THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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Go shopping!
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Some fresh pictures from Kaziuko Muge 2012
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Here’s what made the Kaziukas Fair so interesting – since the early 1700s!
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Lithuania's 300-year-old market, Kaziukas Fair, is probably the world’s best and most interesting outdoor market since the early 1700s! This market takes normally place the first weekend in March each year. But also during the rest of the year Vilnius Old Town is an attractive shopper's paradise, with prices people from the west could only dream about...
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We went there today, and who didn’t we meet! I wanted to find out how genuine the Kaziukas Fair really is, so I went there today with my 13-year old Norwegian-Lithuanian daughter Cassandra (13) who speaks Lithuanian fluently. We met some fantastic people that we now will introduce you to:
IRENA FROM PALANGA Irena has been running more than 300 kilometres with her van, from the seaside town of Palanga to Vilnius, to offer smoked fish to the market visitors.
JUSTINA AND PAULIUS FROM VILNIUS This pair produces wooden toys from their workshop in Vilnius. Genuine, made of real wood! Plastic? What‘s that? |
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ONUTĖ FROM PRIENAI Cakes, pies, cakes ... Onutė and her family bakes all year. Throughout the year they are very much excited about the fact that in March every year they will go to Vilnius to introduce their last year's pastries...
ZOFETA FROM VILNIUS Zofeta has Polish background. So even if it is an old Lithuanian custom to make verbas (Palm Sunday flowers) from the twigs of certain trees and bushes, I think it’s fair to say that this is more of a Polish tradition. The custom has been passed down from ancient times, when people believed in the magic power of some plants to revive the earth after winter to give people health, and to protect them from disasters. Later this custom as reinterpreted and came to signify Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, as described in the Gospel. In any case, here she is, Zofeta, at the Kaziukas Fair 2011! |
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BEATA AND EGLĖ FROM VILNIUS These two beautiful girls are doing their very best to feed the visitors to the market.
AUŠRA FROM MARIJAMPOLĖ Ausra and her Marijampolė family are using very much of the year to make baskets of all kinds. And here she is, ready to convince YOU to buy at least one of her creations. How could you resist?
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JONAS FROM VILNIUS Jonas is a character of his own. He works with the ‘Lithuanian Folk Artist’s Society’, all year around carving, preparing wood sculptures, music instruments, toys and more....
AUDRIUS FROM SKUODO REGION Never heard about Mosėdis? The village where Audrius lives, mostly in his blacksmith cottage, producing art and very useful tools for people who come to visit the Kaziukas Fair every year. Hey, Mosėdis is a unique place on Earth, not far away from Klaipeda, well known for its very special stone collection. The village’s museum and impressive outdoor stone collection were initiated by a person with the name Vaclovas Intas and have since expanded all over the town. The town also features a baroque catholic church of 18th century, and Audrius is a famous son of his hometown!! |
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The shopping malls
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Vilnius became a shopper's paradise during the last decade when plenty of massive shopping malls were opened all over the city. There are three large American-style shopping malls here; Akropolis, Panorama andOzas. Akropolis is famous for its enormous number of shops, restaurants, coffee corners, plus its bowling and cinema facilities. You can also ice-skate or watch professional ice-hockey. Ozas is the newest mall, next to the aqua park Vichy Vanderparkas. There are also several smaller shopping centres, like Europaclose to the city centre. Kaunas is also a city of shopping malls in the city outskirts. The main ones areAkropolis, Mega, Molas, Savas, HyperMaxima, and Urmas. Klaipeda is a major shopping centre for people from the western part of the country, as well as for visitors from Latvia and Kaliningrad. The main shoppingmalls here are Akropolis, Arena, Studlendas and BIG. Many people arriving to the city on cruise ships also do their shopping in Klaipeda. Prices are good and the selection of goods truly wide...
Akropolis shopping mall in Vilnius opened
in 2002. It has a gross area of 110.000 m2 and is the largest in the
Baltic countries. It attracted more than 13,5 million visitors per year in 2009.
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Join us on the antiques trail
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The many antique shops in Vilnius Old Town are the places to snoop around for decadent antiques. Many of them are as much galleries as shops. Browse opulent silverware, inlaid walnut furniture, pottery, elaborate hand-blown glass and gilt-framed religious paintings. One of the better ones is Vilniaus Antikvaro Centras on Dominikonų Street, which is a floor-to-ceiling treasure trove. The ground floor features jewellery, paintings and furniture, although you should make sure to ask the staff to take you down into the cavernous, brightly lit cellar where antiques have been grouped into sections by theme – Socialist Realism, Lithuanian folk art, etchings, Tsarist-era collectibles, Orthodox icons, and so forth.
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You are in linen and amber land!
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Traditional Lithuanian handicrafts, such as artistic linen, ceramic or amber articles, can make beautiful decorations for your home or great gifts. Many tend to think that amber and linen products are just souvenirs, but here in Lithuania you will find these two materials used also in very exclusive jewellery, fashionable outfits and much more. There are linen and amber shops at all tourist routes and shopping malls, but probably the best time for such shopping is in the beginning of March, when the traditional Kaziukas fair is held in Vilnius. The fair is also famous for its verbos traditional ornately beautiful Palm Sunday arrangements of dried plants.
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OPINIONS
Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com
Ph. D., Chicago
A wave of unity sweeps the international Lithuanian community on March 11th every year as Lithuanians celebrated the anniversary of the Lithuanian Parliament's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. However, the sense of national unity engendered by the celebration could be short-lived.
Human beings have a strong tendency to overgeneralize and succumb to stereotypical us-them distinctions that can shatter even the strongest bonds. We need only search the internet to find examples of divisive thinking at work:
- "Those who fled Lithuania during World II were cowards -- and now they come back, flaunt their wealth, and tell us 'true Lithuanians' how to live."
- "Lithuanians who work abroad have abandoned their homeland and should be deprived of their Lithuanian citizenship."
In Lithuania Christmas Eve is a family event and the New Year's Eve a great party with friends!
Lithuanian say "Kaip sutiksi naujus metus, taip juos ir praleisi" (the way you'll meet the new year is the way you will spend it). So everyone is trying to spend New Year's Eve with friend and have as much fun as possible.
Lithuanian New Year's traditions are very similar to those in other countries, and actually were similar since many years ago. Also, the traditional Lithuanian New Years Eve party was very similar to other big celebrations throughout the year.
The New Year's Eve table is quite similar to the Christmas Eve table, but without straws under the tablecloth, and now including meat dishes. A tradition that definitely hasn't changes is that everybody is trying not to fell asleep before midnight. It was said that if you oversleep the midnight point you will be lazy all the upcoming year. People were also trying to get up early on the first day of the new year, because waking up late also meant a very lazy and unfortunate year.
During the New Year celebration people were dancing, singing, playing games and doing magic to guess the future. People didn't drink much of alcohol, especially was that the case for women.
Here are some advices from elders:
- During the New Year, be very nice and listen to relatives - what you are during New Year Eve, you will be throughout the year.
- During to the New Year Eve, try not to fall, because if this happens, next year you will be unhappy.
- If in the start of the New Year, the first news are good - then the year will be successful. If not - the year will be problematic.
* If New Year's night is cold and starry - look forward to a good summer!
* If the during New Year Eve trees are covered with frost - then it will be a good year. If it is wet weather on New Year's Eve, one can expect a year where many will die and dangerous epidemics occur.
* If the first day of the new year is snowy - the upcoming year will see many young people die. If the night is snowy - mostly old people will die.
* If the New Year time is cold - then Easter will be warm.
* If during New Year there are a lot of birds in your homestead - then all year around there will be many guests and the year will be fun.
Christmas greetings
from Vilnius
and epic battle for the
future
Philosopher, political theorist, historian of
ideas, social analyst, and political
commentator
Ukraine was and continues to be perceived by the EU political class as a sort of grey zone with its immense potential and possibilities for the future, yet deeply embedded and trapped in No Man's Land with all of its troubled past, post-Soviet traumas, ambiguities, insecurities, corruption, social divisions, and despair. Why worry for what has yet to emerge as a new actor of world history in terms of nation-building, European identity, and deeper commitments to transparency and free market economy?
Right? Wrong. No matter how troubled Ukraine's economic and political reality could be, the country has already passed the point of no return. Even if Vladimir Putin retains his leverage of power to blackmail Ukraine and the West in terms of Ukraine's zero chances to accede to NATO due to the problems of territorial integrity, occupation and annexation of Crimea, and mayhem or a frozen conflict in the Donbas region, Ukraine will never return to Russia's zone of influence. It could be deprived of the chances to join NATO or the EU in the coming years or decades, yet there are no forces on earth to make present Ukraine part of the Eurasia project fostered by Putin.
want to learn about the
new, scary propaganda
war between Russia,
The West and the
Baltic States!
believe their government
is corrupt
students say no to
bribes for doctors
During Soviet times, government was administered for the people in control, not for the local population, court decisions were decreed, they were not the administration of justice, and academia was the domain of ideologues. 25 years of freedom and openness should have put those bad experiences behind Lithuania, but that is not so.
Today, it is a matter of expectation that court pronouncements will be governed by ideological dictates. Few, if any Lithuanians expect real justice to be effected. For foreign companies, doing business in Lithuania is almost impossible in a situation where business people do not expect rule of law, so, surely Government would be a refuge of competence?
Lithuanian Government has not emerged from Soviet styles. In an attempt to devolve power, Lithuania has created a myriad of fiefdoms of power, each speaking in the name of the Government, each its own centralized power base of ideology.
Chepstow, Wales
Doesn't that sound suspiciously like Lithuania? Ah, but I didn't mention the mountains of Snowdonia, which would give the game away.
I'm talking about Wales, that part of the UK which Lithuanians used to call "Valija", but later named "Velsas" (why?). Wales, the nation which has welcomed two Lithuanian heads of state to its shores - firstly Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, who has paid several visits and, more recently, President Dalia Grybauskaitė who attended the 2014 NATO summit which was held in Newport, South Wales.
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS.
Although Lithuanian activities have thinned over the decades as that postwar generation died out, the Lithuanian Martyrs' parish hall is crowded with many, many hundreds of visitors who come to the Lithuanian cemetery for All Souls' Day. Similarly, the Franciscan parish has standing room only for Christmas Eve mass.
Although I am firmly embedded in the literary culture of Canada, my themes are usually Lithuanian, and I'll be in Kaunas and Vilnius in mid-November 2015 to give talks about the Lithuanian translations of my novels and short stories, which I write in English.
If you have the Lithuanian language, come by to one of the talks listed in the links below. And if you don't, you can read more about my work at
www.anatanassileika.com
http://www.vdu.lt/lt/rasytojas-antanas-sileika-pristatys-savo-kuryba/ https://leu.lt/lt/lf/lf_naujienos/kvieciame-i-rasytojo-59hc.html
"My love and best wishes to all. As long as VilNews exists, there is hope for the future,"" she writes.
Irena Veisaite means very much for our publication, and we do hereby thank her for the support and wise commitment she always shows.
You can read our interview with her
Facing a new reality
Dear readers of VilNews,
For a number of years, the EU and Russia had assumed the existence of a strategic partnership, based on the convergence of values, economic integration and increasingly open markets and a modernisation agenda for society.
Our agenda was positive and ambitious. We looked at Russia as a country ready to converge with "European values", a country likely to embrace both the basic principles of democratic government and a liberal concept of the world order. It was believed this would bring our relations to a new level, covering the whole spectrum of the EU's strategic relationship with Russia.
The likelihood of Putin
invading Lithuania
.jpg "lithuania today")
Founding Director at Summer Literary Seminars
Are all Lithuanian energy
problems now resolved?
Lithuania as a country does not have significant energy resources. Energy consuming infrastructure after WWII was small and totally supported by energy imports from Russia.
First nuclear reactor begins power generation at Ignalina in 1983, the second reactor in 1987. Iganlina generates enough electricity to cover Lithuania's needs and about 50%.for export. As, prerequisite for membership in EU, Ignalina ceases all nuclear power generation in 2009
The Klaipėda Sea terminal begins Russia's oil export operations in 1959 and imports in 1994.
Mazeikiu Nafta (current ORLEAN Lietuva) begins operation of oil refinery in 1980.
Have Lithuanian ties across
the Baltic Sea become
stronger in recent years?
The two decades that have passed since regaining Lithuania's independence can be described as a "building boom". From the wreckage of a captive Soviet republic, a generation of Lithuanians have built a modern European state, and are now helping construct a Nordic-Baltic community replete with institutions intended to promote political coordination and foster a trans-Baltic regional identity. Indeed, a "Nordic-Baltic community" - I will explain later in my text the meaning of this catch-phrase.
Since the restoration of Lithuania's independence 25 years ago, we have continuously felt a strong support from Nordic countries. Nordics in particular were among the countries supporting Lithuania's and Baltic States' striving towards independence. Take example of Iceland, country which recognized Lithuania in February of 1991, well in advance of other countries. Yet another example - Swedish Ambassador was the first ambassador accredited to Lithuania in 1991. The other countries followed suit. When we restored our statehood, Nordic Countries became champions in promoting Baltic integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. To large degree thanks Nordic Countries, massive transformations occurred in Lithuania since then, Lithuania became fully-fledged member of the EU and NATO, and we joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2015.
Have you heard about the
South African "Pencil Test"?
But that is exactly what happened to me when I came back from South Africa. I will tell you how.
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