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.

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.

Traditional practices of Uzgavenes include anti-semitic charades. Documentation of recent instances of this may be read at:http://www.forward.com/articles/12634/ The oblivious insensitivityof these practices is referred to above by the originating author of thislexical entry thusly: "Devils, witches, goats, the grim reaper, gypsies, and other joyful and frightening characters appear in costume during the celebrations."

References

* [http://www.vilnius.lt/new/en/gidas.php?open=39&root=1&sub_cat1=177 City of Vilnius: Traditional Holidays for City Inhabitants and City Guests]
*Danutė Brazytė, 1989. Lietuvių Papročiai ir Tradicijos Išeivijoje (Lithuanian Customs and Traditions.) Translated by Vita Matusaitis. Chicago: Lithuanian World Community, Inc.
* [http://www.hi.is/~terry/turku/Turku_ARUNAS_VAICEKAUSKAS.htm Walking of The Maskers (in Lithuania). Proceedings of an Interdisciplinary Conference on Masks and Mumming, Turku, Finland, August 2002]