The holiday season is upon us.

Today is Shrove Tuesday (also known by many other names all over the world. In Lithuania, you could say Pancake Day or Užgavėnės), the day before Lent begins. There are many interesting traditions that surround this time here in Lithuania. Today also happens to be one of Lithuania's Independence Days (merely a coincidence that it lands on mardi gras this year). Today is a day off to celebrate independence, and on Sunday (also Valentine's day...also just a coincidence that that holiday was on Sunday) we celebrated Užgavėnės down town in the Old Town of Klaipeda. This celebration kicks off Lent, but also is a celebration of the coming Spring and saying goodbye to Winter. It was a fun and interesting time, and we ran into a lot of people we knew there (on Sunday). I posted an album on facebook, which you can see here.


Artsiom, Steve, and Sasha at Užgavėnės and sporting their Valentine's heart stickers.