Hello, all friends. This is our big festival – call Užgavėnės. 

Užgavėnės is a Lithuanian festival that takes place during the seventh week before Easter ( Ash Wednesday). Its name in English means “the time before Lent”. The celebration corresponds to Roman Catholic holiday traditions in other parts of the world, such as Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, and Carnaval.

Don’t forget the pancakes :)

Užgavėnės begins on the night before Ash Wednesday, when an effigy of winter (usually named Morė) is burnt. A major element of the holiday, meant to symbolize the defeat of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, is a staged battle between Lašininis (“porker”), personifying winter, and Kanapinis (“hempen man”), who personifies spring. Devils, witches, goats, the grim reaper, gypsies, and other joyful and frightening characters appear in costume during the celebrations. The participants and masqueraders dance and eat the traditional dish of the holiday – pancakes with a variety of toppings, since round pancakes are a symbol of the returning sun. In the capitol city of Vilnius, the celebration takes place on Gediminas Avenue, as well as at many youth organizations. The festival is a major event at Rumšiškės park. We are playing with mask from wood The meat eating season started on Christmas and ended on Shrove Tuesday. In many countries this holiday is celebrated like carnival. Lithuanians preserved very old rituals and games what helped to meet spirits of dead and godnesses of nature. Everybody likes to eat a lot pancakes, hodge- podge, to soot with fire- brand, with ashes. In the old tradition Carnival was celebrated for 8 days (starting on Sunday). It ends on the 46th day before Easter. On this day nobody is allowed to work. Modern Carnival rituals are only a small piece of the ancient traditions that were created to ensure a good harvest, and to speed the coming of Spring.