UŽGAVĖNĖS or "Shrovetide"

Užgavėnės is one of the few really happy festivities in Lithuania. In fact for many Lithuanians this festival associates with pancakes and burning of More (symbol of winter/death/cold/bad stuff). It is also quite usual that on this day you would need to have pancakes at home and sweets in the drawers as according to old tradition the beggars are allowed to go around the houses and ask for food and money, well in moder times beggars have swapped places with children and sweets are often considered as a valuable contribution...

When I was a kid, I was very excited by this day, because in the evening we would dress up with masks and some freaky costumes and go around our block while asking for pancakes, of course hoping to get some coins... :) Some times, people would ask us to dance or to sing before we get anything, others would hide or shout from behind the doors that we are not wanted in here... Well in general it is a great festival, where people still naively hope that winter will go away very soon and spring will come to warm their lives...

Weather in Vilnius for tomorrow from -8°C to -22°C...