EASTER HOLIDAY CUSTOMS
AND TRADITIONS IN LITHUANIA
Translated
from Lithuanian by GLORIA O‘BRIEN
From Good Friday until the Resurrection devotions, the Church’s bells
during Masses are silent, replaced at the Consecration by the dry, solemn
rattle of the wooden clappers. But on
Easter morning, in joyous celebration of Christ’s Resurrection, all the bells
inside the church and those in its belfry, large and small, ring out together
in rapturous waves of sound. The
traditional Easter hymn is sung while the procession moves three times around
the church. “Kėlės
Kristus, mirtis krito, visi troškom džiaugsmo šito”. –
“Christ is risen, death is defeated, long have we thirsted for such joy”.
This ritual three-time
procession is left from ancient customs, meant to increase energy and
strengthen abilities to carry on necessary work. While walking in procession, one should say
five prayers, so one will be safe from evil spirits and will not be accosted by
ghosts or demons along the road. If one
says nine prayers in honor of St. Anthony, and before saying “Amen”, he adds
“So that I may not see any wild thing running, nor slithering on the ground”,
he will be safe all year from encountering wolves or snakes. Residents of Dusėtai also added: “So that I may not accidentally hurt
myself”.
Some people believed that
they would be rid of mice, if they sprinkled all corners of the house with holy
water on Easter, while others sprinkled
their flower and vegetable gardens with the blessed water, to encourage
growth.
If a musician could manage
to steal just one thread from the priest’s vestments, break it in half and bury
the halves separately, his competitors would suffer from broken strings while
playing.
While walking around the
church in procession, maidens would pray to the Lord for help in making a good
marriage, believing that Easter-time prayers would be most effective.
Maidens in Alytus believed
they would soon see their future husbands, if they swept all corners of their
home on Resurrection morning. But this
custom should be recognized as stemming from old witchery -- if one would take
the sweepings and dump them in a neighbor’s yard, and run home without once
looking back, then all mice, roaches and fleas would take up residence at the
neighbor’s house. As a matter of fact,
the spell would work even better if she could accomplish all this while naked,
with no one watching!
A bit more sensible
custom, though sometimes leading to accidents, held that those who returned
home from Resurrection Mass the earliest, would successfully finish their work
faster than others during the coming year, their bees would swarm and make more honey, and all
their animals would be healthy. The
roads home were full of racing carriages and wagons each trying to pass the
other, and many farmers considered it a good chance to display their fine horseflesh.
The Easter table was
spread with a fine white linen cloth, and set with a basket of beautifully
colored eggs, or with a special “egg-holder” – a “tree” with several “nests” on
individual branches to hold and display the eggs. There would be a “pyragas” with raisins,
cheese, butter, roast pork, ham, horseradish and colored eggs (at least two for
each family member).
Easter’s meal breaking the
Lenten fast was begun ritually: The
family stood around the table, and either the father or mother, everyone
following, said three prayers for peace in the home, and blessed the table with
the Sign of the Cross. One egg was
shelled and divided into as many pieces as there were family members. All having had a taste, they would then sit
down to the meal, which began with the eggs.
One would strike another’s egg with one’s own, in competition to see
whose shell was the strongest, whose egg would last the longest That person would live the longest.
In older times, the Easter
celebration lasted several days. On the
second day, children would spread out visiting neighbors and godparents,
collecting colored eggs everywhere they went.
Years ago, children, and grown men, too, played games rolling eggs
across the grass or down a special trough, trying to break the others’
eggs. Sometimes a player was caught
using a fake egg made of some heavy material, and as penalty for cheating, he would be bombarded with raw
eggs. And it is said that even earlier,
sometimes the žandaras would clap the miscreant
in jail for a couple of days.
One of the nicest old
customs fell out of use between the 19th and 20th
centuries. It was described in the
middle of the 19th century in a treatise called “How the Old
Lithuanians Lived”, and by the early 20th century, it survived only
in a small area of Dzukija. It was known
as “lalavimas” This word is
untranslatable, because it merely mimics some nonsense syllables in a song. Well before the approaching Easter holiday, a
group of village men would get together, choose a leader and learn and practice some Easter hymns and
songs, called “lalinkos”. They would
move through the village on Easter Sunday evening, stopping at many homes,
especially those that included a likely young maiden. Standing at a window, they would first sing
the famous Easter hymn, “Linksma Diena Mums Nušvito” (“A Joyous Day for Us Has
Dawned”), and possibly also the “Aleluija” chorus.
Their leader then knocked
on the window and called to the occupants to “wake up and listen, let us
entertain you”. Receiving an
invitation, they would sing several “lalinkas”, songs, some comic, exhorting
the hosts to be generous in offering food and drink, and all of the songs
including the indispensable “ie lalo”, “vai lalu lalu”. These songs, the “lalinkos”, spoke of the
fine young maidens, the farmer’s fine animal stock, his green fields, and
described and celebrated the various
chores that must be done at regular times.
An example:
St. George
sent the dew...ei lalo
St. John
brought the manure ... ei lalo
St. Jacob cut
the rye ... ei lalo
St. Anne tied
the stacks ... ei lalo.......
The šeimininkas would be reminded that his generosity in providing food and
drink would be repaid in the coming year, when members of the “lalauninkai”
group would join in voluntary help during harvest times , etc. They give him many fine wishes
that his flax will grow well, and that his daughters will marry soon. One song, aimed at a maiden, almost a spell,
says:
We wish that you
marry this year,
That your
husband should be handsome!
Give us at
least a couple of pretty eggs,
And you will
get a good and handsome husband.
But if you
fail to give us eggs,
You won’t even
have children!!
(It rhymes very nicely in Lithuanian.)
Topping off their pleasant visit, the lalauninkai consult each other, and
judging the beauty of the colored eggs presented, choose a lady to be named
“Kiaušinių Karalienė” – “Queen of Easter
Eggs”. This was a great honor for the
lady chosen, whoever she might have been.
It is a great pity that such old, sweet and pleasant Lithuanian customs, as
lalavimas and the Christmas-time kaledojimas, have vanished, to be remembered
with great nostalgia by those who study and try to represent or repli
Source:
“ Mūsų Metai ir Šventės” by Angelė Vyšniauskaitė
Publ. “Šviesa” , Kaunas
-- 1993
© English Translation - Gloria O‘Brien 2005
This article was printed Lithuanian Heritage March/April 2005