Res Humanitariae

In this article, I examine the various ways Christmas and New Year greetings were expressed during a time of relatively modest technological diversity. The objective is to explore the array of greetings customs prevalent in interwar Lithuania, focusing on two specific practices: New Year visits, and the exchange of visiting cards. This study sheds a light on the subject by examining visiting cards preserved in archives, publications on etiquette, and interwar Lithuanian periodicals.

In the article, using authentic Lithuanian material, the celebration of St Martin’s Day in Lithuania Minor is analysed from a chronological point of view (from the first mention to the present day), in order to show the general stages in the development of the festival, and the modern changes to the customs. The paper analyses the St Martin’s Day feast from the late 19th to the 20th century, showing the structural and functional changes in the calendar feast. It also aims to analyse modern customs in the festival (since 2002), and to discuss the prospects for the continuity of the ethnic tradition in today’s festival.