Midsummer's Eve

Part of me wanted to make this blog post just a bunch of pictures with the statement, "It was unbelievable, you just have see the pics," but instead, I will attempt to write about the events of today.

Months ago, I was planning to attend the Midsummer's Eve festivities, but trying to logistically make it happen, we pretty much gave up. You have to somehow get out of the city by 40k and then somehow get back to town. We thought about renting a car, but it was expensive. The last bus could get us there for the beginning of the festival, but we would be committed until the next bus at 6:00 am. It just seemed like too much work given the circumstances and situation.

That was all about to change.

The Midsummer's Eve is a traditional Pagan ritual that celebrates the summer solstice. This is the point where the sun is hitting the earth at the highest point of latitude during the year. If you are very far north, it is pronounced with long amounts of daylight, such that the sun will not set until after 10pm and will then come up at 4 am. There was constantly a little bit of light, so it never really seemed to be night. Never being this far north on the planet, I was really looking forward to this experience.

The Pagan people back in the day would use this time to start the summer harvest season and prepare for the fall. Many rituals endured and are still practiced today, even with the adoption Christianity and a few other religions. Somehow, the Pagan influence has lasted.

We went about our day as normal, taking a walking tour of the city. It started at the town center and lasted three hours ending with a meal at a quiet pub. Here are some of the shots from the tour.

 

Katherine channeling the energy from the source in Uzupis.

Crossing the bridge into the republic of Uzupis, a free independent republic. They stamp passports on only one day of the year, their Independence Day, and the place turns into a party! You must read the constitution below.

1. Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnelė, and the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by everyone.
2. Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled roof.
3. Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation.
4. Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
5. Everyone has the right to be unique.
6. Everyone has the right to love.
7. Everyone has the right not to be loved, but not necessarily.
8. Everyone has the right to be undistinguished and unknown.
9. Everyone has the right to idle.
10. Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat.
11. Everyone has the right to look after the dog until one of them dies.
12. A dog has the right to be a dog.
13. A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in time of nee[d].
14. Sometimes everyone has the right to be unaware of their duties.
15. Everyone has the right to be in doubt, but this is not an obligation.
16. Everyone has the right to be happy.
17. Everyone has the right to be unhappy.
18. Everyone has the right to be silent.
19. Everyone has the right to have faith.
20. No one has the right to violence.
21. Everyone has the right to appreciate their unimportance. [In Lithuanian this reads Everyone has the right to realize his negligibility and magnificence.]
22. No one has the right to have a design on eternity.
23. Everyone has the right to understand.
24. Everyone has the right to understand nothing.
25. Everyone has the right to be of any nationality.
26. Everyone has the right to celebrate or not celebrate their birthday.
27. Everyone shall remember their name.
28. Everyone may share what they possess.
29. No one can share what they do not possess.
30. Everyone has the right to have brothers, sisters and parents.
31. Everyone may be independent.
32. Everyone is responsible for their freedom.
33. Everyone has the right to cry.
34. Everyone has the right to be misunderstood.
35. No one has the right to make another person guilty.
36. Everyone has the right to be individual.
37. Everyone has the right to have no rights.
38. Everyone has the right to not to be afraid.
39. Do not defeat.
40. Do not fight back.
41. Do not surrender.

We were having a nice quiet lunch with our tour people, then this man came in. He obviously had confidence enhancing liquid by the way he was speaking. He could go from drunken English to drunken Lithuanian quickly. There was a Spanish woman in our group that he fell in love with. He even gave her chocolates. Somehow he had a pouch of chocolate to give lovely ladies at his disposal. Nice! Note to self.

After the walking tour, we came back to the hostel and planned for dinner. Lina said we could use the BBQ grill, but we all had to grab our own food from the market. It turned into quite the party.

While eating, the talk of Midsummer's Eve came up. We mentioned to Lina that we wanted to go and humored the idea of taking a bus, riding a bike, or even bailing out on the whole thing. When we mentioned this, she said that she totally forgot about the date and really wanted to go. This is something that we thought was impossible since she has a small car and there were 6 of us.o After a short deliberation and questioning the feasibility of our idea, we decided to go for it. That would mean me, Katherine, Dusan (Slovenia), Matilda (Australia), Jack (England), and Lina (Lithuania) would be going in a small Dodge Neon. Oh no!

Once we arrived at the festival, we walked around and checked out the situation. We first came to a big bonfire with many people just sitting and standing about. It is good luck to jump over the fire. After watching several people jump over the fire, of course had I to try it. Katherine and the others first made sure I was really ready to attempt to clear the rather large fire. I backed up and took a flying leap over the flames. Katherine later let me know that I let out a little girl scream, but at least I didn't burn up in flames. So far I have earned my good luck for the next year.

We left the fire and saw a procession of people dressed in traditional garb carrying torches and singing walking down the hill toward the river. We followed them to the river and watched people float candles down the river, singing the entire time. Then we headed back up the hill and came upon bands playing folk music with people joining in on folk dances. Most of the people dancing were young, in their early twenties or less. Living in the USA with so many different cultures, we don't all grow up learning the same songs and dances. It was really cool to see a group of young people just joining in on a dance that is part of the culture.

We decided to head back to the hostel. By the time we got back it was after 3:00 am and the sun was starting to rise. We made it to sun up, and will have now have good luck for the next year. Thank you to Lina for driving our sorry selves out to the country and letting us experience a Lithuanian holiday. We appreciate it more than you can imagine.

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