10 Over The Top Ways Lithuania Celebrated Its 100th Anniversary!

Lithuania: February 16, 2018 marked 100 years of Lithuanian independence and the country sure went above and beyond in its efforts to celebrate its centennial! The amount of creativity and forethought that went into these festivities is just not to be believed, and it wasn’t just things that were happening in the ‘official’ state celebrations either, it was all the little things that individuals and organizations did that made it so over the top. Lithuania’s got style!!!

You know a nation’s independence means something to a people when its citizens take it into their own hands to do things from the downright reverent to the absolutely ridiculous. Other countries all over the world from Australia to Brazil to the United States got into the spirit as well where its ex-pats and diaspora so proudly remembered their homeland. Here’s 10, I’ve saved my personal favourite for last.

10 over the top ways Lithuania celebrated its 100th anniversary.

1. Flight 100 ‘Loop-de-Loop’ LTU Style

This was a gift from Small Planet Airlines, a Lithuanian airline company based in Vilnius, to show its national spirit during the 100th anniversary celebrations. Now this is how you go over the top in celebrating: plan a flight path like this!

Here’s the video from inside the plane. The video is in Lithuanian but you get the point, how cool would it be to be on a plane ride like this? Party in the sky, Lietuviškai!

2. Font to Sign the Declaration? Use Signato!

Lithuania actually created its own FONT for its centenary. Wow, who does that? People with style do. It’s called “Signato” and the font is a reconstruction, or digitalization, based on the original signatures used to sign Lithuania’s Declaration of Independence in 1918. Not only is the font really beautiful, anyone can download it and use it on any of their devices as their own. The Signato site is in Lithuanian, but you can use the “EN” option at the top-right.

But wait, there’s more! A font is cool; however if you’re really going to go over the top then you offer people the opportunity to actually use the font created for this event for a historic purpose. Anyone that types their name on the Signato website can add it to a list of signatures that will be preserved and published commemorating this auspicious day. I’m a proud signatory.

The font was painstakingly and scientifically created using the handwriting of the original signatories who you will learn about in our next over the top celebration.

3. The Miraculous Declaration

After over 50 years of being lost, Lithuania’s Declaration of Independence was finally found. After over 123 years of occupation by both Germany and Russia this document was uncovered in early 2017 in an archives in Berlin and made it home just in time for the 100th anniversary celebration.

You can read all about the “miraculous declaration” in a full post here. This is the declaration that the font Signato is based upon and the declaration itself is on full display in Vilnius for all its citizens to admire. There’s even a frozen ice sculpture version in Kaunas that changes colors for the centennial celebration. The fact that a long-lost copy of a country’s ‘birth certificate’ was found just in time for its 100th birthday is not just over the top, it’s miraculous!

4. 100 Fires, 100 Dancers, and 100 Hills

In the celebration of a centennial obviously the number 100 means a lot and you see it repeated quite a bit, as it only comes once. For this reason there were many instances of the numeral 100, including 100 bonfires that lined the streets of the capital city Vilnius, 100 traditional dancers in the opening ceremony, and 100 people singing the national anthem in unison on 100 hills throughout the country. Those are just 3 examples of over the top celebrations, there were hundreds more, no pun intended.

5. Lighting Up The World

When I say “world” I mean over 20 countries around the world across multiple cities lighting up monuments and buildings and towers to honor Lithuania’s 100th anniversary. The Empire State Building was lit in gold, green, and red just for the occasion. The map below pinpoints all of the official centennial events abroad, there were many more private celebrations on behalf of families and Lithuanian organizations as well.

Everywhere conceivable from bridges to radio towers to face paint, the Lithuanian national colors were displayed very proudly throughout the country. Here are a few examples of some over the top displays. Based on social media feeds, countries/cities outside of Europe and the US include: Rio, Toronto, Bali, Hawaii, Mexico, the Philippines, and a few more lighting up the world.

6. Travel Back In Time 100 Years To 1918

A centennial equals 100 years and back in 1918 the capital city of Vilnius looked very much different than it does today; but not on February 16th, 2018 when the whole city square was transported back in time to give you the feel of the city on the day its declaration of independence was signed. According to vilnius-tourism.lt, “You’ll have a chance to join free guided tours, but wandering around on your own may be just as rewarding: look out for plates with old street names, restaurants that serve early 20th century dishes, and more.”

7. Meet The Man Born Before Lithuania’s Independence

Not only was Vilnius redone to take you back to 1918, but you can also meet the man who actually was alive back then! Now that’s over the top celebrating. His name is Stasys ‘Stan’ Eimutis and although he currently lives in Australia he plans to visit his birth land of Lithuania in 2018 to commemorate its centennial. Truth be told, he’s actually OLDER than the Lithuanian nation! At 102 he represents the strength and vivacity of all Lithuanians at home and abroad, a true tribute to the greeting sveiki which literally means ‘health.’

You can read the full article in the Australian Herald Sun about ‘Stan the Man’ Eimutis here.

8. A Presidential Flag Raising For The Ages

February 16th, 2018 witnessed a very stately ceremony in which the Lithuanian flag was raised in honor of the restoration of the Lithuanian state commemorating its 100th year of independence. Not only was the Lithuanian flag raised but also the Latvian and Estonian flags along side her as together they represent the Baltic Nations who endured a long and violent history under Russian occupation.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė marshaled the entire affair as its head of state. Many other nations were present as thousands of onlookers gathered outside the Lithuanian Palace in Vilnius. It wasn’t over the top in its theatrics, but most definitely in its meaning.

9. It’s Called LIETUVA And We Have Our Own Logo

Lithuania’s proper name is LIETUVA. That’s right, not only did the country go over the top and create its own FONT, it also created its very own LOGO based off of the letters in the name of its nation: LIETUVA. Each of the 7 letters were used to create the Lithuanian Independence/Restoration logo for its year-long celebration. Atkurtai Lietuvai means ‘Lithuanian Restoration’ and 100 metų means ‘100 years.’ Here’s a cool video explaining how it was done – um, it’s in Lithuanian but you get the meaning.

10. Over The Top Traffic Stop

And finally my favourite of all the 10 things on this list: the traffic lights. This was not an accident, no pun intended. All of the street lights along Gediminas Avenue for the 100th anniversary celebration were re-tuned to mimic the colors of the Lithuanian flag, now that’s over the top!

I just love this, it’s so imaginatively cool! What a fun and creative expression of national pride! You can see more pictures of this street dressed up in national colors at the Kauno Diena website.

I wish to express my sincerest thanks to the following Facebook groups for the inspiration to write this post: Lithuanian Traditions and the Lithuanian Global Genealogical Society. Also, to the many Lithuanian social media feeds like We Love Lithuania, Lithuania.lt, Globali Lietuva, National Lithuanian American Hall of Fame, Made in Lithuania, This Is Lithuania, LRT, LT News, and others. Ačiū Labai for keeping us connected. ‪#‎RestoredLithuania100‬, #atkurtailietuvai100, #lithuania, #100metų, #vasario16.

We look forward to Estonia’s 100th Independence Day on February 24th, 2018 and Latvia’s 100th Independence Day on November 18th, 2018.