KARAIMS IN lITHUANIA

KARAIMS IN lITHUANIA
Most people in the world might not have heard about a small nation, called Karaims, unless they visit Crimean peninsula or a small Lithuanian town Trakai, which is known not only as the former capital of Lithuania, but also as the capital of Lithuanian Karaims. This is one of the reasons that we always take our foreign guests to Trakai, let them get acquainted with this exotic people and treat them with extremely delicious traditional Karaim food.
Who are the Karaims, how they came to Lithuania and how they manage to survive, being such a small community (fewer than 300 people in Lithuania), preserving their culture, traditions and language?
Six hundred years two Turkish nations - Tatars and Karaims have been living in Lithuania. From linguistic and ethnogenetic point of view they belong to the oldest Turkish tribes - Kipchaks. In the 5th c. BC they lived in the West of Mongolia, later they were conquered by Huns and after first nomadic Turkish empires were founded, their history is closely connected with the migration of the Middle Asian tribes.
Following Turkish oguzes, the biggest Turkish tribe, in the 10th c. Kipchaks crossed the Volga and settled near the Black Sea and Northern Caucasus, occupying huge territories, called Khasar Kaganate. They did not have an integral state; khans guided the union of different tribes. It was famous for its religious tolerance. Karaim missionaries reached the kaganate in the 8-10th c. passing their faith to some Turkish tribes, living in the southern steppes of Russia and Crimea. Common language and religion united these tribes as a nation for a long time; the name of religion became ethnonym. Contemporary Lithuanian Karaims are their descendants.

According to the tradition, The Great Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, after one of the marches to the Golden Horde in 1397-1398 brought from Crimea several hundreds of Karaims (about 380 families) and settled them in the Great Duchy of Lithuania. It was connected with the state policy of The Great Duchy - to inhabit the empty areas, to build towns and castles, to develop trade and economic life. Karaims were settled in Trakai between the two castles in present Karaim Street. Later they also setteled in Biržai, Naujamiestis, Pasvalys, Panevėžys, however, Trakai has always been the community's administrative and spiritual centre in Lithuania and they hold it not only a homeland, but as fatherland, too. Throughout the centuries their ethnic and cultural relations with the Karaims from Crimea were not interrupted either.


Vytautas and other rulers of Lithuania expressed their confidence to the Karaims by affording the privileges to the Karaim communities, who were always loyal to Lihuanian rulers. In most of Karaim poems and songs about Vytautas he is named Vatat Bij (“the King crushing his enemies”) and many of the Karaims even now have a picture of Vytautas at home.

The functions of Karaim men included guarding the castles and in Lithuanian army existed a separate Karaim unit. Karaim civil people mainly worked on land. They were famous for gardening, cattle-breeding, especially horse-breeding. Like other inhabitants of towns, Karaims dealt with handicraft, trade, owned inns, etc.
The Karaim religion is called Karaism is based on the Old Testament or Bible and does not accept any of other Scriptures – the New Testament, the Talmud or the Koran. They believe all authentic truth is hidden only in the Old Testament and every Karaim has a right to look for it in the text himself. The name of the religion itself (Karaism) comes from the word 'kara' which in Arabic and Hebrew languages means 'to read', ' to recite the Holy Writ'.
Their church is called Kenesa.

KARAIM FESTIVALS
Karaim annual festivals are based on a lunar calendar, which consists of 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes. It is divided into 19-year cycle, among which 12 are ordinary and 7 are leap years with a thirteenth additional month. The month has 29 or 30 days.
The first traditional festival, JYL BAŠY (the beginning of the year) is celebrated on the first day of spring Artarych-aj (March-April). This day is commemorated by a prayer in kenesa and then the family gathers at home for a special dinner.
TYMBYL CHYDŽY (The Feast of Unleavened Bread) – one of the biggest holiday, celebrated on the 15th after JYL BAŠY and lasts for a week. Especially important are the first and the last days of the week, and Saturday and Sunday of that week. After the prayer, on Eve the whole family sits at the table and listens to the extracts from the Bible, which lasts for about 15-20 minutes. Later the God's gifts: wine and round flat cakes (tymbyl) made for this occasion are consecrated. Tymbyls are cakes, 5-7cm in diameter, made of flour with cream and butter or butter and eggs. They are made using special equipment and baking tymbyls is regarded as a ritual, in which the whole family takes part. Apart from eggs, the main dish of the dinner is šišlik (lamb or veal steak). Also such dishes are served as pudding and cake, walnuts with honey, dried fruit soft drink. There is a tradition to visit friends the whole week and try tymbyl at every place, because the cake has different taste at every house. In the past children had a traditional game with nuts: they had to strike the rows (lines) of nuts with a special ball, made of metal or ivory. The Ester Sunday is named SAN BAŠY (beginning of count) and from it from it Karaims count 7 weeks till next important festival - AFTALAR CHYDŽY
Velykoms kepami apskriti, penkių-septynių centimetrų skersmens paplotėliai tymbyl. Jie kepami iš aukščiausios rūšies miltų, užminkant tešlą su grietinėle ir sviestu ar sviestu ir kiaušiniais. Sekminėms kepamas ypatingas patiekalas katlama - septynių sluoksnių, simbolizuojančių septynias savaites po Velykų, varškės pyragas (keturi mielinės tešlos sluoksniai, trys - varškės).
AFTALAR CHYDŽY (Pentecost) is celebrated 7 weeks from the Easter Sunday – this holiday is always on Sunday – 50th day after Tymbyl chydžy' Sunday. Originally it was a festival for expressing thankfulness to God for the new fruit harvest. Historically it is also related to the giving of the Ten Commandments and has the name Matin Torah or "giving of the Law." According to the Old Testament, at this time God gave the Torah to the people through Moses on Mount Sinai. During this festival in Kenesa Ten Commandments of God are recited, after the ceremony, at home a special dish is eaten - katlama - it is a curds cake which consists of seven layers (four layers of cake, three of curds) to symbolise seven weeks after Tymbyl chydžy. According to an old tradition it was allowed to swim after Pentecost.
On the first day of the seventh month Ajrychsy–aj (September-October) BYRHY KIUNIU (The Day of Trumpets) is celebrated. On the tenth day of the same month - BOŠATLYCH KIUNIU (The Day of Atonement) - on this day people should keep the fast and pray in kenesa for God to absolve sins from morning to twilight. Confession is the main feature of the holiday. Nobody speaks loudly about the sins, as the confession is general. Because only God, not even the highest priest can forgive. Before the mass people apologise everybody they know; parents should be apologised separately; the priest apologises the whole community.
The last holiday of the year is ALAČYCH KIUNIU (The Tabernacles) – is celebrated on the 15 th of Ajrychsy–aj and lasts for 8 days.

Karaims preserved their traditions and folklore. They are very proud of their traditional cuisine and are ready not only treat their guests with the most popular dish – kybyn, but also teach how to make it. During their visit to Lithuania Italian students were able to try out how to make traditional Karaim kybyn, which is crescent-shaped leavened paste pie, filled with chopped lamb or beef meat filling. It is baked in an oven and served hot. Everybody recognised that they were really delicious.

Karaims are always happy to tell every visitor about their history, traditions, sing and dance traditional dances.Karaim melodies were passed from generation to generation, they weren't recorded until the 20th century, so many of them were forgotten or lost. Karaims took many melodies from other nations and adapted to their texts.As a result many traditional Karaim dances remind of Polish, Ukrainian or even Lithuanian dance melodies.Orininal melodie survived in old rituals, for example - weddings. the melodie are simmple, with monotonic repetition of the same motifs. they reflect the traditional composition of poetic texts.

Prepared by Ignas Sagevicius