Lithuanian trivia
Location: One of the three Baltic states, Estonia to the north, Poland to the south and Belarus to the east.
Area: about 65,000 square kilometers
Population: approx. 2.8 million (
Capital: Vilnius
Main ethnic groups: Lithuanians, Poles, Russians
GDP per capita: $22,245 (2021 data)
I met a Lithuanian in a youth hostel in Finland who had not yet been to the Baltic countries, so I was curious about the people there. I asked her what Latvians and Lithuanians thought of each other, and she said that Latvians have a saying: "You are as stupid as a Lithuanian." ”
To show their superior creativity, Lithuania also has this saying: "You are as stupid as Latvians." ”
I realized that I had met a fool, so I asked the Lithuanian what she thought of Finland, and she said with disdain: "There are many black people in Finland." ”
It's true? Later, I saw a black man on the streets of Helsinki and quickly grabbed him and asked him. Originally from Washington, D.C., he has lived in Finland for eight years, and his mother once asked him, "Are there any other brothers over there?" ”
He replied, "Yes, and there is another, we are good friends." ”
Apparently the Lithuanian lady was not a reliable source, so when I arrived in Estonia, I asked Mayu what she thought of Lithuania. As usual, she didn't answer directly, no matter how simple the question was, Mayu had to spend a few seconds looking for an answer on the ceiling, she was always thoughtful, and if she didn't find the answer in the ceiling, she would say, "I don't know." This rigorous thought flow ensures that Mayu never says the wrong thing, and its success rate is so high that she uses it on even the most trivial questions. I deliberately teased her at one point: "Hey Mayu, what's the name of your twin sister?" ”
She looked at me suspiciously, as if I had a lump of poop stuck to my nose, and then calmly stared at the sky, repeatedly wondering if my question had a trap. After a long pause, she finally replied, "Kristi." ”
So when I asked her what she thought of Lithuania, I had expected her gaze to drift around. I look forward to an answer with deep meaning, maybe she will mention the quality of Lithuanian music, their unique ethnicity, or their cultural capital. She sighed deeply, as if there was too much to say, and she didn't know where to start. In the end, however, she said only one thing: "Their path is good." ”
Nice roads? Lithuania has been located near Estonia since ancient times, and they have worked together to promote the singing revolution and sing at each other's celebrations, and the only thing Mayu can say is that their path is good?
Without saying a word, I continued to listen to Mayu's explanation with a blank face: "The roads in the Soviet Union were very bad, anyway, few people had cars, and no one cared. At some point, the Soviets decided to try to improve the quality of the roads to see what the difference would be, and they chose Lithuania to experiment, so they had some good roads. ”
"So it is," I tried to pretend to be interested, "this is full of peculiarities. ”
I call this phenomenon "blindness in the Baltic region": the three Baltic countries know surprisingly little about each other, and many of them may have been to France or Thailand but never visited their neighbors. Most Latvians and Estonians gave me the impression that Lithuania was the ugly little sister of the Three Kingdoms, but I couldn't trust their words and had to go to this secret country myself.
Immaculate capital
When I finally arrived in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, I was struck by the beauty and elegance of this historic capital. Its streets are intoxicating and its architecture is amazing. Originating as a castle on the hill of Gediminas, Vilnius' Old Town is a labyrinth of lovely laneways and Baroque churches everywhere. Due to its low foundation, some houses are even one floor below the road surface. The Gate of Dawn (Aušros Vartai) is the only of the nine gates that still exist around the original wall, and the only reason it still stands today is because of a statue of the Virgin embedded in it, which the Russians did not dare to destroy for fear of heaven.
I visited the three Baltic states in order to understand why they are different individuals, what cultural differences they have, and what we can learn from them. If the Balts were all homogeneous, they would not have been divided into three separate states and would have merged into a large country called "Borostan". When I wandered around Vilnius and accidentally entered another country, the Baltic fog finally dissipated.
Few tourists know that the bohemian district of Vilnius also has a separate small republic, which is not as famous and not as serious as the Vatican, in fact it is a complete joke. A few years ago, the inhabitants of the Užupis declared their independence and formed the Užupis Republic. They elected a president, wrote a national anthem, and designed 4 flags (one every season). They have a modest palace with an army of 17 people, April 1 is their national day, and on April Fool's Day, funny guards will wait at the bridgehead to help everyone stamp their passports.
Above all, the Republic on the other side has inscribed its constitutional provisions on every mirror of Paupio, and the 41 constitutional rights include: everyone has the right to live next to the Vilnele River, and the Vilnia River has the right to flow around everyone; Dogs have the right to be dogs; The cat has no obligation to love its owner, but must help the owner when he is in trouble; Everyone has the right to die, but that is not an obligation; Everyone has the right to give up their rights.
Lithuanian self-confidence
The Republic of the opposite coast reflects one thing that Lithuania outperforms its two neighbors to the north: self-confidence. It takes confidence to make such a joke, a prankster needs a little confidence to declare independence, and the government needs to be confident enough to laugh it off.
Compared to the other two Baltic countries, Latvia also showed greater self-confidence in its dealings with Russia. The Russian ethnic group makes up 1/4 of the population in Estonia and Latvia, but they make up less than 5% of the total population of Lithuania, so why is the proportion of Russians in the other two countries five times that of Lithuania? Some Lithuanians gave an answer that I did not expect: "We told them not to come." ”
Although the truth is not so simple, some of it does make sense. Among the three Baltic states, Lithuanians had outstanding bargaining power, and the Lithuanians during the Soviet Union had enough courage and strength to stand up to Russia and win some minor political disputes, including limiting the influx of ethnic Russians. For example, when the Soviets set up factories in Estonia and Latvia, many Russians were implanted to manage the factory operations, but Lithuania persuaded them to let Lithuanians go to Russia to learn these techniques and then return home to run their own business. The Soviet Union even agreed, which is one of the reasons why there are relatively few Russians in Lithuania today.
I met 32-year-old Italian Sylvia in a youth hostel in Vilnius. Silvia Cardini, who was living in Germany at the time, had the typical characteristics of Italian women: dark hair, dark eyes, bronzed skin, and a contagious laugh. She knew a local named Viragis who would be driving to a business meeting in the near future, so she invited me to hitchhike along. We had dinner on the eve of this road trip, and that night I not only learned more about the example of Lithuanian confidence, but also the source of that confidence, but first I was looking forward to trying Lithuanian food.
Food in Lithuania
Bread is at the heart of Lithuanian cuisine, and many of their beliefs and magic are associated with bread, such as placing a piece of bread on the cornerstone of a new house, believing that it would protect the house. There is even a proverb circulating in Lithuania: Be duonos sotus nebūsi, which means "without bread you cannot be hungry".
Many people who suffer from acid reflux symptoms or have a bad stomach and are prone to flatulence will be entangled in whether they should stay away from bread, in fact, it is not that they cannot eat, but to "pick and eat", "eat in moderation", that is, choose the right type of bread and avoid eating too much.
Baking bread is the honorary mission of the hostess, and each family holds a handover ceremony, and the eldest daughter inherits this heavy responsibility. In fact, Lithuanian bread is also female, and I was told: "My grandmother once said that bread is sacred and we are to honor it." I still follow my grandmother's teachings that when a piece of bread falls to the ground, I respectfully pick it up, kiss it, and eat it. It is a traditional ritual that allows the family to never run out of bread. ”
The most popular variety is rye bread (juoda ruginė duona), which you can see at any dinner table, and although improved white bread is also gaining popularity in the Baltic Sea, healthier brown bread is still the mainstream.
Flour can be made in 2 ways: simple fermentation and scalding, and although Lithuanians learned to bake bread in the 20th century, the traditional fermentation practice has existed for thousands of years. Fermentation alone can be completed overnight, but the dough needs to be kneaded for a long time, and the hot dough needs to be fermented for 3 days. As an old Lithuanian grandmother said: "Bread is delicious because it is difficult to make." ”
In addition to the starch provided by bread and potatoes, meat and sour cream seem to meet the rest of the nutritional needs of Lithuanians. Lithuanians even eat meat for breakfast, they may wake up and eat a sandwich with sausages, grilled meat or smoked meat, sometimes they even omit bread and eat only poached sausages. Their lunches and dinners are often solved this way, and it seems that Lithuanians' goal in life is to clog their arteries with grease.