Do you like celebrating birthdays? We think that it is unnecessary question and the definite answer would be yes. It is fun to celebrate your own birthday or take part in someone else's birthday. The traditions how to celebrate it may vary, but all they include inviting guests giving and receiving presents eating a birthday cake and organizing certain entertainment for the guests.
This year is exactly five years since we became Vilnius “Laisvės” Gymnasium, the only Lithuanian high school in Naujoji Vilnia. As we love our school and are proud of its achievements, it was decided to commemorate our first little anniversary and organize a birthday party at school.
First of all, we decided to remind everybody the history of our school and to present our most important achievements, activities, organizing a special exhibition in the school corridors.
Though at first sight it looks that we are very young, but in fact we have got our history. The very first Lithuanian school in Naujoji Vilnia was founded in 1957. It was a secondary school were students were studying from the first to the eleventh grade (after the restoration of independence we have to study 12 years to get secondary education). In 2003 the senior forms were separated and a new school was founded. In 2006 we received the status of high school and got the name “Laisvės”, which means “Freedom”.
Another important moment was inviting guests. We were lucky as the celebration of the anniversary coincided with the visit of our Italian partners from the international Comenius School Partnership project "SPECIAL DAYS TO ENJOY TOGETHER” from Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “G.Garibaldi” Macerata, Italy. Also, we had guests from the Department of Education, from the municipality, from the Center of Culture and from all the schools in Naujoji Vilnia.
It is needless to say, that the guests brought presents. The Department of Education rewarded a lot of the teachers for their persistence and hard work, traditional presents from other schools were books and flowers; our Italian partners presented a wonderful album about their town Macerata and students from other schools recited poems and sang songs.
And then it was our turn to entertain the guests. There were different ideas how to do it, but we wanted something not very traditional, something more special. And then Rita Kriaučionienė, the Substitute Headmaster and teacher of music, suggested making use of the topic of our project – the festivals show the guests the elements of the most traditional Lithuanian festivals, presenting them in the course of the year. This is how the idea of the performance of “The Seasons” appeared. It was directed by Rita Kriaučionienė and became the main accent of the celebration.
Actually we can say that all school worked on it. First of all special scenery was created: everything from costumes to the stage decoration was made by students under the guidance of the teachers of Art and Technologies. The music which plays a very important role in the performance was created by students with help of computer technologies. Dances were created by the teacher of Dance and students themselves. There are no words, only music, dance and traditional festivals… .
Everything starts with the winter and its most traditional Lithuanian festival, known as “užgavėnės” or carnival. Students in black carry masks, those in folk costumes perform songs and dances, typical of the festival. Also we can see two most typical characters Kanapinis (the Hemp man) and Lašininis (the Fat man) who represent the eternal fight between winter and spring or between old and new. Winter is followed by spring and the celebration of Holly Easter, then comes summer, when all Lithuania burn fires and dance through the St John’s night – it’s Midsummer. Later comes autumn, when we gather harvest and visit the graves of our ancestors with certain traditional ceremonies. And when the days become shorter than nights we are waiting for Christmas with traditional Advent ceremonies.
The full performance can be viewed in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qYaMkUXM18
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