Festival Fun
It all started last week, when one of the attorneys at Eversheds asked us if we were planning on celebrating Joninės. We had no big plans for the weekend, so we decided to do some research and figure out what this holiday entailed.
Come to find out, Joninės is quite a big deal in Lithuania. Joninės is Saint Jonas' Festival in English. It is also known as St. John's Day, Midsummer Day, or Rasos (Dew Holiday). The name Rasos was the original name of the holiday, from when the Baltic people mainly worshiped pagan gods. When Lithuania became Christianized, Rasos was renamed after St. John. Though the day now has a Christian name, many of the traditions have pagan roots. Actually, many of the Christian symbols in religious art in Lithuania and the other Baltic countries still have subtle pagan elements to them, such as the solar cross. This marriage of paganism and Christianity is rather unique to the Baltics, and I find it fascinating. Essentially, Joninės is a festival celebrating the longest day and shortest night of the year. The actual summer solstice was on Thursday, June 21 this year, but Jonines is always on June 24.
On the eve of Joninės, Lithuanians young and old begin to celebrate, and continue into the early hours of the morning when the sun rises. There are many traditions, such as singing songs, dancing until the sun sets, storytelling, searching to find the magic fern blossom at midnight (a mythical flower that doesn't actually exist), jumping over bonfires, washing your face with morning dew to greet the rising sun, and making and wearing flower crowns.
Though we were not adventurous enough to go out of town and stay out until early morning, Joninės celebrations continue into the day, and we decided to head out to Rumšiškės, a village right outside of Kaunas. There is an open-air museum in Rumšiškės that was holding a traditional Joninės celebration, and we were ready to learn, eat, and have some fun! Sometimes, pictures explain things better than words, so I have tried to showcase the highlights below. To be honest, since we didn't have a Lithuanian friend with us when we embarked on this journey, there were probably parts of the celebrations that we didn't understand. Even still, it was really fun to head to a smaller town and participate in this traditional Lithuanian holiday. I enjoyed listening to the jolly band composed of a mustached singer, a fiddle, a tuba, an accordian, cymbals, and a drum. We watched as people danced to the music, and spectators ate honey, bread, and cheese. Personally, my favorite dance was when the group gathered in a circle and each person had to grab the leg of the person in front of them, and dance on the remaining leg. It was pretty amusing.
People were throwing amber dust into the fire: you're supposed to
think of your hopes and dreams, and pray that they come true!
Well, that's all for now. This year's summer solstice was definitely one to remember, and I'm sure that in the future, no matter where I am on June 24th, I'll think of my very first Joninės celebration.