National Culture of Lithuania Under the Effect of Massive

Culture

Dr. Assoc. Prof. Virginija Jurėnienė Department of Philosophy and Culture Studies Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty of Humanities Lithuania Tel:+370 37 202627 E-mail: Virginija.jureniene@centras.lt

The current post-modern society is closely related to the globalization process,

one of the main characteristics of which is the movement of finances, technologies,

knowledge, human resources, ideas, cultural values, etc., despite of national borders.

The consequence of this movement and other characteristics of globalization is the

formation of multicultural societies. Now it is not a surprise to see people of different

cultures living nearby, intercultural marriages, etc. Another feature of this society is

the culture of consumption is the free time of a present individual, and sometime his

main activity. Such a culture stresses hedonism and the styles of a consumer and

consumption. In the present world, the important role is given to the massive

communication forms – the media, commercial, video. These are constitutive parts of

popular culture. It becomes fashionable to watch certain films, visit certain clubs and

shops.

The European Union is characteristic of multiple culture, but at the same time

national cultures are also being nourished. The decisions of the UNESCO and the

Council of Europe encourage the retention of the national identity. Each nation has its

unique national culture that is an invaluable property. An important task of the EU

countries and nations is to co-ordinate the influence of globalization and the

consumption culture upon the national culture without annihilating it.

But cultures are always changing and are related to the symbolic dimension of

life, the meaning and identity are created in them. Cultural differences are clearly

demonstrated through conflicts and may become the reason for them to emerge.

Cultural differences appear both in national, and international countries. These

differences are more distinct in the EU integration processes.

Theme: to analyse the national culture of Lithuania under the effect of massive culture

The article analyses the material of the report of two projects: the international

project „Creative Growth“ („Kūrybinis augimas“) (200-2010), the national project

“SiluetasLT” (2008-209), as well as the quantitative research “Culture and students”

(“Kultūra ir studentai“) (2011).

The object of the research „Culture and Students“ is the students of Vilnius

University studying at Kaunas Faculty of the Humanities. The consumption culture of

students (selectively) and the evaluation of ethnic culture were analysed.

The research was carried out following the interpretational quantitative

methodology of social research. The data were collected by two means – applying the

document analysis and the questionnaire. 56 students were questioned.

The interviewed were warned about the aim of the study. In order to analyse

the consumption of students, first of all the focus was on the popular culture, and after

that – the ethnic culture was analysed. Other questions related to such essential

aspects as the ways of spending free time, forms, obstacles for the wide consumption

of the popular culture and ethnic culture were formulated indirectly.

The empiric base consisted of 56 questionnaire in order to analyse the opinion

of the youth on the consumption of culture. The questionnaire was carried out in

2011, and the report of the research was prepared in 2011. The volumes of the

research were formed applying the targeted selective method.

The application of the research results has restrictions. First of all, no criterion

of representativeness was raised, but the seek was to find out the consumption of

culture of the youth as well as the meaning of the popular and national culture for

them.

In the article, I follow the research as carried out by the Lithuanian Social

Research Institute in 1990-2005, that included various layers of the society, age

groups and education. No such aim was raised in this research.

Besides, the research I carried out was explorative seeking to analyse the type

of culture consumed by students, determine whether students consume the popular

culture and how much they comprehend the ethnic culture.

Despite of aforementioned restrictions, informational sources selected for the

research and the research methods allowed to reveal the trends of the cultural

consumption of students, and the gained results are scientifically valuable.

The non-structured field systemic observation was applied for the second

research „Siluetas LT“. The observation of the project „Siluetas LT“ lasted for one

year (2008-2009). Its observation was simple due to the fact that the project planning

constantly was carried out in the same place, in Lithuania, Kaunas Faculty of the

Humanities of Vilnius University, and it was carried out in 5 ethno-cultural regions of

Lithuania. The project was performed by 6 teams, the aim of which was to analyse the

ethnic culture in ethno-cultural regions, to collect the material and non-material

cultural heritage of those regions and create the data base SiluetasLT.

The third project was the research of cultural industries in Kaunas District that

was carried out in 2009 – 2010, participating in the project „Cultural Growth“

financed by the international INTERREG IVC programme. The industry model of the

Swedish experience was applied in 16 neighbourhoods of Kaunas District seeking to

establish the development of creative industries and art incubators in them. The

material collected in all the three researches is used in the article. The data gained

during the second and third projects allow to discuss in more detail the status of the

ethnic culture in various ethno-cultural regions of Lithuania, and determine how much

the popular culture is rooted in the cultural consumption of the people, how much it

has overwhelmed the national culture and if the national culture is threatened by the

real danger of extinction.

Problem analysis

The problem has not been analysed. Many works under the theme of

consumption were announced by M Laužikaitė, A. Vosyliūtė. The national culture

was analysed by R. Grigas, R. Čepaitienė, A. Juozaitis, V. Daujotytė, N. Vėlius, J.

Vaiškūnas, L. Klimka and others. Often the researchers of the Lithuanian ethnic

culture underline in their works that the government doe not pay enough attention to

the national culture and it faces a real threat to be annihilated. Only A. Juozaitis says

that the status of the national culture is good, as it is being created. (Juozaitis, 2001).

The problems of the fostering of the ethnic culture and their importance are

indicated not only the EU, but also Lithuanian documents as well.

The problem of the concept of the term “culture”

It is extremely difficult to define culture precisely and unambiguously.

The primary meaning of the word “culture” included everything that was

related to the physical and mental creation of a human being. This explanation of

culture has partially retained till nowadays, but it has gained new meanings and has

split into branches – the high (elite), the popular (massive). In the elite life, creativity

is valued most of all, whereas, the popular culture is spread among masses and the

shift towards it is the most remarkable tendency of culture business. But the massive

culture is not smooth: it includes not only the entertainment industry, but also various

layers of creative talent and professionalism. (Liubinienė, 2002)

Defining the concept “culture”, we encounter various opinions, different

descriptions.

Hofstede defines culture as a collective programming in the environment

(Hofstede, 2001) and identified 3 psychological levels: individual, collective and

universal. The individual level focuses the uniqueness of programming into each

individual, even identical twins. He suggests regarding this level as partially inherited.

The universal level is programmed as common for all, and is also partially inherited,

for instance survival instincts. The middle level – the collective one – is the learnt

specific programming for the individuals of the group.

Hofstede mentioned values as the main layer of culture, above which all the

other three levels of culture are aligned and they are easily noticed: rituals (such as

greetings or showing respect), heroes that serve as an example of behaviour, and

symbols (values, rituals, individuals, symbols) words, colours, etc., that have the

meaning). According to him, all these levels ( are influenced by the first one, i.e. the

level of values (Hofstede, 2001). In such a way, the spread of the national culture

contradicting the globalization processes is revealed.

So culture can be understood as a unit of several levels, the main role in which

is given to values, beliefs, attitudes, that are „self-understood“ by that culture, but are

hard to understand for representatives of another culture, and that are expressed

through external things: behaviour, clothes, eating habits, art, etc.

Among all the aforementioned components, according to L. Šalčiuvienė,

values are the most important component of culture. Cultural values form beliefs and

attitudes of people, determine their behaviour. Therefore, as the author says, the

system of values is the basic totality, following which all other decisions are made.

Values unite individuals with other people, products, services and differentiate them

from one another. Not to know the values of an individual means not to understand

their behaviour, accepted standards, used symbols (Šalčiuvienė, 2003).

Hofstede broadens the concept „general programning“, suggesting that culture

should be placed between the nature of a human being that has not been or is not

being programmed, and the personality of an individual. (Hofstede, 1980).

Another concept of culture has been enlarged upon by Edward T. Hall. He

sees the totality of culture as often unconscious. Hall compares culture with the

invisible control mechanism in the mind of individuals. In this case, this mechanism is

noticed only after certain changes of the system occur, for example, temporarily

passing from one culture to another. In Hall‘s opinion, members of the group of one

community internalize cultural components and act in it without violating limits that

depend upon what is „culturally accepted“. Culture has always determined where the

line should be put separating one thing from another. These lines are arbitrary, but

once they are learnt and internalized, they are regarded as real ones. (Hall, 1990).

V. Dumbliauskas and H. Gullestrup indicate that culture is passed from

generation to generation. It reveals its continuity and the fact that own culture often

looks like „self-understandable“, as we take it over from past generations.

Talking about culture, V. Dumbliauskas mentions ways of activity of people,

means, standards, values and ideals helping them to survive (Dumbliauskas, 1999). H.

Gullestrup also talks about values, standards and rules as well as behaviour, but also

he includes any type of their material and non-material expression into the definition

of culture (Gullestrup, 2002). These aspects are generalized naming culture as the

„philosophy of life“, „way of life“. Whereas, V. Kavolis suggests understanding

culture and all their forms at the same time in several analytical layers, as it seems

that it is impossible to include everything that can be distinguished in culture in this

concept, and therefore it is useless to look for the system of culture, as there are

elements contradicting one another existing in the same culture, and also a certain

chaos, improvisations, copying of other cultures. Thus, it is impossible to look at

culture as a whole unit or try to include its concept into a certain framework (Kavolis

1996).

D. Urbonaitė deciphers two parts of culture: existence and value. These parts

express two sides of the activity of a human being. Each person has his own personal

culture. His culture is influenced by a complicated system: humanity – society –

group – individual. This system exists independent upon the person. But as the

individual changes, the value also changes, i.e. things, actions or certain events may

have more significance with respect to certain values. (Urbonaitė, 1999)

Despite of it, there are many discussions of the concept of culture, following

them L. A. Samovar indicated the main characteristics of culture:

Culture is learnt. It is not an inherent thing. Proper mind and behaviour

models are implanted in an individual both consciously and subconsciously since he is

born through communication, observation, imitation. Culture is also learnt through

art, folklore, proverbs, history and many other ways. The aim of such learning is to

prepare for the proper functioning in a certain society.

Culture is transferred from generation to generation. An individual takes it

over from parents, teachers, books and constant observation and respectively passes it

to future generations.

Culture is symbolic. Words, gestures, images are symbols having a

meaning; culture is understood as the whole of these symbols.

Culture is changing. New ideas, discoveries, social movements and etc.

change culture. Often these changes have influence upon external objects – they

modify clothes, food preferences, transport systems. Values, moral beliefs, the

importance of religion or an attitude towards different roles of genders that form the

profound basis of culture often are resistant to changes and are passed from

generation to generation.

Culture is ethnocentric. The strong identity of a group that is formed by

culture may lead to ethnocentrism – the belief that other cultures are lower as

compared to their own one. The concept of ethnocentrism will be more widely

discussed analysing barriers hindering the successful intercultural communication

(Samovar et al. 2006).

So culture marks external factors, the world surrounding an individual – the

wholeness of art, customs, science, religion, law, technology, social standards.

National Culture – the Guarantee of Survival of a Nation

The ethnic culture is the totality of values of culture transferred from

generation to generation by people of a certain region – the historic memory related to

the history of the nation, respect for their own state, retention of traditions, customs,

folklore, music, dances, the ethnic peculiarity of the language – dialects and ethnic

names of places, etc.

The scholar V. Daujotytė states: „Ethnic culture is the culture that has roots,

its is a tree, it is a plant, and not an artificial flower, no substitute may equal to what is

alive and real, it has its roots growing from the ground...“ (Daujotytė, 2000).

N. Vėlius said that „the ethnic culture is like air surrounding us and is in us.

We do not understand it as air that we breath“ (Vėlius, 1987). Ethnic culture has its

own objects – language, folklore, customs, ethnic art that do not coincide with

anything else.

Ethnic culture is strong, active and vivid as long as it takes from other cultures

only what meets its own nature. It adjusts new things and modifies them. As long as

culture is strong, it rejects everything what is alien to it, but when it undergoes

descend, it does not perform the function of rejection and therefore it fades (Juozaitis,

2001).

Reasons of weakening of the national culture of Lithuania:

• the first one – aggressive emergence of the western massive (popular)

culture into the society;

• the second one – Lithuanian national culture is young (it independently

has been developing for 100 years) and small as compared to ancient

western cultures;

• the third one – the increase of the influence of the low-valued culture

of Hollywood in Europe and Lithuania. The latter has a big affect upon

Lithuanian culture, as it destroys the system of values. (Jurėnienė,

2010).

The Lithuanian state puts a lot of efforts to retain ethnic culture and strengthen

it. The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania has passed laws. The preamble of the law

on The basis of the national support of ethnic culture declares: „The Seimas of the

Republic of Lithuania, understanding that the ethnic culture is the essence of the

existence, survival and strength of the nation, the ground of national culture; stating

that various forms of the Lithuanian ethnic culture and especially its living tradition

are threatened by the evident danger of extinction; acknowledging that only following

its ethnic culture the nation may retain its civic maturity of its citizens, take part in the

global civilization as an equal partner and maintain the dignity necessary for the co-

operation and partnership, independence and uniqueness, passes the present law on

the basis of the national support for the ethnic culture“ (LRS, 2006).

The importance of the ethnic culture is underlined by the law on the Basis of

the National Security that determines that the policy of internal affairs should educate

the national self-awareness, the state must assure the protection of the Lithuanian

ethnic culture, the peculiarity of culture and customs, cherish the traditional family,

the education system should nurture the national self-awareness, the respect towards

other nations (LRS, 2006). It also indicates that “the duty of the state is to retain and

cherish the national cultural identity, to assure the protection and continuity of the

Lithuanian language, taking care of the ethnic culture and local traditions, protecting

the cultural heritage.

Most of the documents regulating the life of culture openly declare that they

protect the national heritage.

Ethnic culture is not just a mere heritage. The law on the Basis of the National

Protection of Ethnic Culture defines ethnic culture as the totality of cultural values

that is transferred from generation to generation and is constantly renewed, helping to

retain the national identity and self-awareness and the peculiarity of ethnographic

regions (LRS, 2006). There are no doubts that ethnic culture largely consists of a

living tradition that is expressed in all spheres of life of the nation, is always changing

and adjusting itself to the consciousness and needs of the society in a certain period of

time.

It is also noticed by the researcher of ethnic culture L. Klimka: “it is necessary

to develop this concept also into the spiritual sphere: national customs and traditions”

(Klimka, 2008). He states that there is a lack of understanding in the Lithuanian

society how much the cultural heritage that has been nurtured and created through

hundreds of years is valuable. Lithuanians do not understand what cultural treasures

they possess that distinguish them out of other European nations. The documents of

the EU and UNESCO indicate that every nation must cherish their own national

heritage. Lithuania, when integrating into the EU, must retain its national identity if it

wants to stay unique.

In the “Guidelines of the Culture Policy of Lithuania” as approved by the

Lithuanian Seimas, the ethnic culture is equaled to the amateur art. This erroneous

provision contradicts the UNESCO strategy acknowledging all the main ethno-

cultural masterpieces of Lithuania (glees, song festivals) as the non-material heritage

phenomena of the global level. Their nurturance is not just a sphere of amateur

creators.

The ethno-astronomer J. Vaškūnas, member of the Council of Ethnic Culture

Patronage, raised the following questions in the Lithuanian press many times: who

will make the strategy specialists of the changing Lithuanian culture look at ethnic

culture and its conservators? Who and how will convince that there is no sense to

push the living ethnic cultural traditions to the margins of the Lithuanian national

culture trying to turn it into the outlived phenomenon of museum heritage? The

European future is the intercultural exchanges as well as dialogues, and not the

annihilation of cultures (Vaškūnas, 2011).

The problem lies not only in the inaccurate legal acts as passed by the

Lithuanian Seimas, but also sometimes cultural researchers and conservators place

national culture against the professional one. Besides, there is still the ill-fated

Lithuanian complex of provinciality: many Lithuanians think that if it is our own, it is

worth nothing... It is evident that we do not know how to be proud of the beauty of our

nature (cherish and nurture it) or the archaic expression of cultural forms.

The researcher L. Klimka notices that we have inherited such unique things in

Lithuanian ethnic culture that can decorate European events of any level. Lithuania

surprises of the variety of dialects in a relatively small territory, the maintained old

songs and glees, the unique folk art artifacts, as well as Easter palms of Vilnius,

weathercocks of the Curonian Bay, the masks of Shrovetide of Žemaitija (the Low

Land) and many other things ( Klimka. 2008).

In this way the state puts all the possible efforts to create ethnic culture in

Lithuania. Most often the national culture is cherished and developed al cultural

centres, in the activity of ethnic societies. Their activity is supported by the state both

politically and financially. But it is not enough, it is important to have people creating

and consuming this culture. Sometimes the society itself underestimates its own

national culture, thinking that it is rural culture, not representing anything.

But devaluations or underestimations of national culture are also determined

by external factors: globalization and integration.

Influence of national and consumption culture upon the society of Lithuania

After Lithuania became the country of an open society, the massive culture

with its own values that were unknown to Lithuanians overwhelmed it. Just like in

Western culture, the slogan “to have” is enhanced, the most important thing is work,

money, career, consumption and entertainment. Such values as family,

communication, friendship, love, respect, traditions and similar are placed aside.

These values were very important for the people of our country in the past. Recently,

these values have also been concerned by rich Western countries, while the active part

of our society is still focused on the desire “to have” and consume. This process is

influenced by the economic situation based on the market conditions as well as the

media propagating it.

In Lithuania, there is not yet a purely consuming society formed, it is a society

undergoing transference from the production to consumption. It happens when the

attitude of people towards money undergoes changes, when the social classes with

their own life styles are formed (for instance, “the new Lithuanians”). The relation

between the work and free time changes, the impulsive purchasing emerges, the

“showing-up” consumption appears, the understanding of men and women as

consumers is also changed. In Lithuania, people are looking for their identities, for

their social layer. And it depends upon what is consumed. So consumption in modern

Lithuania becomes the main measure to form the identity of a person, the social

identity as well as the gender identity, i.e. the self-identity is performed through

consumption (Laužikaitė, 2006) .

There is no creativity in consumption, everything is oriented towards the

external. The object of consumption may cover time, area, nature, politics, relations

among people, etc. The culture of consumption covers wide and different needs of

people, the aspects of the identity with a certain activity and attitudes: these are

festive feasts, aesthetics of clothes, apartment conformabilities, ways of holidays,

participation in fairs, phenomena of buying and selling, the differences of motives of

choosing Lithuanian or foreign goods, etc.” (Vosiliūtė, 2003) These phenomena lose

features, and gain prestige. Such a reclassification is conditioned by the information

society only partially, as the most important thing for consumption is the need to be

satisfied in novelties. It exists in culture where there is the competition of statuses.

One of the main features of the consuming society is the constant creation of

needs and consumption emerging after the earlier ones are satisfied. So the world of

good things and its structure become the most important thing in defining the modern

society. The objects consumed and the variety of tastes reveal the subjectivity of

individuals, introduce the culture of the family and the nation. To be a different

person becomes the value that is to be aimed at.

Globalization has also a lot of influence upon the changes in the consumption

of the society. Now, when there is no iron border, the youth are interested in foreign

countries, often in the west, that are hardly related to our culture passed from

generation to generation through hundreds of years. “New traditions” are more valued

than the old ethnic ones, as it is simply not fashionable and not necessary. As R.

Šmaižys puts it: „the influence of western culture, often related to entertainment and

debauch, is immense for our young people as they are not interested in the old ethnic

culture – they lack time for it, especially when the real traditions are regarded as old-

fashioned and unimportant” (Šmaižys, 2008). R. Šmaižys notices that the influence of western culture affects the attitude of

the youth towards the traditions. The old ethnic culture has become meaningless,

unnecessary and even invisible to a modern man (Šmaižys, 2008). Probably, the

underestimation of our old culture is mostly affected by the newly and publicly

declared massive culture, when a man does not have to think – everything is presented

to him here and now. Quite a few intellectuals criticize the media for the promotion of

consumption culture as well as the presentation of negative news to the society,

without aims to promote positive ideas about Lithuania and its culture.

The media and the society itself relatively talk little about the necessity of the

ethnic culture, the benefit not only for the growing children, but also for adults

focused most often on their career. Due to the popular culture prevailing now and the

television priorities that the public needs more entertainment, our old culture is placed

aside very often (Šmaižys, 2008).

The state that is mostly concerned with the development of the national

culture, indicates the main aim of the policy as the seek to retain and nurture the

national culture. But the provisions of the policy of the culture of the state also

mention the encouragement of creative activities, artistic variety, the development of

the information society, the enhancement of the openness of the national culture as

well as the creation of conditions favourable for the society to take part in culture and

consume it. The level of the implementation of these aims as well as the achievements

when carrying out the tasks posed by the state to reach them is witnessed by the data

of the research carried out by the European Commission in 2006 – 2007, but at

present they would reflect the real situation only partially, as due to the financial crisis

the consumption of people in the sector of culture has remarkably diminished.

The report of the research noticed that the Lithuanians were mostly interested

in and mostly used the following types of culture: watching TV and listening to the

radio (90 per cent), reading books (64 per cent), visiting historic objects (51 per cent)

as well as going to concerts (52 per cent) (the data are submitted in percentage of

consumers who visited a certain cultural object at least once a year or used the means

of cultural education). By the data of EUROSTAT, only 20 per cent of Lithuanians

went to the theatre of opera and ballet at least once a year. Although, as compared to

other countries, Lithuania is one of the countries that is most interested in this type of

culture, but still this index is rather low. Also Lithuanians do not pay much attention

to theatres (27 per cent), visiting libraries (32 per cent), museums and galleries (33 per

cent) and even cinema (33 per cent). Taking into account the established averages,

Lithuania is the leader among the European Union countries, in watching TV and

listening to the radio, visiting concerts as well as going to operas and ballets (Lietuvos

gyventojų kultūriniai..., 2003).

The analysis of the research of European values, as carried out in Lithuania

in 1990, 1999 and 2005, shows that this year the importance of free time in

Lithuanian has been growing constantly, and the importance of work that was

increasing in 1990-1999 has remarkably decreased. The need for work is especially

high among people of 30-50 years of age. Whereas the need for free time is

decreasing with the older age. Young people of the working age (20-29) value free

time more than the older ones (even those who finished or are finishing their work

career), but less then teenagers. (Savicka, 2006).

In 2003, the Lithuanian Institute of Social Research carried out the research of

the cultural needs of the inhabitants of Lithuania (1208 constant residents of Lithuania

were interviewed). The report of the research states that festivals and concerts, just

like many other events, were more often visited by people of young age than people

of middle age, but the evaluation of events did not depend upon the age of education –

everybody evaluated them well. And it is understandable. Festivals, fairs, and etc. are

called massive events, and they attract people of different layers of the society.

Theatres and cultural centres were more often visited by people of the

middle age (i.e. 25-39 and 40–59 years of age) than the youth. But cultural centres

were more often visited by the youth. Young people were the most active visitors of

many cultural institutions and events, but they went to the theatre less frequently – it

shows that at that time the popularity of this branch of art was reducing, although

the elder generation still remembered the former habits of going to the theatre

(Cultural needs of Lithuanian…, 2003).

In February, 2011, 56 students were questioned: 44 girls and 12 boys.

After carrying out the research it became clear that students ascribe the following to

cultural institutions: theatre (100 per cent agreed with it), cinema (50 per cent), city

festivals (50 per cent), exhibitions (87 per cent), libraries (63 per cent), museums

and galleries (92 per cent). Most of the respondents agreed partially that the cultural

institutions can be called: seminars and conferences (47 per cent), reading of books,

journals, newspapers (44 per cent), the internet (39 per cent), the radio (44 per cent).

The respondents did not agree that cultural spheres are: leisure sports (49 per cent),

catering institutions (60 per cent), night clubs (52 per cent), parties with friends (78

per cent), television (38 per cent), pick-nicks (60 per cent) as well as going to

leisure and shopping centres (73 per cent). And only a very small part of the

respondents did not have their opinion regarding the classification of exhibitions (2

per cent), seminars and conferences (6 per cent), libraries (2 per cent), night clubs (4

per cent), parties with friends (4 per cent), the internet (2 per cent), television (2 per

cent), the radio (2 per cent), pick-nicks (2%) to culture. In this way the attitude of

the respondents to the culture consumed is broadened, and only 38 per cent of them

regard television programme as culture.

So generalizing we can state that that these data show that students are

inclined to identify the concept of culture with the elite culture that include the fine

arts, painting, sculpture, classical music, theatre, literature of a high level and

philosophy. Most of the respondents did not agree to ascribe to culture the elements

of the massive culture (fashion, festivals, pop music, entertainment movies,

apartment as well as forms of entertainment).

The respondents spend most of the time visiting leisure and entertainment

centres (34 per cent of them visit them frequently and 38 per cent – often), reading

books, journals, newspapers (26 per cent – constantly, 34 per cent often), partying

with friends (24 per cent – constantly, 50 per cent – often), in the internet (86 per

cent – constantly, 16 per cent – often), watching television (68 per cent, 16 per cent

– often), listening to the radio (38 per cent – constantly, 22 per cent – often). Still

many objects are visited by respondents only sometimes or they do not visit them at

all: theatre (62 per cent – sometimes, 28 per cent – never), cinema (62 per cent –

sometimes, 2 per cent – never), city festivals (66 per cent – sometimes, 6 per cent -

never), events organized by various organizations (70 per cent – sometimes, 8 per

cent – never), exhibitions (66 per cent – sometimes, 22 per cent – never), seminars,

conferences (74 per cent – sometimes, 10 per cent – never), libraries (64 per cent –

sometimes, 12 per cent – never), pick-nicks (58 per cent – sometimes, 2 per cent –

never).

The obtained data prove that students devote most of their free time to the

active leisure: entertainment, and the passive free time (the internet (86 per cent –

constantly), television (68 per cent – constantly). As compared to the research of

2003, it is noticed that the television is not consumes the most actively, and the

internet has become a more popular form of the consumed culture. And the

consumption of the elite culture has reduced: going to theatres, exhibition, galleries,

as it is related to finances. Most of the respondents indicate that there is a lack of

means to consume this type of culture.

The research also revealed that the respondents underlined that they lack the

real, and not the massive “pop” cultural events that would have the lasting value

(respondent No 2). The respondents clearly separated the popular culture stating that

“the massive (popular) culture is meant for leisure time, meeting the taste of the

masses, but it has no lasting value or idea, and the national culture reflects the values

of the nation, has the lasting value, and provides not only the physical, but also

spiritual satisfaction” (respondent No. 1). Most of the respondents replied that the

popular culture is the widely spread “new” culture that include various films and

books having no value, and also visiting various entertainment places, trade and

leisure centres, night clubs, etc. (respondent No. 2, 4, 5).

The researchers B. Kuzmickas, R. Čepaitienė and others think that now the

Lithuanian society is standing at the crossroad between the East and the West, having

forgotten its historic heritage formed through many centuries. Although many years

have passed by after Lithuania regained its independence, still there are provisions

that prevailed in the Soviet Union, but also, as Lithuania is an open state, the

influence from the West is also expressed in the mind of Lithuanian people.

According to R. Čepaitienė, it is not possible without the national ideology as well

as creation of mythology, therefore we should remember, create, discover the

Lithuanian symbols, heroes, legends and stories once again ( Čepaitienė, 2005).

Speaking about the national culture the respondents stressed that: “the culture

of national values includes various traditional festivals, customs, traditions,

galleries, exhibitions” (respondent 2, 5).

The carried out research shows that we may disagree with the prevailing

opinion of the society that Lithuania is left without clear guidelines that could indicate

which way to choose. It is just an assumption that needs thorough research, but this

survey of the students shows that the value of national culture is understood by the

youth. Respondent 5 indicated that when young one should take part in the events of

massive (pop) culture, and when older – one should participate in the events of

thenational culture.

All the questioned students said that the national culture is much more

important that the popular one, although they did not reject the existence of the latter.

However, in order to strengthen the maturity of the Lithuanian society, we

should look back to our historic past, the folk culture, where each Lithuanian may find

the acceptable or known features. From Lithuanian folk fairy-tales we can educate

about diligence that was destructed by the collective work as formed by the

occupation. In fairy-tales, when one wants to achieve something, one should get and

carry out certain tasks. Lithuanian fairy-tales and sagas, they also show the mind and

smartness of Lithuanians (meeting mystical creatures, such as devils, fairies often

ended in favour of the human being), so why cannot we “overcome” the complex of

inadequacy that is the sickness of most of the society of Lithuania? When joining the

global minds to the Lithuanian one, we can find common things. In the world, the idea

of the ecological behaviour that is responsible with regards to nature is becoming

more popular, so Lithuanians should be reminded of the special relation of the

Lithuanian man with nature, thus accepting the Western ideas and spreading our own.

Some people stated that Lithuanian is distinguished by uniting not only its own

culture, but enriching it with the culture from the East and the West, as the

geographical location of Lithuania as well as the historic experience determined it to

be like a link between these two world sides. The creation of its own culture as well as

the identity could be a certain synthesis between its own and the accepted culture,

adjusting it to their own needs, thus creating own culture as well as the identity in the

European context.

B. Kuzmickas names the present period of Lithuania as a transition period. He

describes the period of transition as the period since the regaining of independence till

nowadays, seeking to underline the changes that took place during that period

(Kuzmickas, 1989). This transition conditioned not only the economic, social and

other changes, but also the values of individuals were changing.

Regional ethnicity in Lithuania

One of the features of the EU regional policy is the retention of the cultural

identity. According to V. Čaplikas, such a nature of policy and the direction are

determined by the place of regions in the organization management, the historic

development of the continent, the cultural variety and other similar factors (Čaplikas,

2006). So culture in the regional policy is the sphere of priority, as it is closely related

to another sphere of its retention, and the questions of the retention of the cultural

identity are equal to the problems of economy and ecology1.

As it is stated by V. Čaplikas, the regional ethnicity, just like nationality, is the

social consciousness formed during a long historic period and it acts as the most

mobilized means that does not have equivalents (Čaplikas, 2006). According to him,

the roots of the Lithuanian regionalism date back a long time ago, and reach even the

times of tribal life (Čaplikas, 2006). The Lithuanian legal acts validate 5 ethno-cultural

regions of Lithuania: Aukštaitija, Dzūkija, Suvalkija, Žemaitija and Minor Lithuania.

The development of ethno-cultural regions is one of the means of the

Lithuanian state for the smooth development of culture and self-government in all

regions of the country. As V.Venckutė states, the development of regions may be

defined as the development of the aspects of social, economic, environmental, healthy,

technological, cultural and recreational life of the community in a certain territory

(Venckutė, 2004). One of the aspects mentioned by the author is the cultural

development in regions where the place of meeting is often the cultural centres in

small towns and villages. In order to improve the existing situation of the cultural

centres, in 2007, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania approved of the

Regional Cultural Development Programme for 2008–2012.

The decision of the Government of Lithuania on the Regional cultural

development, the policy of the present regional culture is defined: “<...>the policy of

the activity co-ordination, concentration, partnership, local development promotion of

the state, governors of counties, municipal institutions of cultural enterprises

subordinate to them, the aim of which is the coherent and targeted development of 1 Ši nuostata teisiškai buvo įtvirtinta Mastrichto sutartyje, pasirašytoje 1992 02 07. Sutartimi buvo sutvirtintas regionų išsaugojimas bei įvardintos regionų plėtros sritys.

culture in regions, strengthening of its role in the social and economic life of regions”

(LRV, 2007). The main aim is underlined in it – culture must be distributed and

developed equally in all regions of Lithuania. This aim is being achieved carrying out

the regional cultural development programme that is defined as follows: “The

programme, whose aims, tasks and implementation results assure the implementation

of the national policy of the regional culture, includes the needs of cultural

development of the region (regions), is related to the rendering of cultural services for

the inhabitants of the region” (LRV, 2007).

The most reliable way to protect culture is to create it. Only the creating culture

strengthens naturally the instinct of survival, its vivid powers. Nobody doubts that the

creative nation is vivid and it has the future. It is stressed in the provisions of the

Council of the Protection of Ethnic Culture as accepted by the Seimas (parlament) of

the Republic of Lithuania in 2004 that are one of the most important steps to develop

regional ethnicity. The most important aim of this council coincides with the aim of

the cultural policy of the EU: „to encourage the development of ethnic culture

guaranteeing the protection and strengthening of the national identity and self-

awareness, and the equal participation of Lithuania in the cultural life of world

nations“(LRS, 2004).

I would state that the ethnic culture is alive, as many activities are going on.

There are many people working in the field of culture, and it is best described by

acting cultural centers. They are the most important institution in regions that cherish

the ethnic culture. In Lithuania, cultural centers’ were established during the Soviet

times and acquired the status of the main cultural infrastructural unit, became the most

important places of culture spread in the whole territory of Lithuania, but they have to

fight for their survival till nowadays. The means allotted by municipalities to support

cultural centres are bigger than the means for the maintenance of museums, libraries

and other cultural institutions, but the evident vegetation of cultural centres or even the

phase of degradation due to the lack of means and innovativeness (in the development

of projects, implementation of new creative activities. It was revealed in the

international project Kūrybinis augimas (Creative Growth), in Kaunas region that

includes part of Suvalkija and Aukštaitija ethno-cultural regions. We cannot state that

all cultural centres are supported merely by the state and carry out only the functions

as regulated by legal acts without the creative initiative. Many cultural centres

perform projects, co-operate with foreign partners, are supported by business

institutions.

At present, the tendency of a light decrease and weakening of the activity of

cultural centres in the country is noticed. In 1995, 985 cultural centres supported by

municipalities were active in Lithuania, out of which 819 were based in the

countryside, so in 2006, municipalities supported only 154 cultural centres bearing the

status of a legal entity and 698 of their branches in the countryside (LRV, 2007). This

evoked negative changes in the cultural development of regions of Lithuania and

encouraged the concentration of amateur and professional culture hearths in the big

cities. In such a way smaller towns and villages of Lithuania are left aside, without

self-realization and equal possibilities of the right to professional culture. This

tendency was noticed in the project Creative Growth, when cultural centres that were

established in suburban areas of Kaunas are only vegetating, as the inhabitants

participate in the city’s cultural life. Although there are still cultural centres open in the

suburban cultural centres (Neveronys, Dotnuva, Lapės, Vaišvydava, etc.), but only due

to enthusiasts that still value the national culture more than the popular one.

The activity of cultural centres is one of the ways to assure the decentralization

of culture, supported by the EU and Lithuanian cultural development policy

programmes. The protection of the national culture must be of the special concern for

cultural centres, and it is clearly defined in the law on Cultural centres of Lithuania

determining the following functions of the activity of cultural centres:

To provide conditions for the distribution of ethnic culture,

To promote the old cultural traditions, customs,

To assure the accessibility of ethnic culture,

To organize events promoting ethnic culture, amateur art,

To organize entertainment, educational and other events,

To create the forms of contemporary modern art forms and give sense to

them,

To organize the activity of amateur art collectives, studies, groups;

To take care of the preparation of amateur art collectives and participation in

Song festivals, local, regional, national and international events;

To take care of the employment of children and youth, their artistic

education;

To organize the commemoration of national festivals, memorable days,

calendar festivals,

To provide conditions for the spread of the professional art (LRS, 2004).

Out of activities of cultural centres, the more important role is ascribed to the

ethnic and elite culture than that of the massive culture.

Such activities of cultural centres were confirmed by the international project

Creative Growth in Kaunas region and the national project SiluetasLT. During the

project Creative Growth, the scenic art and the cultural activity in 73 cultural centres

of Kaunas region were analysed (34 – in Kaunas, 23 – in Raseiniai, 6 – in Kaišiadorys

and 10 in Jonava districts). Besides, cultural centres have branches, for instance the

cultural centre of Raseiniai has 25 branches, but we did not analyse them. The

research revealed that folklore ensembles of elderly people (women, men, both) were

established in all cultural centres. Most of them also had children folk dance groups

(80 per cent) (Jurėnienė, 2010).

Also folk dance groups of elderly people were active in most of the centres. The main

activities of all the cultural centres analysed – children folk cappellas, senior dance

groups, folk song groups, brass cappellas, country cappellas, folk song vocal groups.

In about 40 per cent of the centres, there were folk art and handicraft, painting

exhibitions of the people of the community, in 10 per cent of the centres there were

adult sacral music ensembles, children sacral music ensembles.

In more than half of the centres analysed, next to the ethnic culture, the popular

culture is also created: modern dance groups (according to age groups), stage theatre,

sport dance studio, children pop group, modern stage duets.

There are also promoters of the modern culture fields: applied art studio, children

guitar studio, children theatre studio, singing poetry studio, adult theatre, mixed

choirs. The most popular in this group is the mixed choir (abut 90 per cent). The

programme of the latter is very different: from folk songs to professional choral

songs, therefore I can state that they are also creators of the ethnic culture. In this

group, about half of the centres have folk theatres, and it is related to folk traditions

and customs.

The ethnic culture is alive and it seeks to survive, keeping the people it affects.

Culture can survive only when it is created and consumed by people.

In 2008 – 2009, the national project “SiluetasLT” was implemented, with the

help of which the national (material and non-material) culture, objects of historic and

cultural heritage were collected. In the course of the implementation of the project, the

internet site “SiluetasLT“ as well as the internet data base were prepared, where the

cultural material was collected and systematized.

Carrying the project, the status of the present national culture and the affect of

the massive culture upon in ethno-cultural regions was established.

During the project it became clear that the most important task of cultural

centres of villages, regions, towns was the popularity of ethnographic culture. The

ethnic culture has been fostered through centuries, and in the present society one

region is distinguished from the other having its own customs and traditions. It was

revealed in the project. Both in the countryside, and in cities Lithuanians join the

ensembles promoting and creating ethnic culture, and in places where there are no

cultural centres there are active communities that are interested in the old traditions

and customs, revive them and submit to the wide society. Ethnic culture is important

because it strengthens people belonging to that culture. If people are able to recognize

what is their own, what is inborn, what is culturally inherited, they will be strong

spiritually and culturally, and will be more resistant to various popular cultures.

Another field of the activity of cultural centres is propagation and promotion

of modern culture. Events of modern culture attract big masses of countryside and

urban people, and namely it is the reason why open-air pop concerts massively visited

by people, and other events of such type were called “massive cultural events”. Such

events in smaller towns and villages are most often organized by their cultural centres.

The main problem of massive events in towns and villages is the issue of the quality

of cultural or artistic level. The project “SiluetasLT” revealed that the popular culture

has a bigger influence upon young people than the elderly. In cultural centres, there

are pop cultural ensembles: singing and dancing. There is a big lack of cultural

managers. It is good that artistic directors are professionals. This activity of youth

ensembles and the conditions of cultural centres were also established in the project

Creative Growth. The following activities were noticed: sport dance studios, children

pop groups, women stage duets, singing poetry studios, adult theatres, mixed adult

theatres, children theatre studio as well as children guitar studio.

Another field of activity as carried out by the cultural centre is the

protection of cultural heritage. The protection of cultural heritage in Lithuania is

taken care of not only by the national or municipal institutions – cultural centres also

contribute to the protection of heritage, its fostering and revival in different forms – by

organizing various events, looking for funds, or moving to a desolate object of cultural

heritage and renovating it, managing it and taking care of it voluntarily. It brings

benefit to the society, as the declaration of the General Human Rights states, the

cultural life is not possible without a community.

During the project SiluetasLT, it became clear that each town or village that

has the material cultural heritage (a mill, mound, barrow, castle, manor) not only takes

care of it by collecting all the historic material about the object, but also organizing

regional events thus promoting them for the society. Besides, most of the cultural

heritage objects are perfectly managed and prepared for tourists. It is interesting to

note that most of cultural centres, having no knowledge about the industry of cultural

heritage, organize various national festivals, events on mounds, in manors or near

castles, thus making their cultural heritage more popular.

One more field of the activity of the cultural centre is the creation of the qualitative

free time. At cultural institutions people have a possibility to improve their artistic

skills, spend free time in a cultural way as well as realize themselves in the field of

culture. This activity was revealed in the project Creative Growth, when professional

painters, musicians and artistic directors worked at cultural centres. But the cultural

centres analysed in this project were located around the second largest Lithuanian city

– Kaunas. Therefore we can say that professional artists having no work in the city,

willingly work in suburban cultural centres. During Siluetas LT, another tendency was

noticed, i.e. professional artists most often work in cultural centres of the soviet times.

They still have retained various folk dance and song ensembles. In these cultural

centres, people of different generations – from the elderly to children – dance and sing

together. There is no differentiation into children, teenagers, elderly people groups.

All of them play, sing and dance together. I think that namely in these centres the love

towards our own culture, customs and traditions will be transferred. But they face the

problem of musical education, as those cultural houses that have more specialized

ensembles, have also a higher quality of their programmes.

The last field of activity that is engaged by cultural centres is the development

of short-term and long-term cultural and educational projects as well as their

implementation in the community. This activity is meant for the implementation of

ideas that do not have the planned financing from the state budget, but their benefit is

evident. The favourable financing system now from the Lithuanian and the European

Union structural funds allow to submit several project application a year. Only the

project Creative Growth established that in three cultural centres (Babtai,

Raudondvaris, Kaišiadorys), the project activity was carried out very actively and their

managers were experience in the implementation of international projects. Managers

of other centres stated that they were too small or too weak in order to prepare, win

and implement international projects. I think that the problem lies not in to size of the

cultural centre, but in their financing. All the cultural centre as analysed in this project

were financed from the state budget and therefore not every of them took the initiative

to find additional funds that would allow to prepare the possessed cultural heritage for

the consumption (Jurėnienė, 2010).

Therefore, generalizing the activity of cultural centres, we can make a

conclusion that cultural centres and their systems interact with one another and act in

the modern society through activities they implement, uniting the members of the

community for a joint venture, encouraging their self-expression, and thus assuring at

least the minimal distribution of the fostering of culture in the whole country, and not

only in the hearths of culture – the biggest cities of Lithuania.

The researcher Klimka states that when developing the national culture in

Lithuania, the following fields should be strengthened:

First: the encouragement of the activity of communities, strengthening of their

roles and influence, protecting the regional peculiarity.

Second: explanation of the living traditional cultural phenomena and assurance

of their continuity in ethnographic regions.

Third: presentation of ethnic culture to the society. The creation of the image

of Lithuania.

Fourth: revival and fostering of traditional crafts and businesses (Klimka,

2008).

I will not discuss the third and fourth fields in the article, as none of the

projects analysed it.

In this way, in Lithuania, implementing the principle of cultural regionality and

enhancing the development of the national culture, there are legally formed conditions

for its protection that meet the EU policy in respect of the national culture.

The functioning cultural centres perform all the functions ascribed to them.

Only one shortcoming that does not allow to develop their activities more widely is

the lack of means.

Conclusions: There are many definitions of the concept of culture. Culture is learnt through

understanding that is formed by various factors; the place of birth and growth, the

language, surrounding people, the environment, psychological stimuli. There are no

two individuals that would see the world identically as they do not get absolutely

identical stimuli and do not share the same physical sense preceptors. People know

only what they perceived personally and they cannot be sure that somebody else also

understood the same object in the same way.

Ethnic culture is the totality of cultural values passed from generation to

generation by people from a certain region – the historic memory related to the history

of the nation, the respect for their own statehood, traditions, customs, folklore, music,

dance, the ethnic peculiarity of the language – dialects and ethnic names of places,

etc. The national culture must be created, only then it is alive. It is important that it is

consumed by people themselves, so the protection of the state does not suffice. The

state position with regards to it is also important. Only states that are very old in the

historic sense and have old cultures may not take care of the strengthening of their

culture, as it is done by people themselves.

In the course of projects „Siluetas LT“, Creative Growth the real situation of

the national culture in the state and the society becomes clear. The national culture is

consumed and created. Cultural centres contribute to it most of all, as they are

financed from the state. But despite the society’s initiative to foster the national

culture, the attention of the state to it is still too small. All the legal acts in Lithuania

on the strengthening and protection of the national culture meet the provision of the

EU, but sometimes they have the unclear relation between the national culture and the

ethnic culture. Not all the legislators want to acknowledge that culture must be

integrated into the national culture. Another important problem, as stressed in both of

the projects, is the insufficient financing support for culture. In Lithuania there is still

an attitude prevailing that culture has the role of the step-daughter. Up till now,

culture does not receive the same financing as economy, social security, national

defense and other spheres. There is no another sphere that is less financed by the state.

The Lithuanian youth has been largely influenced by the massive culture (pop

culture) that overwhelms the national culture in many cases. During the research

“Students and Culture’ it was noticed that Lithuanian ethnic culture has a real threat

of extinction, as the youth, although understanding the importance of the national

culture, still consume more of the massive culture. The elite culture is less consumed

by the youth due to the lack of means, as it was shown by the research.

Besides, the problem of the cultural identity of the youth is more sharpened by the

globalization of the world. In most cases, the ideas of the cosmopolitan culture are

more acceptable for the youth than those of the national culture. It may be stated that

one of the reasons is the society of consumption where the material things are higher

then the spiritual ones.

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