Lietuva

Shrove Tuesday (seven weeks before Easter)

1. It is singled out as the day which puts to end meat eating and the time of merrymaking – Tuesday before Lent. 
2. Shrove Tuesday usually occurs between February 5^th and March 8^th.
3. On Shrove Tuesday attention is paid to the weather in order to be able to foretell the weather for spring and the rest of the year. 
4. People eat as many as twelve times that day, so that they are sated all throughout the year. Starting with Tuesday, every day till Shrove Tuesday was called a fat day – no food remained on the table after meal. 
5. The most common Shrove Tuesday tradition is to ride in fields, villages and go visiting neighbors and family. It is best to ride standing up in the sleigh, to fall overboard and roll in the snow. 
6. In the region of Vilnus, there was a tradition for newlyweds to visit family, where they ate pancakes, sausages and meat. This was to assure a good grain harvest. 
7. The struggles between Fatso and Hemper are acted. Fatso symbolizes meat eating and overeating, he is dressed as a fat man. Hemper symbolizes modesty, diligence and fasting. He is slim, raggedy with hemp filament around his hat with a hemp rope and whip in his hands. Hemper always wins. This struggle takes place in streets, yards, even indoors so as to be seen by all. 
8. All masquerades are ended by Shrove Tuesday strollings, taking part in joyful evening games, joking, and dances which continu till midnight or until roosters cry.

Ash Wednesday (first day after Shrove Tuesday)

1. Ashes from last year’s burnt Palms are sprinkled on peoples’ heads in church. 
2. This is a day of “black fasting”. Women boil water, wash all utensils, scrub tables and benches so that there would be no remains of dairy or meat. 
3. There is a tradition of dressing up as an old man or Uncle Ash. He dresses in rags, has a long nose and humpback, carries a bag of ashes, a long cane and walks through villages. He sprinkles ashes on passers-by and enters each home where he receives food or money. If some households don’t receive Uncle Ash, he spreads ashes in windows and doors of that house. 
4. There is a widely practiced tradition of bringing a stone or a wood stump into the house on this day, which assures good summer crops of flax. 
5. One should sleep in on this day, rise with the sun so that all household work would be good. 
6. In the morning the master of the house takes a pail of water and pours it into four directions from the well, so that there should be no water shortage in summer.

The Lord’s Revelation to Virgin Mary (March 25^th)

1. People believe that due to this special feast even birds do not build their nests on this day 
2. Lithuanian farmers’ most favorite bird and personal success predeterminer, the stork, returns on this day. 
3. This day is linked with growth of all snakes. 
4. In some regions of Lithuania until now it is believed that on this day one should not pick anything in the woods, for in doing so, they will be bringing home a snake. 
5. From March 25^th to April 9^th, no lending and borrowing takes place. 
6. If you make a nest from straw collected at a neighbour’s farm, hens of all the neighbours would lay eggs in this nest. 
7. It is believed that if you want fewer beggars to come this year, you shouldn’t touch or eat bacon on this day.

Palm Sunday (Verbos)

1. Willows, osiers and weeping willows are consecrated on Palm Sunday. 
2. Most palm bunches have a branch of juniper in them. 
3. The ancient tradition of whipping each other with palms still exists and takes place on Palm Sunday or on Easter Sunday. Having returned home with consecrated palms, one whips the head and back shoulders of those who stayed home, repeating all the time “illness out, health return”. 
4. It is believed that if someone goes to church on Palm Sunday without a palm in his hand, the devil will shove his tail into the hands.

Easter

1. The sowing of spring crops starts after Easter 
2. Easter rituals start one week before Christmas, on Palm Sunday. 
3. On the last Thursday before Easter women clean houses, wash windows, wash clothes. 
4. Water was believed to be miraculous on that day, healing, protecting from evil eyes and evil spirits. 
5. The house has to be cleaned by Good Friday. 
6. No laundry is done on this day so that ice does not destroy the grain fields. 
7. On Good Saturday no lending takes place, so that the borrower will not take away the good harvest or other successes. 
8. A bonfire of old crosses is set in the churchyard. Everyone rushes to snatch the fire and hurry home with it. 
9. Blessing of water takes place on Holy Saturday. There is a tradition to bring back holy water in a hurry, so that farm chores would be done faster that year. 
10. On Easter morning easter eggs, salt, bread, cakes, ham, bacon, sausage, butter and cheese are foods to be blessed. Blessing eggs and bread would assure plenty of food all year. Butter and cheese are blessed to make sure that cows would give much milk. This custom is particularly observed in the region of Dzukija.
11. Having returned with blessed foods everyone sits at the table, laden with traditional food: eggs, pig’s head or roast piglet, cheese, butter and roast lamb. If there is no roast lamb, there is a lamb made of butter or sugar placed on top of sprouted oat greens. 
12. Eating begins with eggs – if your egg shell is stronger, you are destined to live longer. 
13. In all of Lithuania, the act of hitting Easter eggs is known and practiced, particularly by men and teenagers.

The Feast Day of St. George (April 24^th)

1. In regions of Dveneionys, Ignalina, Tvereeius special bread is baked, called “for animals”. A small roll is baked for each animal or one huge loaf of bread with as many groves in it as there are animals. Pieces of this loaf are taken to beggars sitting near churches, so that they pray for the animals. 
2. A pair of eggs are placed, one on the inside, the other on the outside of the barn doorstep. In other regions, an egg is placed in each corner of the barn. 
3. Apart from bread and eggs also money is offered to animals.

Herbal Holiday (August 15^th)

1. This is one of the most esteemed Virgin Mary’s holy days, the Ascention. 
2. This day everyone who goes to church carries herbs, blooming garden flowers, to be blessed. 
3. Grain, vegetable and herb blessing is linked with sacrifice and gratitude for the new harvest. Women whose children have died, should not eat apples until the apples are blessed. In some Lithuanian villages such women do not eat pears and plums. 
4. The ancient tradition on Herbal Holy Day is for relatives to get together for a short visit. It is said, he who does not attend the gathering, will remain poor. 
5. In southern Lithuania dead ancestors are offered foods prepared from the new harvest. 
6. In the morning, after all food has been prepared, the table is set and everyone sits around it. Then the master of the house lights a candle and sends it around the table, to be held by each person. When the candle has come the full round, the master of house picks up the candle and walks 3 times around the food, dedicated to dead ancestors. Eating begins after that.
7. Any leftover foods are taken to beggars or to old peoples’ homes.

Christmas

1. Christmas season begins with Advent – four weeks before Christmas. 
2. Christmas Eve is a time of magic and secrecy. It is thought that the spirits of the dead return home on this night. 
3. At sunset a special meal – Kucios – is served. 
4. Before anyone sits down at the table they must be clean both in body and soul, in peace with neighbors and free of debts. 
5. The hay is covered with a pure white tablecloth.
6. A crucifix and a plate containing blessed waffles (Plotkele) are placed in the center of the table. Candles are placed on the table, too. 
7. An empty place is left at the table if a family member has died during the year.
8. On Christmas morning children receive a visit from Father Christmas (Kaledu Senelis); several costumed helpers attend to Father Christmas, and he is dressed in a fur coat that is inside out.
9. In the house, Father Christmas scatters grain into the corner of honour behind the table (krikstasuolis). If children want to get their present they must sing a song or dance.
10. The ornaments (Staudinukai) are made from white straw.