw the appearance of the first ethnographic groups.- in 1966 the ethnographic group of Kupiskis announced its birth by putting on a concert entitled "An ancient wedding in Kupiskis"."; in 1968 an ethnographic group was founded in Vilnius University; in 1974 a professional folklore theater was set up in the Country Life Museum in Rumsiskes. In the recent years there has been a great upsurge in the folkloric movement. There are about 1000 ethnographic and folklore groups. Ethnographic groups exist mostly in villages and perform the folklore of their own locality. Folk groups exist in towns and cities, they unite people from different ethnic groups, therefore they perform the folklore of different region. Lithuania folk songs and dances are also dear to the hearts of our emigres. Folklore festivals are held regularly in Rumsiskes (the festival called Ant mariu krantelio "On the sea shore"), in Vilnius (Skamba skamba kankliai), in Kaunas (Atataria lumzdiai). In 1987 the first international folklore festival Baltica took place in Vilnius (In 1988 in Riga, in 1989 in Tallinn). In 1990 it took place in Kaunas. For the first time a folklore day was included in the National Song Festival in 1990, Verbal Folklore Throughout long centuries, ever since the time the Lithuanian nation was formed, simple folks have expressed their talent in songs, tales, stories, legends, riddles and proverbs, Folklore touched the most sensitive chords of the human soul, it intertwined with everyday family life and work, kept the historical memory alive, stimulated thinking fuse into a nation and survive. Songs are the most popular part of folklore. Their number amounts to tens of thousand, while the number of their variants is almost half a million. There are songs for every occasion of life. They express ethical views and emotions. The majority of Lithuanian folk songs were created in the feudal times. According to their subject, purpose and melody Lithuanian folk songs are divided into calendar, family, historical and war songs, songs of social injustice and protest, songs of Lithuanian emigrants and other kinds. Lamentations occupy a special place in Lithuanian folklore. The Christian element in Lithuanian folk songs is not very well developed. Work songs are rather numerous, they used to accompany all kinds of field and household chores: haymaking, harvesting, processing of flax, grinding grain, spinning, weaving and so on. The ancient calendar rite songs are closely related to agricultural cycles, annual festivals and customs. They include Christmas, Shrovetide, Easter songs and swinging songs. The old ways of rural life are reflected in wedding rites and wedding songs full of lyricism and humour. Social contradictions are expressed in work songs, orphan songs, songs about the hard lot of women and conscripts, and also in the songs of insurgents. War and historical songs do not mention concrete historical facts and do not indicate any concrete towns, villages or rivers. They are just based on the general image of seeing off a soldier to a war and the difficult period of waiting for him. A very important poetic figure in war songs is the soldier's personified steed, he is the soldier's staunchest friend, his messenger and the connecting link between the soldier and his family. The action usually takes place in a distant land, "beyond seven seas, high mountains and green woods". There are not very many characters in folk songs. They include mostly ploughmen, hay makers, spinners, weavers, more rarely the lord and the landlady or the master. Love and affection colour the relations between family members. A mother's image is painted in particularly affectionate colours. Everything that is best in life is connected with one's mother, The father is somewhat less poeticized, There is another typical character - the wicked mother-in-law who makes her daughter-in- law work very hard. The sun plays one of the most important roles in ancient poetry. It symbolizes the brightest moments in life and optimism. In songs about the wedding of an orphan girl the sun, the moon and the stars are her family: the moon allots a portion to her, the sun gives her a dowry, her brother Pleiades accompanies her across the field, her sister stars make a wreath for her. Some plants and birds have a symbolic meaning: the flax blosorn means an imminent wedding, the song of a cuckoo portends heartache and great worry. In songs about maiden life the rue wreath plays the central role be- cause the rue, contrary to the tradition of Western and Central Europe, is a symbol of maiden chastity. There is a lot of bright optimism in Lithuanian folk songs: the apple tree may be dry, it may have lost all its leaves, but the sun revives it and the apple tree is determined to live and blossom. The greatest human value, as expressed in folk songs, is work and the ability to work. Love, fidelity and disappointment go together in songs. Love and mutual respect are based on industry and mastery. The ethical ideal in folklore asserts the unconditional moral superiority of a working man over the privileged classes. One of the most important characteristics of Lithuanian folk songs is the warm feeling for natural phenomena and its lyrical expression. All the best songs are permeated with sadness and melancholy, most probably because women played an especially active role in their creation, preservation and performance. There is no epic in Lithuanian folklore. Lithuanian songs are of two kinds: those which are performed in one voice and those performed in two voices. Solo singing is not typical. Group singing has determined the abundance of melody types, versions and variants and the frequency of melody variations in stanzas. Although the melody depends on the character of the song, the melodies of the Lithuanian folk songs are, as a rule, rather restrained and undramatic. There are, naturally, elements of melody which are more characteristic of one region than another. The geographical boundaries of linguistic dialects coincide, in the main, with the boundaries of melodic dialect, although there are places where the melodic elements of different regions merge and intersect. Very often Lithuanian folk songs and Central Europe. On the first page of his journal "Ausra", published in 1883, Jonas Basanavicius, the heralder or the Lithuanian rebirth, characterized folk songs as a national wealth which is bound to call the nation to struggle for a better future. This is exactly what they did. Sutartines are polyphonic songs which are very old and used to be popular in the north of Eastern Aukstaitija, but did not occur in any other ethnic region. In sutartines poetry is closely intertwined with musical, choreographic and dramatic elements. Rhythm plays a particularly important role here. Sutartines appeared in the epoch of primitive society and reached their efflorescence under feudalism. They survived as late as the turn of the 20th century. Women usually performed the singing and dancing parts while men did the musical parts although sometimes the music was performed by women as well. Nowadays sutartines are performed by folklore and ethnographic groups. There are several kinds of sutartines: those performed by singing alone, those in which singing is accompanied by dancing; vocal instrumental sutartines (the modern ones) and instrumental sutartines. According to the way of their performance there are four subgroups of vocal sutartines. The first subgroup is performed in two voices which start and finish at the same time. Two separate tunes intertwine while the lyrics are the same, whatever differences there are in the lyrics, they concern only the forms of certain words. The second group of vocal sutartines are performed alternately by two groups of singers who sing in two voices. When the first group finishes the first stanza, the second group repeats it while the first group goes on to the next stanza. The third group of vocal sutartines are performed in 3 voices (or three groups). When the first voice reaches the middle of the first stanza, the second voice joins in from the beginning. When the first group finishes the first stanza, it stops and the third voice joins in the middle of the tune sung by the second voice. In this way a two-voice polyphony is created, for only two voices sing at the same time (except for the be- ginning) while the third voice is silent. Instrumental sutartines are per- formed on one instrument (originally the kankles) or on a group of instruments of the same kind. A typical Lithuanian genre is r a u d o s (lamentations), which are performed at sad, painful and tragic moments of life. The performer usually laments a person with whom he parts. It may be on the occasion of marriage, funeral, seeing off a soldier to war or a shepherd who is hired by a farmer. The content of a lamentation is determined by the person lamented (mother, father, son, daughter, husband, wife) and the moment of the ritual at which it is performed (bringing in the coffin, leaving the house, at the grave, after the funeral, etc.). The most typical element in lamentations are questions such as why the death has occurred, how the family will manage without the deceased person, who will do all the work, bring up the children and give comfort. The dead person is addressed as if he were still alive. Death is understood as a passage to another sphere and it-is described as a journey to a distant land. In earlier times it was believed that the dead became incarnated in a cuckoo or a plant, that the person was bound to come back to this world and visit his family. The text of a lamentation is usually created at the spur of the moment as the situation requires. Traditional motifs and images are connected with improvised elements which concern concrete facts. Lamentations used to be performed by family members, sometimes by professional performers. Lamentations performed at weddings lament youth, the parents' house. The lyrics include a lot of endearments, traditional epithets. At definite moments lamentations pass into sobs. Lamentations became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. They survived the longest in Dzukija. The world outlook of a Lithuanian peasant used to be rich in legends and tales. Almost every grove, hill and stream is steeped in legend. More than 80 000 folk tales have been registered in Lithuania. The oldest are animal tales and fairy tales. They emerged as far back as the times of primitive society. The most numerous and the most artistic are fairy tales. Their archaic elements reflect the world outlook of the ancient Lithuanians-. their mythology (dragons, witches, devils, giants), totemism (the marriage of people to totemic animals - grass-snakes, frogs, swans and others) and the cult of the dead. Their driving force lies invariably in the conflict between two characters, which combines all the other elements of the plot into one unified whole. The conflict is usually described in great detail, there are numerous repetitions in order to concentrate attention on the most important episodes, everything less important is recounted in lesser detail. Lithuanian folk tales exhibit features which bespeak their typological and genetic relation to the tales of other nations, The Lithuanian folk tale Egle, Queen of the Grass-snakes has found a wide reflection in professional art. Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman. They had twelve sons and three daughters. The youngest daughter's name was Egles, One summer evening, after a swim in the sea, the youngest daughter found a grass-snake lying cur- led in her shirt's sleeve. He said he would give the shirt back to her if she agreed to marry him. Egle promised to marry him. In a few days she left her parents' house with a retinue of grass-snakes. On the shore of the sea she was met by a handsome young man who was the same grass-snake that had lain curled in her shirt's sleeve. They crossed in a boat to an island nearby and from there they descended to a beautiful palace at the bottom of the sea where they celebrated their wedding. The life in the palace was rich. Egle cheered up and at last she for- got her homeland altogether. She gave birth to three sons - Azuolas (Oak), Uosis (Ash tree) and Berzas (Birch) and a daughter, Drebule (Asp), who was the youngest. Nine years passed and once her oldest son asked her where her pa- rents were and said he would like to visit them. Egle remembered her family but Grass-snake would not let her go. He asked her first to accomplish three tasks. At first she was given a silk tow to spin. Egle span and span and she could never finish it. Then she approached an old wise woman for advice. The woman advised her to throw the tow into fire. And really when the silk burnt, Egle saw a toad which had be- en producing new and new silk as Egle spun the tow. Her second task was to wear off iron shoes. Egle accomplished this task when, on the advice of the old woman again, she took them to a smith who burnt them in the foundry. Her third task was to bake a pie. Since Grass-snake had given orders to hide all the vessels in the kingdom, Egle could not even bring water for the pie. On the advice of the old woman she filled the holes of a sieve with leaven, brought some water from the well in it and made the pie. She said good-bye to her husband on the sea shore and together with her children she departed for her parents' house. They agreed that when she came back she would call her husband out of the sea by saying: Zhilvine, Zhilvinel! If alive you are, milk white is the surf! If is dead you are, blood-red is the surf! Egle had a very good time at her parents' house and the time allotted for her visit by her husband slipped imperceptibly by. To keep their sister on land, Egle decided to kill Grass-snake. But no matter how hard they tried, they could not get the password out of her sons. But her youngest daughter Drebule (Asp) blurted it out as soon as they threatened to flog her. When Egle and her children came back to the seashore and called Gras-snake, they saw blood-covered waves rolling to the shore and they heard Grass-snake's voice from the bottom of the sea informing them of the betrayal. In her pain, Egle turned her sons into strong trees - oak, ash tree and birch and her daughter into a quivering asp. She herself turned into a fir tree. Children's lore includes various games, Rhymes, ditties, counting rhymes, imitations of songs and other genres which are sometimes difficult to differentiate into classes. Counting rhymes are full of nonsense words which sound as charms. The 19th century saw the appearance of theatricals, choir singing and estate dancing. At the present time it is difficult to discern the direct relationship of folklore to man's life because of the social changes which involve changes in customs, everyday life, and forms of gatherings. But in the last few years the interest in folklore has grown considerably, which is reflected in the growing number of ethnographic groups and in the frequent re-unions of people who were born in the same locality or who belong to the same family by birth or by marriage. 1989 saw the revival of the songs of the post-war resistance movement which people used to sing secretly, and that was how they continued to live in people's memory. The aim of riddles has always been to develop a child's ability to observe and think. Here are a few of them: White cockerels are fighting on a red perch (Teeth). Though it lies day and night it never rots (Stone). It passes through fire but it does not burn, it passes through water but it does not sink, it passes through straw but it does not rustle (Shadow) It has a mouth of bone, a beard of flesh, it is born twice, dies once and is not afraid of the devil (Rooster). A beggar comes clad in rags, patches all over him, but water would not drench him through (Goose) A wide field, with countless sheep and a horned shepherd on it (The sky, stars and the moon). A little lady with nine fur coats on (Cabbage). The father of riddles lies in a pool (Tongue). When the mother hides, the father comes out (The sun and the moon). It is not a bird but climbs high to lay the egg (Hop). Without a pain, without a complaint, it keeps moaning (Hog). The maiden is in the bath-house, but her laits are outside (Carrot). Five men carrying a log (Carrot). Upon breaking the ice you find silver, upon breaking silver you find gold (Egg). Seven wives in one bed (Week). There stands a lord with a red hat. Whoever passes it, bows to it (Cep). It is clay in summer, and a brother in winter (A stove). A brother lives between two sisters (The nose). It has flesh all around, and a tummy of stone (Cherry). The father has not yet been born, but the son has gone grey (Fire and smoke). Musical instruments The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments published in En- gland in 1984 mentions 48 Lithuanian musical instruments. The major among them - kankles (the zither), ragai (horns), skuduciai (pan pipes) are all popular musical instruments today. Children have never forgot- ten whistles made of clay and wood bark. Kankles (zither). It is a very old Lithuanian musical instrument, related to the Latvian kokle the Estonian kannel, the Finnish kantele and the Russian gussli, The first reference to this Lithuanian instrument can be found in the translation of the Bible by Jonas Bretkunas (1579-90). Wood for making the kankles was sought in a large wood. The cutting of the tree was timed with somebody's death, or with a mourning or funeral. The kankles made of such wood cut at such a time were expected to have a plaintive tone. The resonator (the lower part) of the ancient kankles was hallowed from a block of wood, and the sound board was fixed on its top. The kankles had 5-7 strings. A bigger instrument would have 9-12 strings. The strings were made of finer copper or iron. They could also be made of guts. The kankles in the north-eastern ethnic region of Lithuania (Aukstaitija) had the shape of a boat with one end oblique and slightly wider and 5-7 strings. The kankles from the western part of the region, also from western Lithuania (Zemaitija) were flat, with one end very oblique and 7-9 strings. The kankles made in the ethnic region of Suvalkija had a rounded narrow end and 9-12 strings. The player would pluck the strings either with his fingers or with a plectrum. The kankles could be used as a solo instrument. The simple unmodified instrument is used in folklore groups. The modified instrument (dating form the middle of the 20th century) is used in various professional groups. The skuduciai (panpipes) is a set of 5-6 pipes, 8-20 cm long, 1-3 cm in diameter, they are made of wood (ash, alder, buckthorn, osier), of willow or linden bark, or of the hollow stems of umbelliferous plants, The upper end of the pipe has two sickle-shaped cuts in the rim-, the lower end is plugged with a fixed or sliding stopper. Each pipe produces one stable note. The sound is of short duration. Panpipes were extremely popular in middle and northern Aukstaitija. Both instrumental and vocal sutartines (ancient polyphonic songs) and accompaniment to dances were played on them. They were still used in rural districts in the first half of this century. In the 1920s this instrument was modified - a sliding stopper was used as its bottom, and several pipes could be played together. In the middle of this century music played on this instrument was introduced into the repertoire of professional folk companies, later on - in folklore groups. The horns are of several types. There are horns made of goat horn, there are daudytes, tubas, and trumpets, all made of split wood. The horns are 8-1 0 cm in diameter, 5-1 1 0 cm long, slightly bent in most cases, without any side holes. A piece of wood, its bark removed, is split lengthwise into two (the wider end is whole), hollowed and then fixed together: glued with resin, and birch bark is tightly wrapped round the two parts. A set is made of 4-5 horns. Such horns are straight, each a few centimeters longer than the next one, with holes of different size. The longer the horn, the lower its tone. The horns can produce 1-2 strident notes. In the fields, very special sutartines, sometimes composed only for the panpipes, can be played on the horns. Daudyte is 1.4-2.3 meters long, straight, fashioned in the same way as the horns. 4-5 notes can be produced on it. Its sound is very strident. In ancient times, a herdsman used the daudyte as a signal instrument when taking the herd to the pasture or back home. Sutartines were also played on this instrument. At present it is used in folk instrument groups. Dances Dances, ring dances and games form a branch of folk art integrating vocal art, music, movement, action, ritual and national costume - the words sokti ("dance") and dainuoti ("sing") in some dialects of Lithuania are very close in their meaning. Among the oldest Lithuanian folk dances are dances sutartines. Their characteristic feature is the repetition of onomatopeic words and polyphony of the text and music (simultaneous sounding of different words and melodies). The sutartine (song) is accompanied by simple movements of a dance - walking, stamping feet, gliding, changing places, coming, turning, and others. The most common figures are walking in rows, facing each other, or going in a circle. Sutartines were mostly danced by women. The name of such a sutartine would usually derive from the first line of the song or its refrain. This type of sutartines were still danced in north-eastern Lithuania in the early 20th century. Dances accompanied by songs and having elements of drama also date from ancient times. Their movements, in the same way as dance sutartines, consist of walking in rows or a circle. The oldest dances and games reflect human experience - life and work, customs, various processes work in the fields (Aguonele "Little Poppy", Dobilelis "Little Clover", Linelis "Little Flax", Ruguciai "Rye"), hunting (Untyte "Duckling", Kiskelis "Little Hare"), fishing (Zvejys "Fisherman"), domestic crafts (Audeja "Weaver", Verpesja "Spinner", Siauciukas "Tailor", Kalvelis "Blacksmith"), work implements (Kubilas "Tub", Malunelis "Mill"), rituals of family and calendar holidays (Sadute, Jievaro tiltas). All older dances had plots, in some - one participant would act a role, in others - a group of participants would act their roles while the others would only sing or just imitate. There are also elements of drama (mimicry, pantomime, dialogues), Ring dances could be performed as dances in their own right or as parts of a game dance. The way of dancing in a ring dance changes greatly: first there is a simple, slow and solemn walking in a circle, later various choreographic elements are introduced. The number of dancers in this type of dances is not strictly defined. Folk dances are characterized by a symmetrical design; in later times by a compositional complexity, variety of figures. There are various ways of dancing in pairs. The partners can embrace each other in the polka- or waltz-like manner, or they can just hold each other's hands when facing each other or standing in a circle, or hold each other by their bent arms. Dances and games used to be restrained. There were no solo dances. Leg movements are dominant: the steps are short, the feet are not raised high, there are no big leaps. Hand movements are characteristic of imitative dances. The most frequent steps are walking, jumping, waltz and polka steps. Turning, intertwining, going through and changing places are the dominant figures. Purely men's dances are not very popular in Lithuania. In the late 19th century and early 20th century game dances were gradually replaced by ring dances, Young people liked polkas and other fast-moving dances which came from Western Europe. At the beginning of the 20th century the first folk dances were adapted for the stage. Since 1940 about 300 folk dances and ring dances have been adapted for the stage. Very many performances given by amateur companies open with the hat dance Kepurine, which is a greeting dance. Among the Lithuanians living in emigration the dance Kubilas "Tub" enjoys great popularity. The dance Klumpakojis "Dance in sabots" became popular at the end of the last century. Ethnographic and folklore groups are doing a lot to revive old folk dances. Each ethnic region has its favourite dances. Several dances, such as Bitute "Little Bee", Noriu miego "I feel so sleepy", Suktinis "Twirler" and Zilvitis "Osier Tree" are popular in all parts of Lithuania. FOLK ART In the simplicity of its forms and its practical application, in the reserved ornamentation and colour scheme, folk art has not departed very much form man's everyday needs. The manner in which applied art objects were executed was greatly determined by the properties of local materials - wood, flax, wool, iron, straw. Among the surviving arts which have preserved the oldest traditions of Lithuanian folk art are Easter eggs with wax ornaments on them, the verbos or Palm Sunday flowers of the Vilnius region (they are growing in popularity in Poland too), ornamental sashes, bedspreads, table- cloths, towels, pottery, toys, towel racks, decorative distaffs, sabots, gardens" (compositions made of straw), wooden statuettes. In the last few decades paper cuttings and amateur painting have gained a lot in popularity. Folk artists have founded the Lithuanian Folk Artists' Union, which is responsible for the supply of materials, exhibitions and sales. Although a large part of the production of art-objects on the patterns of ancient folk traditions is organized, the number of independent folk artists exhibit a tendency to increase. Since 1971 mass organized activities have been very important for the popularizing of crafts and folk art. The Kaziukas Fair, for example, held in Vilnius at the weekend nearest to March 4 since last century, at- tracts craftsmen not only from all over Lithuania, but also from far beyond its borders. The best examples of ancient folk art have found their way to the Historical and Ethnographic Museum in Vilnius or to local ethnographic museums in smaller cities and towns, Ornament The roots of the Lithuanian ornament reach down to the formation of the Baltic tribes. There are four kinds of Lithuanian traditional ornaments - geometrical, plant, animal and celestial ornaments. Geometrical ornaments are the most popular. The, ancient plant ornaments conform more to a conventional style than to nature, their connection with nature being often indicated merely by their names. In the animal ornaments the motif of a horse and birds is the most frequent. Celestial bodies - the sun, moon and stars - also have an important place in the Lithuanian ornaments. The ornamentation of tools used every day is usually not very heavy. In the pre-Christian era and early Christian period many ornamental motifs had a symbolic meaning. The sun motif. All over the world the sun is the symbol of warmth and kindness. It is the most popular ornamental motif in Lithuania. It is very often used on objects connected with various rites, on sashes, Easter eggs, large and small distaffs, glazed ceramic objects, etc. The sun motif was the obligatory element in the iron heads of crosses and chapels, later in wooden crosses as well. The oldest sun motifs are discernible on archeological finds such as amber weights and distaffs excavated on the Baltic shore. The sun, particularly on wooden objects, is represented by a six-pointed star in a circle. The horse-head motif is second in popularity. It was used on metal objects, excavated now by archeologists. Since the 18th century it has become one of the most popular ways of embellishing gable poles. Sometimes ornamental motifs on sashes remind of horse-heads as well. As a rule horse-heads are rather stylized. A PLANT IN A FLOWER POT is an ornamental motif which is third in popularity and is very often used on ancient dowry chests, beds, towel racks, window shutters, pots, distaffs and, more rarely, on home-made fabrics. This motif appeared in the 16th and 17th centuries and gained its greatest popularity in the 18th century. Most often it is a lily or a tulip in a pot, vase or wine glass. Sometimes above the plant or among its branches there is one, two, three, five, seven or even more birds. The blossom may be replaced by the sun symbol and this is very often done on distaffs, Tulips and lilies are used to ornament ancient wood carvings, dowry chests, woven fabrics, embroidered or knitted articles. They are also used to adorn crosses and chapels. The grass-snake motif can be found on crosses, small distaffs, Easter eggs, and sashes. Birds. Images of birds as a decorative element can be found even on early archeological finds. Nowadays, this ornamental motif, represented on folk art objects, is usually rather abstract. (It is only on rare occasions that we can recognize storks or cocks). Lithuanian ornaments were formed under the influence of the sense of proportion typical of the Lithuanian farmer, the natural colours which surrounded him, and the historical conditions. In the 18th-20th centuries ornamentation was rather heavily used on wood carvings, fabrics, handicraft, cast iron and clay articles, Easter eggs, cuttings. Crosses and Chapels At the turn of 20th century German, French and Polish scholars recognized wooden crosses and chapels as one of the most typical features of Lithuanian culture. To this day many publications on Lithuanian folk art attach great importance to these objects. Most of the Lithuanian crosses and chapels are very artistic. They used to be erected at farmsteads, streams, roads, at the end of a field and other places. They used to be erected on various occasions - the birth of a child, a sudden death, the beginning of the construction of a farmstead and other such events. At the beginning of the 20th century crosses and chapels in Zemaitija were spaced by several score of meters. Lithuanian crosses and chapels were more ornamented than in other countries. For a long time they were indicators of the farmers' wealth and social position. Young girls used to be judged by their flower gardens and the crosses in their farmsteads. Most crosses were built with a single cross bar, but there were also crosses with two cross bars, especially in Zemaitija. The latter type of crosses were usually erected in times of plague or other great disasters. Ornamentation depended on the form of the cross. Crosses in western Zemaitija were the least ornamented. Chapels, pillar-type crosses and roofed pillar-type crosses were built on the same occasion and with the same aims as simple crosses. They usually contained figurines of saints. Chapels were built on stone by the wayside or close to farmsteads. In their form they reminded of miniature churches, church lanterns, sometimes even grain barns. In Suvalkija little chapels used to be attached to wayside trees. Pillar-type crosses are small chapels raised on a tall pole. Roofed pillar-type crosses have a roof over the statuettes placed at the top of a tall pole. There are one-tier and two-tier pillar-type crosses. When there are four statuettes, each is placed at a window on all the tour sides of the chapel. In Zemaitija one-tier pillar-type crosses are more frequent while the Aukstaitians prefer two-tier pillar-type crosses. Some scholars maintain that their sources are to be sought in the artistic world outlook and be- lief of the pre-Christian period. Chapels, crosses, pillar-type crosses and roofed pillar-type crosses are adorned with Christian and pre-Christian symbols, Christian symbols include the Crucified, statuettes of saints, God's eye, an angel with a trumpet, a chalice; the ancient symbols include the sun, moon, grass-snakes, etc., which are to be found on archeological finds and objects of art remote from religion. Very often folk artists used the form of a cross to express their artistic visions. They grouped ornamentation around the crossbar in such a way that the cross looked more like a huge stylized sun with a crucifix in the center. The ornamentation was usually determined by the artists individuality and local traditions. Aukstaitian and Dzukian crosses were more heavily ornamented than in the other ethnic regions. In Dzukija even the implements of Christ's torture used to serve as elements of ornamentation. Beside the motifs of lilies and chamomiles, folk masters used triangles, circles, squares and half-moons to adorn their crosses. Open work elements of ornamentation were usually attached around the crossbar and under the roof, When after the Second World War the communist authorities prohibited the erection of crosses and pillar-type crosses, these traditions of folk art were discontinued. In 1972 the old folk masters began to cultivate this branch of folk art in a new way and created a group memorial to the victims of the village of Ablinga, Zemaitija, who were shot or burnt alive on the second day of the war by the German soldiers. But a considerable number of details in this memorial were created not so much an the basis of the ancient art heritage as on the traditions of professional art. The pillar-type crosses erected along the Varena - Druskininkai highway in 1975 in honour of the great Lithuanian artist and composer Mikalojus Ciurlionis, were executed in, a more consistent traditional manner. In 1988 in the Salcininkeliai group the ancient sculptural and architectural forms were used to convey the mood and images of anti-war folk songs, The surviving traditions of folk architecture and sculpture helped to restore traditional pillar-type crosses, for in the second half of 1988 came the unexpected revival of crosses and pillar-type crosses in Lithuania. New crosses were erected to the victims of post-war resistance and deportees. They were erected at the railway stations from which trains with deportees used to leave for Siberia, at the places of former villages, and other places, It is to be regretted that sometimes haste makes the folk masters forget the traditions. Sculpture Every Lithuanian chapel used to contain statuettes of more than 40 saints, the number of which in each chapel amounted sometimes to more than a score. In the 1930's Koncius covered 2424 kilometers, traveling in Zemaitija, and he registered 3234 statuettes of saints, which means there was one statuette for every 700 meters. The most frequent was the sculpture of the Crucified (42,8 per cent) and of the Holy Virgin (22,7 per cent), others included: St. John (9,3 per cent), Jesus (4,4 per cent), St.George (2,8 per cent), the Pensive Christ (2,5 per cent), St. John the Baptist and Roch (2,3 per cent), St. Barbara (0,8 per cent), St. Joseph (1,1 per cent), St. Anthony (1,78 per cent), St. Isidore (0,8 per cent), St. Florian (0,7 per cent) and others. Very typical of the surviving Lithuanian sculptural tradition are the images of the following three saints - the Pensive Christ, St Isidore and St George. The Pensive Christ is depicted as an old man sitting with his chin on his right palm. But he is not Christ in prison. In small chapels with open sides, attached to trees, the Pensive Christ is usually the only statuette. He symbolizes sadness, as his crucifixion was a sacrifice to humanity to alleviate its pain and wipe its tears. During and after a war Lithuanians looked upon the Pensive Christ as a symbol of their misfortunes. St George (Gr. Georgios - "land tiller") is very popular in Lithuania. Together with St Casimir he is considered to be Lithuania's second saintly guardian. He is usually depicted as a rider, slaying a dragon to defend a princess. To the peasant St George is the guardian of his animals. A chapel with his statuette was usually placed at the gate through which animals were driven to and back from pasture. St Isidore is depicted as a farmer sowing grain while an angel is ploughing the field. When St Isidore is depicted ploughing the field, the angel is sowing. St Isidore looks after the fields, protects them against drought or too much rain, stimulates the sprouting of seeds. Therefore his statuette is usually placed in a chapel on a pole in the fields. St Isidore usually wears clothes typical of the locality where his chapel is built - sometimes he is in his shirt sleeves, sometimes he is wearing a long coat, on his head he has a cap or a straw hat, across his shoulder a towel or a sash. His trousers are usually rolled up. But sometimes his clothes are "quite nice". St Isidore is sometimes included even in secular sculptural groups. Every region, Zemaitija in particular, had its own craftsmen who carved "gods" after the image their of own people. Wrought iron artifacts Wrought iron artifacts such as chests, carts, door fittings and window gratings make a separate branch of folk art. But wrought iron crosses and wrought iron heads of chapels are most expressive of the folk artists' talent and of the spiritual world of the Lithuanian nation. The cross usually passes into sun rays which sometimes include blossoms and leaves of tulips, rues and other flowers, and sometimes a moon and stars. Large and small distaffs Nowadays you can often see flat carved wooden pieces with or without a handle hanging as decorations on the walls of people's homes. Specimens of such small ornamented boards can be seen in museums, their illustrations are included in books on folk art. Those are small and large distaffs, the main implements of women's work, passed on from generation, closely related to the spiritual world of the Lithuanian nation. Before the advent of the spinning wheels in the 18th century, distaffs were the main implements for spinning. In the eastern parts of Lithuania and the western parts of Byelorussia, inhabited by Lithuanians, distaffs were used as late as the beginning of the 20th century. The shape of a distaff reminds of a spade turned upside down. There are three main parts, the head, the shaft and the seat for the spinner. The head and the handle are made of the same piece of wood. The heads may have one of the three shapes: those with a broad flat top end, those similar to a willow leaf and those with a pointed head. The first ones are rather heavy, the second ones are small, graceful and fight, the third ones are of medium size, harmonious and peaceful. The front side of a distaff is heavily ornamented. The back side to which the tow is attached while spinning, has ornaments only on the parts which are not hidden by the tow. The first thing that attracts the eye is the great variety of ornaments and compositions. A closer look reveals that the number of the main ornamental motifs is not very great, there is , in fact, only one compositional scheme of infinite variety. There are three main ornamental elements: circles with segmented stars, circles' with triangular small teeth, and parallel lines going in all directions. Circles and segmented stars predominate. The stars may be large and small. They may have four, six, eight or even more points which may pass into flowers, petals and other things. It is enough to change the proportions of the star segments, the number and form of the petals, to vary the depth of the cut, to change the form of the encircling line and the star will look quite different. Toothed lines and squares are combined in various ways. There are also great possibilities of variation in the placing of parallel lines. The composition of the ornaments is rather stable. The central line contains from one to four and even more segmented stars, the size of which increases toward the bottom. The circles are placed within bands of parallel lines. The borders of distaffs are adorned with lines of triangular teeth. The ornamentation is rather dense, but it never looks overdressed. Sometimes free spaces are filled with figures of men and birds. The shaft is, as a rule, less ornamented. With the appearance of the spinning wheel, the demand for distaffs decreased. While using a spinning wheel, the tow is fastened on a small board called distaff. In Zemaitija and Suvalkija small distaffs are very often given to women as gifts. Differently from large distaffs, small distaffs are more varied. Some of them are similar to large distaffs except for the carved top and edges. The dominant ornamental motif is that of the sun - two connected circles around segmented stars. The ornaments may also include a rosette with nine segments, half-moons, rhombuses, small circles, ornaments in the shape of the letter S, and others. Many possibilities are offered by different carving techniques. Sometimes the old symbols go hand in hand with Christmas symbols - crosses, chalices and hearts. The front side is more heavily ornamented than the back side. At the beginning of the present century small distaffs underwent the greatest changes. The ancient symbols were replaced by plant motifs, pot flowers and lilies. Little by little the ornamentation was becoming more realistic. Lithuanian women used to spend of lot of time working at a spinning wheel or a distaff and at the same time passing down on to their children stories, legends, riddles and proverbs. A great number of them used to be created just there, under the aegis of the sun rays, symbols of virtue, beauty and hope. A woman at a spinning wheel or a distaff was also the clandestine instructor in Lithuanian letters at the turn of the century when Lithuanian books were banned by the Russian tsar. Nowadays large and small distaffs have become popular ethnic souvenirs. Fabrics Halt a century ago all Lithuanian women used home-made fabrics. In Dzukija this continued right up to the 60's. Even now home-made towels, tablecloths and bedspreads are admired as pieces of folk art. Mostly they are made of linen. Their beauty is based on the combination of patterns and colours. The majority of patterns on white linen cloth are based on ancient geometrical ornaments which symbolize the sun and other natural objects. The central pattern is usually composed of several uncomplicated but contrasting elements framed by smaller compositions. Their main peculiarity lies in their constancy and rhythmic repetitions. The same patterns but of different proportions are used on separate articles of the same set. The weaving pattern is usually in harmony with the proportions of the object, e.g. a table, for which the article is used. With time, the compositions became freer. The patterns of towels are sometimes composed lengthwise. In this case the ends have a red woven band. Other kinds of towels have crocheted lace. Red bands used to be woven into the ends (in Aukstaitija) or sides (in Zemaitija) of tablecloths as well. The weaving patterns of bedspreads are based on geometrical ornaments, composed of squares, catpaws, suns and the like. In south- eastern Lithuania catpaw patterns are smaller. The same patterns are used on fabrics woven with a different number of warps. But naturally, with the increase in the number of warps the patterns become more complicated. With time plant and animal motifs appeared and now they are often combined with geometrical patterns. Colour introduces a still greater variety. Cloth woven with two warps is usually striped. Zemaitija preferred bedspreads with transverse stripes, while Aukstaitija liked lengthwise stripes more. A lot of attention was paid to colours. Striped or checked bedspreads do not have many colours, usually two, three or four. Dominating colour combinations are black, green and red; green, white and red; black and red. The more complicated the pattern, the more colours there are, particularly in Dzukija and Suvalkija. There the number of colours may be as large as eight, the following combinations being the most frequent: black, green and red; violet, black, red, green and yellow. Bedspreads woven in pick-up technique have two contrasting colours. The ancient artistic traditions and relation to customs are best pre- served in towels. They are woven from bleached linen. Warp may be cotton, weft is usually linen, natural or dyed in brown. Lip until the middle of the 19th century towels used to be from 250 to 300 cm long and 28-35 cm wide . Later their dimensions changed to 150-200 cm in length and 35-40 cm in width. There were two kinds of towels - those for everyday use and those for decorative purposes. The latter were usually hung on a carved towel rack in the corner of the best room. At the turn of the century towels used to be given as gifts to the bridegroom's parents, brothers, sisters, the matchmaker, guests and dowry chest carriers. This tradition goes back to the 16th century. Towels were also used in funeral rites: they were used to adorn the place where the dead man lay in state, to place across the shoulders of the coffin bearers, to support the coffin while lowering it into the hole, and so on. Sashes Sashes are used as a waist girdle in the national costume and also to make women's headpieces. At present sashes, very often with woven-in words, are used to honour people on the occasion of their birthdays, or to welcome an honourable guest. Sashes are also used on funeral wreaths instead of ribbons. Small ribbons with national patterns are used together with a badge on a lapel, or to tie a present. Sashes are produced by twisting, twining and weaving techniques. Sashes, found in ancient burial places, date back to the 4th and 5th A centuries B.C. Now, twined and woven sashes are the most popular. Earlier, several score of motifs were used in sashes. Symbols of the celestial bodies predominated, such as crosses, stars, and very often a six-pointed star in a rhombus. Frequent were the motifs of fir-tree, blossom, bud, rake, and tree of life. Because of the weaving techniques plant motifs are similar to geometrical patterns and sometimes it is very difficult to differentiate between them. In the world outlook of the ancient Lithuanians the circle symbolized the sun. It was also used as a protection against evil spirits. The circle is a symbol of the sun, virtue and warmth. A sash with sun symbols, girdling a person's waist, makes a circle around him. In this way, a sash practically symbolized two things. The patterns of twisted and twined sashes are less complicated, they usually consist of stripes, squares, herring-bone, teeth, rhombuses. Twined sashes are made of wool yarn and no tools are used for that. Every girl was supposed to know how to make sashes. After their wedding, on their way to their new homes, brides used to tie sashes on wayside crosses and trees and then on the gate of their husband's homestead to ensure their happy conjugal life. Brides used to leave sashes at every place they were likely to frequent in the future - at the fireplace, the wellsweep, the bathhouse. Sashes were used as presents for the musicians at the wedding and neighbours. Sashes were used as part of the swaddling for babies, particularly when they were taken to church to be baptised, also to support bast baskets while sowing, and pots of food taken to the field workers. Sashes were also used to spread under the feet of the bride and bridegroom in church and also to support the coffin while lowering it into the hole. Palm Sunday flowers of the Vilnius region Palm Sunday flowers are not very widely spread. They are made in villages to the north of Vilnius and are also known among the Lithuanian emigrants in Chicago and in western Poland. During the season which lasts from Shrove Tuesday to Palm Sunday the estimated 150 folk masters produce about 50,000 Palm Sunday flowers which they sell on Palm Sunday morning in front of the churches of Vilnius - St. Peter and Paul's church, St. Jame's church and others - as well as in the lane in front of the Ausra Gate, which practically turns into a forest of Palm Sunday flowers. Since the early 60's Palm Sunday flowers have become a commodity at the Kaziukas Fair, held in Vilnius at the weekend nearest to March 4. It is supposed that the first Palm Sunday flowers appeared in the Middle Ages to enliven festive processions. In the second quarter of the 19th century they were already wide-spread, but they were mostly used for decorative purposes and never had the same ritual function as the Palm Sunday bunches of willow, yew and other green twigs had. Palm Sunday flowers are made of field, forest, water and garden plants. At the present time 45 kinds of plants are known to be used for this purpose. 11 kinds of plants (mostly reeds) go for the heads alone. Preparations for the production of Palm Sunday flowers begin in July. Women and children start collecting cudweeds, rye and oat ears, timothy grass, immortelles and other plants in summer. The brightness of the colours depends not only on the kind of the plant bus also on the time when it was picked. The plants are spread or hung in bunches in attics to dry and wait till they are used to make Palm Sunday flowers. Mosses, lichens, various lycopodiums are collected just before making Palm Sunday flowers. Palm Sunday flowers have several shapes, that of a rolling pin, a wreath or a rod. They may be flat or irregularly shaped. All Palm Sun- day flowers are started in the same way. A bunch of reeds and bents is tied to the top of a 30-to-50 centimeter long nut-tree rod and then dried plants and flowers (sprinkled with water so that they should not crumble) are arranged down the rod and fixed to it tightly with a thread. Rolling-pin-shaped Palm Sunday flowers are the most popular. Dry blossoms and plants are arranged below the head in rings of different colours around the stem. In the second decade of the present century came the custom of dipping the plants in aniline dye. In this way up to seven colours can be used on a single Palm Sunday flower. The smaller Palm Sunday flowers contain from 10 to 12 rings, the longer ones may have as many as 18 or 21 rings. About 2500 blossoms go to make a flower with 21 rings. At the beginning of the 20th century rings on a Palm Sunday flowers were sometimes arranged in a spiral way. The 30's saw the appearance of Palm Sunday flowers with plants arranged down the stem in complicated ornamental patterns. Rod-like Palm Sunday flowers are the simplest and the smallest. Tiny blossoms of the same size of 2 or 3 colours are tied to a thin rod. Sometimes the blossoms are interspersed with grasses. This kind of Palm Sunday flowers are often made by children. Flat Palm Sunday flowers are made of rye ears and timothy grass. Very often they are dyed. Their shape reminds of a bird's feather. The first flowers of this shape appeared in 1970. On both sides of the stem a rye ear or a timothy grass is fastened and this goes down and down to produce a flower of a desired size. Between the rye ears dry blossoms of mortelles are fixed. Since blossoms of different colours are fixed on the front and back side of the flower, it looks different when viewed from the front and from the back. The top ears are very often bent to the stem to produce a heartshaped frame. In the 80's another arrangement of dry plants on a stem was in- vented: bunches of rye ears are fixed in such a way that they remind of a bell turned upside down and filled with flowers. The invention of new shapes of Palm Sunday flowers never ends. The latest invention consists in 3 or 4 thickenings on the stem, called St. Casimir's crowns, which taper toward the bottom. The recent years have seen the appearance of branching Palm Sunday flowers which remind of a palm. Wreath-shaped Palm Sunday flowers appeared in the 20's of the present century. They are often used to adorn graves, or stuck be- hind pictures in the corner of a room. Although there are not very many kinds of Palm Sunday flowers, their variety is infinite due to the different skills and tastes of the masters. Each of them has his own beloved methods and patterns in which they arrange dry plants around a wooden rod. Pottery Up until the beginning of this century peasants used earthenware and wooden dishes. Earthenware pots were used even for cooking and baking. Almost every farmer's wife knew how to make such pots of baked mixture of potter's clay and crushed stone. Lithuanians have a special dish which they use to take food to field workers. It is made of two earthenware jars joined with a handle. Lithuanian children have always been fond of clay whistles made in the shape of horses, riders (for boys) and ducklings (for girls). Easter Eggs Decoration of Easter eggs is a very ancient custom. At the foot of the Gediminas hill in Vilnius archaeologists have found eggs made of bone and clay, which shows that this custom was known in Lithuania as early as the 13th century. Easter eggs are mentioned by Martynas Mazvydas in his dedication to his book "Hymns of St. Ambrosius" (1549). Easter eggs were particularly popular at the turn of the 20th century. They were decorated both by the grown-ups and the children, by the rich and the poor. Some were dyed in a single colour, some we- re decorated in patterns. Decorations were produced by painting pat- terns on a warm egg with the tip of a stick or a pinhead dipped in hot wax. Droplet-shaped strokes were grouped in patterns, twigs of rue, little suns, starlets, and snakes. The most frequent pattern was that of a sun, like those on large and small distaffs. Smaller patterns were joined by dots and wavy lines into larger ornaments. Their combinations were so varied that it was impossible to find two identical Easter eggs. Every village had its own best egg-decorators. The painting of decorations in wax completed, the egg was dipped in black, brown, red or green dye. Up until the beginning of the 20th century natural dyeing materials were used such as onion peel, birch leaves, hay, oak or alder bark. Very popular was the black dye produced by soaking and boiling a mixture of alder bark and rust. Dyed eggs were placed in a hot oven or hot water for the wax to melt. Patterns in several colours were produced by painting them with wax on a lighter colour and placing the egg in a darker dye. Similar patterns could also be scraped with the tip of a knife. Many nations believed that eggs, particularly decorated eggs, had a magic power. When the animals were first driven to pastures in spring, the farmer's wife used to place an egg on the threshold to keep them in good shape. The farmer used to place an egg in the first furrow ploughed in spring to ensure a good harvest. Straw compositions Straw compositions were used to decorate rooms on various occasions, Christmas trees and the place at the table where the bride and bridegroom sat. Straw compositions are a separate branch of folk art which was very popular in the first decades of the present century. The basic element of every straw composition is a segment made of 12 pieces of straw strung together. Rye straw is sprinkled with water and cut into 12 equal pieces. 8 pieces are strung on a thread the ends of which are tied. Then the string is bent into a figure of eight, folded and the tips tied. Each of the four remaining pieces of straw is strung on a thread, one end of which is tied to each corner of the segment. The other end of the thread is used to join the segment to another one. There is also another method of making straw compositions., three segments of a different size are tied one with another and suspended on a common thread to rotate in the wind. To mark the Epiphany, stars made of pieces of straw of different length were used to decorate rooms. The most complicated and beautiful straw compositions were "wed- ding gardens" which were popular in Aukstaitija. These compositions were large, made of a large number of segments. Suspended from its corners are birds, stars and the "gardener". Lithuanian emigrants to the United States use straw compositions as Christmas tree decorations. There are more than 60 kinds of such decorations. CONCLUDING REMARKS Lithuanian emigrants and deportees, dispersed in the West and in the East, took with them their songs, customs and handiwork the traces of which can be found in many places of the world. In the western regions of Byelorussia Lithuanians had to abandon their own language for various reasons, but they managed to preserve the characteristically Lithuanian ornaments and colour combinations in textiles and also typical folklore features. Certain elements of Lithuanian dress were taken over by the Cossacks on the Don river. Traditions of woo- den sculpture were brought as far as the Volga river by the exiled insurgents of 1831 and 1963. Miniature pillar-type crosses sprang up in the displaced persons' camps in Western Europe after World War 11 and from there they found their permanent place in the Lithuanian homes in various countries of the world. Lithuanian ornamented crosses can be found now in many places of the world. if you happen to come across an ornamented cross or a little chapel with an iron head in the shape of a cross surrounded with sun-rays, you can be sure that this is a Lithuanian grave. In the United States Christmas trees are adorned with straw compositions. Easter eggs and Lithuanian sashes decorated with sun motifs travel in the world with each Lithuanian generation. Lithuanians, dispersed in the remotest corners of the world, are united by their folk songs and dances, national costumes, amber jewelry, rues, a loaf of rye bread on their table and the Lithuanian national emblem - the Mounted Knight. 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