Klaipėdos universitetas

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.

The article focuses on the shift in meaning assigned to the symbol of the holiday tree, specifically its transformation from the Christmas tree into a New Year’s tree. This transformation occurred due to the reorganisation of the ritual calendar by the Soviet occupying regime in Lithuania. The primary objective is to discuss the (political) contest for dominance over this symbol, as portrayed in children’s periodicals, interwar Lithuanian Žiburėlis and Soviet Lithuanian Genys. The theoretical approach is based on the concept of symbolic conflict as articulated by the anthropologist Simon Harrison. The study helps us to understand the mechanism behind the shift of meaning concerning the holiday tree in Soviet Lithuania.