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If you were in the city of Kaunas on March 11, 2018 you would have witnessed Lithuania rolling out a 656-foot (200 meter) flag to celebrate its Restoration Day! Here are 16 photos I’ve gathered from around the net to show you just how amazingly inspirational and patriotic that flag is – it’s over 2 football fields/pitches long and encircled the entire Kaunas Town Hall Square, as you’ll see in some of the photos!
In Lithuania there are several key holidays to mark its independence. The first is July 6th which is Statehood Day and represents the founding of the Lithuanian kingdom back in 1253. The next is Independence Day celebrated on February 16th and is actually 1 of 2 “restoration” days commemorating Lithuania casting off nations that had unsuccessfully occupied it. February 16th marks Lithuania’s independence from Russia in 1918 and March 11th celebrates its deoccupation from the Soviet Union in 1990, the second of its restoration days.
List of Lithuanian Independence ~ Restoration ~ State National Holidays
• July 6 – Statehood Day (Valstybės (Lietuvos karaliaus Mindaugo karūnavimo) diena). This marks the actual, original founding of the Lithuanian nation under a single monarch, King Mindaugas in 1253. July 6th is Lithuania’s Independence Day or Founder’s Day, it’s true birthday.
• February 16 – Restoration Day 1918 (Lietuvos valstybės atkūrimo diena). This is formally called the “Day of Restoration of the State of Lithuania 1918” and is the first of Lithuania’s two restoration days. February 16 commemorates Lithuania declaring itself independent (and thereby restored) from Russia in 1918 and resulted in the signing of the famous Act of Lithuanian Independence in Vilnius – what I’ve termed the “Miraculous Declaration.”
• March 11 – Independence Restoration day 1990 (Lietuvos nepriklausomybės atkūrimo diena). Formally called the “Day of Restoration of Independence of Lithuania from the Soviet Union 1990” this date commemorates Lithuania’s deoccupying from the Soviet Union in 1990, the first of the Baltic Countries to do so. From 1990 until today, Lithuania has remained a free and independent country.
NOTE: In each of the names of the holidays in the Lithuanian language they all begin with the word Lietuvos, which means ‘Lithuanian’ – LIETUVA being the actual name of Lithuania. Each of these phrases also has the word diena, which means ‘day.’ The word valstybės means ‘country’ (it’s the singular possessive form), and atkūrimo means ‘restored.’ The most interesting word is nepriklausomybės which means ‘independent, free, sovereign’ and linguistically refers to the country of Lithuania returning to the state it was at its founding in 1253. Follow @lithuania on Twitter.
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