Jorė festival as a (re)construction of ancient Lithuanian spring festival

ENThis paper is dedicated to the spring festival of lore and its celebration circumstances in the present-day Lithuania. The goal of this paper is to carry out (re)construction forms of ancient festival and its relation to ethnicity, that is why attention is paid to the analysis of the rise, substantiation and formation of the festival. The task of the paper is: 1) to survey the history of celebrating Jorė in Lithuania; 2) to find out what sources are the base for (re)construction of rituals and (re)storation of traditions; 3) to reveal the motives of Jorė organizers as well as the main point of the festival. Organizers of Jorė tend to consider the festival of St. George as a predecessor, but Lithuanian I Baltic identity is emphasized. The first official festival of Jorė took place in Molėtai District, Kulionys village in 1997, the main initiator is considered to be Jonas Vaiškūnas, the priest of "Romuva". Motivation for (re)construction of the festival is deeply linked with the personal worldview of its organizer. Jorė is considered to be the first festival of spring awakening celebrated in the pre-Christian era, which was later replaced by Christian St. George. Folklore and examples of neighbouring (Slavic) nations are used to validate the contemporary Jorė.