Being Soviet and Lithuanian: song festivals as emotional events to induce a hybrid identity

ABSTRACT

The article analyzes a highly popular phenomenon of the Soviet Lithuanian national culture: the song and dance festivals, regularly organized since 1946. The phenomenon was prevalent in the mass culture until the end of the Soviet era. Following occupation by the USSR in 1940, in order to build a bridge between Soviet and national identity, the Soviet Lithuanian administration promoted song festivals as emotional events to generate a hybrid synthesis of the Soviet ideas and the national elements. Based on both the national tradition and Soviet cultural policies, these events helped blend the national and the Soviet experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Soviet
• Lithuanian
• emotional event
• song festival
• national identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A paraphrase of Anna Wierzbicka’s explanation of her concept of ‘construals.’ Original quote: ‘construals affect how people feel, and how they think about how they feel’ (Wierzbicka 2010, 272).

2. J. Banaitis, Order of the Chief of the Administration of the Matters of Art of the LSSR No. 353, 9 August 1946 LLMA, f. 289, ap. 1, b. 2, l. 130.

3. J. Paleckis, ‘Lietuvių tautos džiaugsmo šventė,’ 1946, typescript, Lietuvos literatūros ir meno archyvas (hereafter – LLMA), f. 55, ap. 1, b. 1, l. 17.

4. K. Preikšas, ‘Laiškas rajonų ir miestų LKP(b) sekretoriams’ 1946, LLMA, f. 289, ap. 1, b. 72, l. 147.

5. See, for example, the special edition (no. 2) of the Communist Party newspaper, Tiesa, for 19 July 1946.

6. J. Paleckis, ‘Lietuvių liaudies tautos džiaugsmo ir atgimimo šventė,’ 19 July 1946, typescript, LLMA, f. 55, ap. 1, b. 1, l. 21.

7. ‘Pagelbinė medžiaga apie literatūrą ir meną’ (Sniečkui), ca. 1950, Lietuvos ypatingasis archyvas (hereafter – LYA), f. 16895, ap. 2, b. 225, l. 138.

8. ”Pagelbinė medžiaga …,” LYA, f. 16895, ap. 2, b. 225, l. 138.

9. ‘Gegužinė’ literally, ‘May festival,’ a term originally referring to the Catholic devotions to Mary during the month of May, but having come to mean a folk or village feast in a broader sense.

10. K. Preikšas, speech, 1959, typescript, LYA, f. 15871, ap. 1, b. 2, l. 36.

11. K. Preikšas, ‘Sustiprinkime pasiruošimą respublikinei dainų šventei,’ 1960, LYA, f. 15871, ap. 1, b. 2, l. 129.

12. Banaitis, Order No. 353, LLMA, f. 289, ap. 1, b. 2, l. 130.

13. Paleckis, ‘Lietuvių tautos…,’ LLMA, f. 55, ap. 1, b. 1, l. 12.

14. The manuscript of this speech is preserved in: J. Paleckis, ‘Lietuvos TSR Aukščiausiosios Tarybos prezidiumo primininko Justo Paleckio kalba atidarant visuotinąją Lietuvos dainų šventę 1946 m. liepos mėn. 21 d. Vilniuje,’ 21 July 1946 typescript, LLMA, f. 55, ap. 1, b. 1.

15. P. Kulvecas, Plan of the main means of further development of foreign tourism in the Lithuanian SSR and of improving the informational propaganda work directed at the foreign countries in 1968–72, No. 8–10100, 22 September 1967 LLMA, f. 342, ap. 1, b. 1698, l. 155.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT) [Agreement No. LIP-014/2016].

Notes on contributors

Nerija Putinaitė

Nerija Putinaitė received her doctorate from the Lithuanian Institute of Philosophy, Sociology, and Law in Vilnius in 2000. She specializes in identity studies, including Soviet, national, and European identity. She focuses on questions of the contemporary identity of the nation, the nation-state, Europe and the EU; on Lithuanian identity and its vision of Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first century; on accommodation and resistance in Soviet Lithuania, on Soviet atheization politics, and society. She is a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University.