Capital Days in Lithuania

There are international exhibitions, actions, beer festival, theatrical performancesPassing almost all September, the Days of the capital is perhaps the most colorful and diverse holiday. It involves ensembles of ancient and modern music and dance, it hosts international exhibitions, events, a beer festival, theater performances, tours of foreign cultural figures, sports competitions and many other wonderful events. The abundance of events is so great that every citizen or tourist visiting Vilnius will find something that can intrigue him.

An important emphasis of the holiday is the Pranziškus Fair held on the Town Hall Square, which becomes a kind of town of ancient crafts, folklore ensembles.
The days of the capital are crowned by the autumn equinox. On this day, a carnival procession takes place along Gediminas Avenue, and then in Kalnu Park huge straw sculptures with fireworks laid in them, symbolizing the change in the course of time, folklore and theatrical performances turn the holiday into a fascinating spectacle.

The history of many ancient cities begins with legends. It has its own legend and Vilnius. It is recorded in the Lithuanian chronicle of the XVI century (Chronicle of Bykhovets), many times retold in fiction, is still popular today. The legend tells that in the place where Vilnius stands, at the beginning of the XIV century, dense forests replete with animals and birds roared. These deep forests were a favorite hunting place of Prince Gediminas, who ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1316-1341.

Once on a hunt, the prince killed a powerful and ferocious beast, a storm of forests - a tour. It was too late to return to Trakai, and Gediminas decided to spend the night in the forest. On one of the hills near the place where the merry river Vilnius flows into the calm Nyaris, Gediminas ordered to camp and cook dinner. Until late at night, bonfires burned on the hill, the prince and his retinue rejoiced. And when the mortally tired hunters went to their tents and fell asleep, Gediminas had a dream. On a high hill at the mouth of Vilnius stands a huge wolf and howls as if he had a hundred wolves inside. The prince grabbed a bow, took aim and began to shoot arrows at the terrible beast. But, getting into the wolf, the arrows, the link, bounced off him, broke and, causing no harm, fell to the ground: dressed in iron armor was a ferocious wolf. From futile efforts to kill the wolf, the prince awoke and under the impression of a dream ordered to call the pagan priest Lizdijka, who guarded the sacred fire in the valley of the river.

“Tell me, old Lizdijka, the meaning of sleep!” said Gediminas.

Lizdijka thought for a long time and finally replied:
- Oh, Grand Duke! Your dream is the will of our gods. The Iron Wolf means the castle you must build on a mountain at the mouth of the Vilni River. And he will be impregnable and formidable, like the iron wolf you saw in your dream.
And next to the castle will soon grow a large city, the rumor of the power and beauty of which will spread throughout the world. And this glory will be so loud, prince, as the howl of a hundred wolves in the womb of an iron wolf.

Gediminas liked the words of the old priest. He generously gifted Lizdijka and soon after returning to Trakai ordered a castle to be built on a mountain at the mouth of Vilni, and a city to be built in the valley.

According to legend, Gediminas founded Vilnius and made it the capital of Lithuania.