London, 30 September 2008

PRESS RELEASE

Following the tragic death of Frank McGarahan following his attempts to defend a Lithuanian citizen who was assaulted in Norwich last Sunday, Vygaudas Usackas, Ambassador of Lithuania said:

“I am deeply moved and saddened to learn of the death of Frank McGarahan. He died trying to protect an innocent and vulnerable person, and my thoughts and prayers are with Mr. McGarahan’s family.”

Vygaudas Usackas,

Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania

Events 

20-08-2008 Invitation letter from Lithuanian folk group "Dainava"

Dear Colleagues, Leaders of Scotish folk groups,

We are folk art group Dainava from Alytus, Lithuania. We would like to enter into friendly and cooperataion relationships with a folk group from Scotland.
First of all we would like to invite a Scotish folk group to participate in the 6th international folk festival "Atvaziuoja zolynai", which will take place on 28-30 November in Alytus with performances in Kaunas, Vilnius, Druskininkai, etc. (we will send you the detailed program later) We will provide accomodation and meals while in Lithuania, and organize guided tours in the cities where the performances will take place. You will have to buy return flight tickets to Vilnius or Kaunas. and we will pick you up at the airport. The day of arrival is 27 November, and departure 1 December.

We will be happy to answer any questions of yours.

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Romualdas Ambrozevicius,
President of Dainava

Those who wish to contact Lithuanian folk group "Dainava" plase email directly to Mr Romualdas Ambrozevicius romualdasa@aktv.lt or contact Skotija.co.uk by sending email to mantas@skotija.co.uk if you need any assitance.

Alytus town picture gallery:

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Lithuanians

 Often confused with the Polish, it is thought that the majority of Lithuanian Christians arrived in Scotland between 1890 and 1905.

They left for economic reasons and to escape the Russian feudal land system, military conscription and the suppression of the Lithuanian language, culture and religion. They worked as labourers in the factories of Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, and in the mines of Edinburgh and Fife.

Once settled, they sent for their families and formed small communities in these areas, with their own organisations, shops, clergy and newspapers.

Over the years however, they have become progressively assimilated into the majority community. Many people's Lithuanian names were changed by officialdom or by Lithuanians themselves, in an attempt to avoid discrimination in employment.

 According to some glottochronological speculations the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between 400 AD and 600 AD. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after 800 AD; for a long period they could be considered dialects of a single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century, and perhaps as late as the 17th century. Also, the 13th- and 14th-century occupation of the western part of the Daugava basin (closely coinciding with the territory of modern Latvia) by the German Sword Brethren had a significant influence on the languages' independent development.

During the Soviet occupation (see History of Lithuania), it was used in official discourse along with Russian which, as the official language of the USSR, took precedence over Lithuanian.

Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages, along with Latvian. An earlier Old Prussian Baltic language was extinct by the 19th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian, went extinct earlier. The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the Indo-European languages.

The oldest surviving manuscript in Lithuanian, rewritten from 15th century original text
First Lithuanian book (1547) The Simple Words of Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas
A map of European languages (1741) with the first verse of the Lord's Prayer in Lithuanian. Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant.  Antoine Meillet.

 If you have any questions or suggestions please contact editor-in-chief Mantas Rukuiža by email mantas@skotija.co.uk