Culture

Vin Katilius-Boydstun.     There is no universally agreed-on definition of a shtetel. According to professor of Jewish history, Yohannan Petrovsky-Shtern, what became known in Yiddish as the shtetel grew out of the “Polish private town,” the property of Polish magnates during the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, continuing as such …

By Ramūnas Čičelis. It’s a great honor and pleasure for me to present and discuss the creative works of the Litvak author Grigory Kanovich (Kanovičius). Kanovičius grew up and was formed in the same town in which I was born and raised and in which I live still – the …

By Daiva Steponavičienė. In 2009 we celebrated the 1000 year anniversary of the first mention of Lithuania in a written historical document. As part of the festivities, an array of reconstructed national outfits worn by Lithuanian tribes in the 1st – 12th centuries and during the period of the Grand …

By Gediminas Indreika. West of Alytus, between the Aniškis forest and Luksnėnu lake, lies the village of Kurnėnai. In the 1880s Laurynas (Laurent) Radziukynas trekked 8 kilometers daily to the nearest school in Miroslavas, a hardship that would leave an indelible impression in the boy’s mind. In 1934, as a …

Residents of Lithuania’s second city, Kaunas, have been busy stitching. Over 100 residents responded to an invitation by a local arts group Fluxus Labas! to participate in a global craft project called “25 Million Stitches.” Their artistically stitched panels will soon be traveling to California to take their place among …

As the earth’s temperature rises, what changes are in store for Lithuania? Scholars from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS), the largest institution of higher education for biomedical sciences in Lithuania, located in Kaunas, are attempting to predict how the lives of future Lithuanians will be affected by climate …

By Miltiades Varvounis. After the last partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was annexed by the Russian Empire. However, the Lithuanian national revival emerged during the late 19th century and the movement to establish an independent nation-state intensified during the early 20th century. During …

The newly confirmed Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, visited Chicago, on September 14. He attended Chicago’s Lithuanian cultural centers – Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, Lithuanian Research Center, World Lithuanian Center, and spent an afternoon at the editorial offices of Draugas. Mindaugas Kvietkauskas holds a …

Linas Jegelevičius. Fabijoniškės, a dreary residential district in the northern part of Vilnius, has recently become a major tourist draw. The Soviet-style high-rise apartment complex built in the late 1980s served as the production site for the television event of the year, the HBO miniseries “Chernobyl,” that dramatized the 1986 …

By Miltiades Varvounis. Witch hysteria took hold in Europe during the mid-1400s, when many accused witches confessed, often under torture, to a variety of wicked behaviors. Within a century, witch hunts were common and most of the accused were executed by burning at the stake or hanging. The publication of …