Festivities

Lithuania is known for their holidays and celebrations! Yesterday, I went with a group of friends to Palanga, a nearby tourist beach town. And believe it or not, there was a Smelt Fish festival! So, there was a lot of food and music. We ate a lot of street food like donuts, chocolate covered waffles, fried fish, and candies. It was really cold by the beach and dock; part of the sea was frozen over. We warmed up by going to a café and drinking hot fruit tea. Then we came back to Klaipeda and had dinner at a missionary’s house and watched a movie.

On Sunday, there was another festival called Užgavėnės to bring in the spring and get rid of winter. It is like a Mardi gras festival before lent where everybody dresses up in interesting masks and costumes. There are traditional pancakes to eat and Lithuanian music and dancing. There were competitions with bean bags where men had to knock each other over. Traditionally, there is a comical drama done between a man representing winter and a man representing spring. They have a dramatic fight but spring always wins. Near the end of the festivities a huge doll symbolizing winter is burned. After all of this, people are ready for the spring!

Then on Tuesday is the Independence Day for Lithuania. It is their first one that occurred in 1918 (they had a 2nd one in 1990). We have the day off from classes! I think I will go with my roommates to the Acropolis, which is a mall. A lot of study abroad students travelled to other countries during this time. It has been a fun weekend, seeing Lithuanian festivities!