The first day of school is a BIG deal around here! It starts with a celebration in Lietuvininkų Square - a local square where there is a monument to Martynas Mažvydas, the author and publisher of the first Lithuanian book, a collection of religious songs called Katekizmas ("Catechism"). It was the book in which Lithuanian alphabet appeared for the first time.
Children of all ages come to square dressed in their very best clothes - boys in suits & ties and girls in ruffled dresses with patent leather shoes. They all bring fresh flowers with them to be given to their teacher when they arrive at school. Each school chooses one child to carry their school banner during a processional. Then there are various singing and dancing groups (all school children) that perform and then the mayor and other prominant townspeople speak. I enjoyed the singing and dancing, but the speeches were a little harder to engage in since they were all in Lithuanian, so I could only catch a few words here and there.
Here are some photos from the event...
A photo of the swarm of people filling the square.
The banner carriers lined up to start the procession.
The procession being led by youth in traditional dress
carrying Lithuanian flags.
Dancers on stilts...they danced to an instrumental
version of "Cotton-Eyed Joe"
Young school children dressed up and carrying flowers for their teachers.
A group of pre-teen dancers.
A group of high schoolers dancing.
The final group that danced. They were lovely to watch - quite graceful.
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