Transcript Preserving the traditions of national communities in the

Preserving the traditions of
national communities in the new
history of Lithuania - the case of
the Romanian Cultural
Community “Dačia“
Vladimiras Gražulis,
Associate professor, dr.
Mykolas Romeris University,
Lithuania
Lucija Bartkienė
President of the Lithuanian
Romanian Cultural Community
Conference: Town and Gown
26 October 2007
Lucian Blaga University
Sibiu, Romania
„Let them come (to our land) with their children,
wives and livestock, and allow them to come and go
according to their own free will without any
interference on our part. (…) we promise that they
will be safe and inviolable by any unwarranted
claims made by my subordinates.”
From a letter written May 23rd of 1323 by
Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the
people of Central and Western Europe
The reinstatement of Lithuania’s independence
and its international recognition formed opportune
conditions for the qualitative growth of the
country’s society and its ethnic groups.
The altered political situation called for new
answers to the questions:
Who am I? Where am I?
What will become of my children?
1. Since regaining independence to this day the road to the revival of Lithuania’s national communities
1.1. Already from the 14th century, the statutes of the Great Duchy
of Lithuania guaranteed ethnic, religious and cultural freedom. After Lithuania
regained its independence in 1918 - after more than 120 years of coercive
existence under the Russian empire - the rights in question were consolidated
by the Constitution of Lithuania. That was the first step towards restoration of
a harmonious coexistence of various national communities in Lithuania.
The pioneers among national organizations were established under the
Lithuanian Culture Fund in the first half of year 1988. The Lithuanian
democratic movement under the name of “Sajudis“ was established on
June 3rd of that same year. The movement encouraged people of
various nationalities living in Lithuania to gather and form national
communities. Russians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Jews and the Polish
gathered to form cultural societies. Members of such national communities
often publicly declared, that they hold Lithuania to be their homeland and
associate their present and future with it, and recognize and support the
right of the Lithuanian people to form a democratic state ruled by law.
1.2. A national minority law was already in effect on November 23rd of
1989, and a Committee of Nations was instituted under the Government that same
year. These were the first and only documents and institutions of this nature in all of
Central and Eastern Europe at that time. At the end of year 1989, the department
of Nations was established and started forming national minority’s policy, courtesy
of which, possibilities arose for swift solutions to questions of cultivation of culture
and integration of national minorities. In the autumn of 1989 Lithuanian radio and
television started broadcasting shows in Russian, Polish, Byelorussian, Ukrainian
and Jewish languages. If before 1988 periodical press in Lithuania was published
only in Lithuanian, Russian and Polish, then after the national revival - Jews,
Byelorussians, Ukrainians and Germans among others started publishing in their
own national languages.
1.3. The greatest influence on the revival period’s political stability and
unison in society was the passing of the Citizenship law on November 3rd, 1989.
Lithuania chose the humane, so called zero citizenship acquisition. Any
foreign-born person was imparted with the right of naturalization in their own
right regardless of what goals they had in mind when arriving to settle in
Lithuania and how long they had stayed there. They became citizens of the
Republic of Lithuania as any other Lithuanians with equal rights and obligations.
The absolute majority of the land - 90% of foreign-born people living in
Lithuania - decided to become citizens of the Republic of Lithuania.
1.4. The experience of Lithuania purports that the culture of ethnic groups
can be preserved through books, manuscripts and museums (Lithuania has a Jewish
museum, A. Mickevicius and A. Puškinas museum among others), Vilnius and
other cities’ old-town streets, alleys, gravestone monuments, architecture of
buildings and most importantly through people’s memories. Currently, most
national minority communities are concentrated according to age, sex, profession
and hobbies into more than 300 various national minority associations and cultural
centres: Russian - 68; Polish - 56; German - 31; Jewish -24; Byelorussian - 23;
Tartar and Ukrainian - 19 each, Romany (Gypsies) - 15; Greek - 9; Armenian - 8.
Also Bulgarian, Chechnyan, Korean, Lebanese, French, Romanian, Hungarian and
people of other nationalities have formed their national communities in Lithuania.
2. Creation of a suitable infrastructure - the precondition for developing
activities of national communities
2.1. National community Council
The advisory mechanism of organizations that represent national minorities
in Lithuania has been created in 1991, when under the Department of Nationalities
(currently department of National Minorities and Lithuanians Living Abroad) the
National Community Council was established and provided with rights of a
deliberative body. The Council comprises of, according to the principle of
proportion, representatives of all national minority associations registered in
Lithuania. The term of the Council is three years, and it is currently made up of
29 delegated representatives. The Council participates as advisor and expert in
deciding strategic questions regarding national minority cultural development and
policy; observes the implementation of laws that regulate national minority rights;
analyzes legislation and other acts of law that intend to deal with questions
regarding national minorities; and render their observations and proposals to the
President of Lithuania, the Parliament of Lithuania - Seimas, the Cabinet, Regional
Development Councils, Municipalities and other institutions. It is of vital importance
that Council representatives participate in work groups and commissions composed
by Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and actively participate in Governmental
matters concerning national minorities.
2.2. House of National Communities
In year 1991, in pursuit of providing the national minority organizations
with realistic opportunities of expanding their practice, the House of National
Minorities opened its doors in Vilnius, and became host to most of the national
minority organizations.
The House of National Communities designs and implements three principal
programmes. The first programme heeds sustenance and cultivation of Lithuanian
national minority groups’ identity. The second is designed to support Lithuanian
national minority organizations in integrating to the country’s public-political life and
at the same time preserving their national identity. The third attends to making the
House of National Communities a centre for cultural and educational activities. About
3 different events are organized and take place each year: meetings, colloquiums
and discussions with guests from the Lithuanian Parliament, foreign diplomats
Residing in Lithuania and representatives of various international funds. Discussions
regarding Lithuania’s quest to become a member of NATO and the EU were actively
frequented by commissioners of the European Council, who analysed Lithuania’s
position regarding protection of national minorities and human rights.
The activities implemented by the House of Nations established conditions
for a collaborative publication with the Department of National Minorities and
Lithuanians Living Abroad. The “Informational bulletin of national minority
communities” was released seven years ago for the first time. It overviews all
activities of national \minority organizations and seeks to tackle problems regarding
sustenance of national identity and integration into society. There have been 21
numbers of this bulletin published to this day.
2.3. National minority schools - an instrument to preserve national identity
and integrate into the life of the state.
As history of the development of nations shows, national traditions can be
preserved trough language alone, and same goes for national self-awareness.
Currently, there are 46 Saturday/Sunday schools in Lithuania: 4 Armenian;
3 Byelorussian; 1 Estonian; 1 Greek; 1 Karaitic; 2 Latvian; 14 Polish; 1 Romanian;
4 Russian; 5 Tartar; 4 Ukrainian; 1 Uzbek; 4 German and 3 Jewish.
There are about 900 pupils learning their native language, history of their
motherland, religion, literature, music and other disciplines under the domain of
ethnic culture in these schools.
Unfortunately, Sunday schools are still faced with various organizational
problems:
1. Due to a small volume of pupils and the lack of teachers, it is difficult to
divide the children into groups according to age;
2. National minority Saturday/Sunday schools usually operate
without official registration;
3. There is a lack of teaching materials and methodical literature;
4. These schools function without a system of in-service training for teachers;
5. The question of financing has not as of yet been solved.
3. Lithuanian state support for cultivation of national communities’
cultural heritage.
There are over a 100 ethnic minority art collectives of various genres
in Lithuania, which organize various events dedicated to introducing the
Lithuanian public to the cultural inheritance of various National Minorities.
In seeking to promote the greatest cultural inheritance, the Department of
National Minorities and Lithuanians Living Abroad started organizing an annual
contest for Ethnic Minority Organizations’ (NGO). 256 projects were presented
for the contest of 2006.
“This is our home” - the first festival of Trakai - became an important
event for national minority art collectives in 2002. There were performances by
Karaite, Tartar, Polish, Russian, Romany, Jewish, Ukrainian and other art
collectives of various ethnic backgrounds living in Lithuania. This festival
introduces the wide public to the culture of national minorities as well as their
customs and traditions, and promotes the public’s interest in cultural heritage
of other nations. The festival is gradually becoming conventional.
4. National communities in the history of Vilnius
The city of Vilnius and its history are a reflection of various streams of
Western and Central Europe’s civilizations, styles, national customs and culture.
Places of pagan cults, orthodox churches, catholic baroque and footprints of the
Jewish lifestyle testify to the existence of a multicultural city.
The contemporary capital of Lithuania was first mentioned in 13th century
written sources. Over a few centenaries, it became a mighty and constantly
growing city. The rapidly developing Vilnius was open to visitors from East and
West, as is revealed by the 16th century Statutes, the last of which was valid until
the 19th century. Therefore, with the passing of time, strong communities
developed, such as Polish, Russian, Jewish, German and Karaite among others.
Every one of them made a unique contribution to the city’s historical heritage.
Currently, Vilnius is a city of about 550 thousand inhabitants, among whom
almost 42% represent other nations (Polish - 18,7%; Russian - 14%;
Byelorussian - 4%). As they are all Lithuanian citizens, the national minorities living
in Vilnius play a vital role in the Vilnius scene and the new history. It has become a
tradition to elect representatives of national minorities to the Vilnius city Municipality
Council; they’ve also become active participants in various educational and cultural
events of the city, and have prepared presentations about their historical lands for
the city’s populace.
The old town - the historical centre of Vilnius is one of the largest in Eastern
Europe (360 ha). Vilnius, because of its unique character, has been enlisted in the
UNESCO World Heritage list. The old-town buildings - of which there are about 1,5
thousand - have endured from various different centuries. All of European
architectural styles intertwine here. Although Vilnius is known as the city of baroque,
one can also find buildings from Goth, Renaissance and the Modern epochs.
It has already become customary, that most national minority communities
are annual participants in the “Days of the Capital” - a four day celebration in Vilnius,
where they present their national dances, songs and art for the city’s populace.
On November 14th, by resolution Nr. 2005/815/EB of the European
Union Council, Vilnius was officially declared the European capital of culture;
therefore Vilnius is actively preparing to take command of the relay-race of
European Capitals of Culture in 2009.
5. The Lithuanian Romanian Cultural Community “Dacia” - present and past
The community “Dacia” was founded 18 years ago and unites emigrants from
the Republic of Moldova and Romania. Most of community members have been living in
Lithuania for 20 to 40 years. According to the population census of 2001, there were
700 Moldavians and 100 Romanians living in Lithuania at that time. Currently, the
community unites members from Kaunas, Vilnius, Klaipeda and other parts of
Lithuania. Most of the members are Lithuanian citizens that fluently speak Lithuanian.
Although the community is of modest size (45 people), the actual fact that it was
established is remarkably important in that by getting together, people can preserve
their language and traditions.
At the time of the creation of the community “Dacia“, the members were
most keen on preserving the Romanian language. Families of the community members
are composite, because most of the Romanians that have come to live in Lithuania
have gotten married to Lithuanians, local Russians, Polish and Byelorussians.
Therefore, it goes to say, that members of “Dacia” community may be called
“emigrants of love”.
From the very first days of existence, the “Dacia” community members have
actively participated in the Lithuanian movement of national resurgence. On August
23rd of 1989, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the condemnation of the
Molotov-Ribentrop pact, members of “Dacia” together with members of the people’s
front that have come from Moldova, stood in the “Baltic Way” in a 2 kilometer strip
with their flags and candles. The “Baltic Way” was an act of protest not only against
the invasion of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but also of Basarabia - the current
Republic of Moldova. After the beginning of the Romanian uprising against the
communist regime, members of “Dacia” community requested a mass for casualties
of Timišoara.
Courtesy of the efforts of all members of the Romanian cultural community
“Dacia”, the community is becoming known in its historical motherland, it has been
mentionedin periodicals such as: “Literatura si Arta” (nr.47, 2000 m.), “Formula –AS”
(nr.524, 2002 m.), Curierul “Ginta Latina” (nr.3, 2004 m.) bei USA Romanian Meridian
(nr.476, 2006 m.).
After Romania’s accession in the European Union, the Romanian cultural
community “Dacia” has augmented with new members that have arrived from
Romania and Ireland.
Currently, the Romanian cultural community “Dacia”, together with
other communities of Lithuanian national minorities, has started preparing for the
events of 2009, when Vilnius together with the city of Linz will be European Capitals
of Culture.
6. Retrospective of the historical and cultural ties between Lithuania
and Romania
It is known from history, that Romanian nobleman Alexandru cel Bun was
married to the sister of Vytautas the Great - the ruler of Lithuania. That same
Alexander cel Bun helped the Polish and Lithuanians in two battles against the
Teutonic knights: in 1410 near Grunwald and in 1422 near Malbork.
It is notable, when searching for cultural affinity between the two nations,
that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Moldovan nation had 300 kilometers of a
common border from the end of the 14th century to mid 15th century. In 1452, the
castle in Moldova “Cetate Alba” (En: White Castle) was being built by Moldavians and
Lithuanians. The book by Henrik Wisner “Janosch Radziwill” testifies that in 1643,
Janosch Radziwill was after the hand of the Moldovan Duke’s Vasile Lupu daughter
Maria. In 1645, Maria Lupu became the wife of the great etmonas (leader of the joint
army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), and received the name of
Maria - Lupu - Radviliene and brought along a tremendous dowry - 650 thousand
golden coins.
Conclusions:
- A national community of a modest size can and should organize events that
introduce the country’s history, culture and traditions for the Lithuanian public.
- When preparing cultural projects, it is important to seek close crossovers with
Lithuanian history and culture, and try to compare specific national traditions with
those of Lithuania.
- Members of various national communities, Lithuanian intellectuals and
representatives of the media must be invited to planned events.
- It is important to attract the community’s youth to the various cultural events
organized by the community.