“Although we have been living in Vilnius for half a year, we have come specially to take part in this holiday.” May picnic craze in Eišiškės!

The ŠalčininkaiDistrictMunicipality can boast a rich calendar of cultural events. Still, however, in a small town like Eišiškės, one always has a hunger for such events. That is why one could feel that the Sunday May holiday in Eišiškės was a holiday of the whole local community.

Families with children wearing their Sunday best, groups of friends, and local boozers, who added a splash of colour to the event, were all present. Certainly, on this day, at least half of this small town’s inhabitants came up to the Plac Majowy (the May Square), where the event – nomen omen – took place.

One could not say what attracted the people more: the names of stars such as Ewelina Saszenko and Biplan, both of whom added splendour to the event by producing a wonderful performance, or the possibility of seeing their neighbours, cousins, or daughters on stage.

In Eišiškės the people quite evidently are guided by a Vilnius key phrase which says: “I play alone, I dance alone.” The spectators had the chance to admire the talents of children from the kindergarten “Płomyczek,” the MusicSchool in Eišiškės, and Stanislovas Rapolionis Junior High. The bands “Kwiaty Polskie” (Polish Flowers) and “Fantazja” (Fantasy), the stage group of the Arts Centre, and the band “Šansas,” Eišiškės People Song and Dance Ensemble also performed in front of the spectators. And one would think that all of them are locals!

“The great commitment of the representatives of both junior highs, the kindergarten, the Arts Centre, and many other people whom it would be difficult to name and without whom the holiday would not have taken place,” says Andrzej Andruszkiewicz – the originator of the event, the deputy mayor of the Šalčininkai District Municipality, and, in private, a native-born man of Eišiškės.

The organisers have high ambitions of going big time, but this is the charm of the local community that seems to be what attracts people the most.

“Last year my daughter recited a poem on this stage, so this year we have just had to watch the concert. Although we have been living in Vilnius for half a year, we have come specially to take part in the holiday,” said Ms Katarzyna in the conversation with zw.lt.

To hear more impressions from the Sunday May picnic in Eišiškės, watch the video below.

Source: http://zw.lt/wilno-wilenszczyzna/majowka-jak-nazwac/

Tłumaczenie by Elwira Łykus w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Elwira Łykus within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.