CANDLES IN THE WIND or “Vėlines“ in Lithuania

Hello, dear Italian friends. You already know that we had many celebrations in our school related to Lithuanian traditions and culture but I want to tell you just about one celebration called “Vėlinės” or “All Souls' Day”. On November the first and the second when autumn comes to the end and all the ground is frozen and falls asleep, all the work outside is done, Lithuanians carry out special rituals honoring the souls of their dead ancestors. Its meaning is similar to Halloween, but we celebrate it differently. All festivals are celebrated according to traditional customs and “Vėlinės” isn’t an exception and I will talk about them:

The roots:
While the earth is getting ready for the winter’s sleep, it’s decorated with the golden leaves and the sun rays touch it with delicate strokes, while wind starts whistling its sorrowful tunes, we start thinking about eternity into which someone passed yesterday…, last year…, five years ago… or hundred, thousand years ago. It happens every day that someone leaves this world, as death is part of the Existence, but in everyday life we do not notice it because the dead live in our hearts though we do not notice them, but on the Day of dead souls we visit cemeteries and bring them to our memories.



It is practically universal folk belief that the souls of the dead are allowed to return to earth on “The Dead Souls' Day”, they visit their families, and to make them welcome, a door or window is left open. Our ancestors knew how to explain different natural phenomena: the wind is not just blowing it helps the souls to move. They belied that on this particular day, just once a year the gate of the eternity opens and we can see much more because we are looking not with our eyes but with our hearts. We lit the candles and say the prayers. One of the prayers, recorded in southern Lithuania sounded like this: “Veles of the dead, whom we still remember in this home; respected ancestors of our family; honoured women and men worthy of eternal remembrance; especially my grandmother and grandfather, mother and father; also relatives, children and all, whom death took from this home, we invite to our annual feast. May it be as pleasant for you, as your memory is for us.” In many regions, a place is set for the dead at supper, or food is otherwise left out for them.


How it is reflected in literature?

Vėlinės (the name comes from the word „Vėlė“, which means „dead soul“ is an old tradition with pagan roots - celebrated in the area of Eastern Poland, Belarus and Lithuania at the end of October - near All Saints Day, All Souls Day and Halloween. It is also called "Dziady". "Dziady" in Polish means "grandfathers", "forefathers" or just "old men". This ceremony was described in detail by Adam Mickiewicz, a great Polish poet, in a poetic Romantic drama called simply "Dziady". According to Mickiewicz, common people were gathering in abandoned houses or chapels near the cemeteries, with food and drink for the souls. The souls were then invited back and their life and their deeds were discussed and judged according to the folk wisdom rather than Christian biblical tradition. People were judged not only according to what they did in their lives but also for what they failed to do or what they lacked. The ceremony of "Dziady" described by Mickiewicz is a very poetic vision, but many parts of the ceremony are based on real tradition. For instance in the past the villagers were gathering together, they were sharing food with the descendant members of the community, they were remembering them and praying for them. It is also true that they believed that some magic words and spells could help the souls.



The custom to treat the souls of the dead by leaving them part of the food, also pouring some wine or beer on the graves was mentioned in the 19th century. This ceremony took place late in the evening or at night, when the souls were believed to be most active. M. Pretorius in the 17th century wrote: „ after the food is brought on the table, they sit at the table and start eating and drinking, but first of all they they throw down under the table the first bite of each dish and pour the first dipper of beer for the souls. When I asked them what it meant, they gave me the following answer: A soul couldn‘t rest if we did not lay the table for it – they call it „laying table for the dead souls“.Later this custom was replaced by giving food out to the beggars as they were thought to have a mysterious contact with the dead.


The latest tradition which appeared only in the 20th century is burning candles on the graves. It was believed that flames of the candles attract the souls and lighten the way for the wandering souls in the darkness.
In all times the the ceremony of paying respect to the dead was based on the belief that the souls of the dead for some time stay with us and we need to take care of them and try to keep certain contact with them.

How we celebrate Velines today?

So, traditionally in Lithuania we are visiting graves of our relatives and during our visits, we tidy up their resting sites in cemeteries, leaving votive candles, and adorning them flowers (especially chrysanthemums and pansies). You can‘t imagine that incredible view, when in the evening all around Lithuania you can see a sea of burning candles.



The day of Velines is a good day to tell your children about their ancestors. People usually bring out old photo albums and family trees. They write down their families' stories for the children and grandchildren.
What is more, this day is a day of scary stories, often young ones meet together at someone's house and they are listening to grandparents telling them horrifying stories.
Also, if a housewife is caring and hardworking she will bake some cakes and biscuits and then give them out to the poor.



So, we with our Lithuanian teacher were preparing for this celebration and it was quite fun. To begin with, all participants were dressed in black and at the beginning of the event were holding candles in their hands, the view was outstanding. All stage was covered with maple leafs and that made an amazing contrast with our clothes. Performance was one huge show with acting, singing and reciting poetry. We had to learn a lot of literary texts by heart, also we ourselves prepared the food and treated everybody at the end of the performance. Although all rehearsals for this show were tiring and we felt exhausted after them but our efforts were not in wain. After the performance we went to the cemetery and lit there our candles. This celebration will stay in everyone's minds for a long time.
Edita, Dovile, Laura.