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The Lithuanian Song Festival: 100 years of tradition

Lithuania’s song festival, Dainų šventė, celebrated its 100th anniversary in July this year. It stands as Lithuania’s paramount cultural phenomenon, involving tens of thousands of Lithuanians and several diaspora choirs from around the world. Yet despite sharing similar festivals, the presence of choirs from the other Baltic countries is a rare sight to see.

An old woman blows kisses at the procession from her flat window. She is dressed in national costume and an array of amber beads. Among the crowds lining the streets, other elderly ladies in similar dress sit on benches, too frail to march the three kilometres from Vilnius’s Cathedral Square to Vingis Park, the festival grounds, but keen to be part of the Lithuanian Song Festival parade.

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I am with the Latvian choir, Ziemelu Balsis, whom I met in Estonia. We process in strict formation through the streets with the flags of Estonia and Latvia held five paces before us. I have been relegated to the back of the procession since I am not wearing a national costume, but my placement gives me full access to the cheering crowd. We greet wave upon wave of joyful faces, phone cameras, photographers, the colours yellow, green and red, outstretched hands, waving hands, dogs, handmade straw birds, banners and flags, and receive cheers from diaspora groups and shouts of thanks. Some from the crowd shout “Latvija, Estija!” and we shout “Lietuva!” back. We hold hands and sing traditional Latvian songs and the song of the Baltic Way, and I imagine the older faces in the crowd in their younger years  waking up to Lithuania’s independence alongside its sister states in the late 1980s. Although the choir members are old hands at song festivals in their own countries, it is the first time they have participated in an international song festival, and we attract a lot of attention. “As with any relationship that must be maintained,” a fellow singer told me later, “our presence at this festival is very important. It’s a signal of solidarity and support since that time, one of pushing diplomatic relations forward.”

Flower crowns and national dress

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