Tradition & Habits
Lithuanians belong to Christianity since the late 14th century but also have some Pagan traditions. Family festivals are being held to every important event in life like baptism, weddings or funerals. In earlier times, weddings were held after defined national touched rituals and ceremonies, which have been handed over from generation to generation. Due to changing ethnic and moral views and material difficulties, it slowly changed over the years.
An important part of lithuanian tradition is the Wooden Architecture, which covered most of the buildings until the soviet occupation in 1940.
Every five years, a big national singing and dancing festival takes place in Vilnius with thousands of participants and hundred thousands of spectators.
Traditional Folk Art is very important for lithuanias culture. A lot of objects are important pieces of many exhibitions until today.
A national holiday is Užgavenes (shrove Tuesday), which takes place at the end of winter, where the people ask the winter to leave and welcome the spring instead. People masquerade to visit their neighbors and burn a jackstraw puppet of the old maid More, the symbol of the winter. The traditionally served food are the very delicious potato pancakes.
The Lithuanian food contains a lot of fat, because of the cold winters here. They eat a lot of potato's and potato dishes and they love rye bread here. A beloved side dish is sour cream, it comes here with a lot of main dishes and tastes really delicious.
Things you definitely have to try:
• fried garlic bread
• Zeppelinis
• Kibynai
• Potato Pancakes
• Beetroot soup