Res Humanitariae

The article deals with the organization of festive celebrations in co-workers’ environment. Based on field studies, co-workers’ gathered on the occasion of the holidays, the organization’s place, both internal organization itself and its surrounding external – local, national culture, the influence on their manifestation. Two traditional and two modern holidays are being analysed, where the habits of celebrations, formal and informal channels are compared between the city and its environs co-workers’.

The aim of this article is to ascertain what kinds of traditions were common among the communities of cultural workers in the Ukmergė region at the start of the 20th century and in the first half of the 21st century. Based on fieldwork collected in Ukmergė in 2019, it can be claimed that cultural workers were related in both their professional and their social relationships. During Soviet-era government-approved celebrations, seminars for cultural workers and anniversaries were the most popular; while during the period of independence, gatherings of separate collectives, Christmas celebrations, and various organised professional and recreational trips were preferred. The tradition of awarding the best employee, which began with socialist competitiveness in the Soviet era, continues today in the cultural worker workplace.

In the article, personal festive celebrations of co-workers in a diachronic perspective are examined. The following occasions: birthdays, childbirth, marriage, funerals (the family life cycle), and employee employability, seniority or similar achievements and retirement (the working life cycle), are important for socialising with co-workers, for job satisfaction, and in the formation of an organisational culture. By analysing fieldwork data, we determine the intensity of the commemoration of these occasions in the studied areas.