Lithuanian Canadian children have never had such a wonderful Christmas celebration! Thanks to modern technology and the coordination of time zones, last Saturday, December 18, Lithuanian children throughout Canada were able to celebrate together, smile and wave at one another, sing and make Christmas crafts together.
For the first time ever, a Zoom party brought them all together from Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto as well as other locations in Canada. Monsignor E. Putrimas explained the meaning of Christmas to the children. A surprise guest from Lithuania, ethnologist Gražina Kadžytė joined in to see how Lithuanians in Canada celebrate Christmas. The host of the event, Ambassador Darius Skusevičius encouraged the children to shout out their invitation to Santa Claus, who didn‘t ask for milk or cookies, he just wanted to know what the children knew about Christmas traditions, customs and fortune-telling. So the children explained what they knew about that, showed how they make their straw Christmas ornaments and papercut art, and read poems.
Santa Claus was very happy with their explanations in Lithuanian, and urged them not to forget their parents‘ and grandparents‘ language. Then Canada‘s Lithuanian children‘s choir, all dressed in Christmas finery, sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas“. After meeting Santa Claus, the Ambassador invited everyone to participate in workshops, where they learned to make straw ornaments, angel cutouts and little birds, as we see in the photos.
This colourful celebration was organized by the Lithuanian Embassy in Canada, together with the Lithuanian Saturday schools, the Toronto Lithuanian School advanced classes, the Lithuanian Canadian Youth Association (KLJS) and the Lithuanian Canadian Community. Everyone worked very hard to make this celebration the success that it was. Thank you to everyone!
Screen shots from the Embassy’s online Christmas party for Lithuanian children in Canada
