Zolines - the Ascension of St Marry

Prepared by Agne, Inga, Emilija and Gabija

Dear Italian friends,
The festival that you call “Ferragosto”, in Lithuania is called “Žolinės“ which can be translated as “grasses” and is also celebrated on August 15th. Ancient Lithuanians celebrated this festival since time immemorial as the transition from the summer to the autumn. It was also the day to say good bye to the greenery – grasses and flowers. It the time of harvest, gathering fruit, berries,picking honey, making jams etc. Women used to gather different herbs and make tea, bake bread and pies from the new harvest and men used to make a lot of beer so that everybody could celebrate. It was believed that those who do not celebrate together on this particular day, will be poor next year.
Like ancient Romans, who dedicated this festival to goddess Diana, Greeks – to goddess Artemis, ancient Lithuanians devoted it to the great goddess Lada, the mother of all the nature. After the christianising of Lithuania Lada was replaced by saint Maria, the mother of Jesus. It is believed that the Apostles who were standing by the coffin of St Marry, saw her ascension and after opening the coffin, found there a lot of beautiful flowers.
It really does not matter which of the goddesses we pray to, the most important aspect of this festival in Lithuania is very deep-rooted gratitude and respect to the nature. Every year in more than 200 churces in Lithuania the Feast Day of Žolinės or the Ascension of St Marry is celebrated. The churches are nicely decorated and the service lasts much longer, including processions, blessings, devotions etc. People bring grasses and flowers to the church, where they are blessed and then kept through the year at home. Though most people do not realize the connection that existed between gods and people in the past, but it is still widely believed that the herbs, blessed on that day have much more curative powers.


How we celebrate Žolinės now?

Nowadays this festival is more celebrated in the countryside than in the big cities as people there are much closer to the nature, but after this day was officially made the day off, the celebrations are organized in the cities as well. For example, in Vilnius all the squares around the churches are drowned in greenery. It is celebrated in all the churches and cathedrals in Lithuania.




The most popular events take part in Pivašiūnai, a village in the southern part of Lithuania. It is also one of the main pilgrimage places in Lithuania because of the miraculous picture of St Marry in Pivašiūnai church. In 1988, Lithuanian Cardinal Vincentas Sladkevičius adorned the famous image of Our Lady of Pivašiūnai with crowns blessed by Pope John Paul II and bestowed her with the title of “Comfort of the Afflicted”. The feast in Pivašiūnai lasts from August 15th till August 22nd. Every day the prayers are dedicated to different groups of people: farmers, priests, teachers, the sick, families, the youth, the employees, communities. The miraculous image disseminates love, peace and consolation to the hearts of the believers.



But certainly it is not only the church that celebrates the festival. In the afternoon people come together and organize parties. It is a good time for the families to come together. They have a meal at home and then visit concerts, fairs, concerts and different other attractions which are held on this day. For the country people it is the festival of all the village communion.



As all the students are on holiday at that time we were involved in different activities , usually with our families or friends:
Laura: “On Žolinės I was visiting my relatives in Vandžiogala (a small village near Kaunas). All family members gathered there. In the morning we went to Church, where service lasted for three hours as there was a procession around the churchyard, with holly icons and girls throwing flowers on the ground. After it all the family had a big lunch. It was nice to meet all of them.”

Dovilė: “I did not do anything particular, actually we were very busy preparing for my friend’s birthday which was due the next day.”
Edita:” All my family, including my grandmother went to church in Naujoji Vilnia. We brought several kinds of herbs, some flowers and apples – everything from our garden, all to be blessed in the church. After the ceremony we came home and prepared a big lunch, during which we drank tea made from these herbs and ate fruit – the apples, which we shared among ourselves. A very special feeling of being all family together and following the traditions of our ancestors.”
Eglė: “Me and my family spent that day at my grandmother’s in the village Stulgiai in western Lithuania. In the morning my grandmother went to church, but we felt a little bit lazy and stayed at home and prepared lunch for the family. The best part of the day was the get-together party in the evening with a live performance of the local youth band and dancing through the night.”