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Roundup: Lithuania commemorates independence day

Xinhua, February 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Lithuania celebrated its independence day on Monday with festivities, official speeches and various events taking place throughout the country's towns and villages.

"Let freedom resound and unify Lithuanians all over the world," Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said in a statement.

"Let's remain faithful to the idea of independence and always be ready to protect it," Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said in a message.

In his words, if these efforts continue, "not any geopolitical headwinds would ever damage solid foundation of our identity."

Vytautas Landsbergis, a prominent Lithuanian conservative politician, known for heading the independence movement in 1990, gave a solemn speech on the occasion from the balcony of the House of Signatories in Vilnius, where on Feb. 16, 1918, the Act of Independence of Lithuania was signed.

Landsbergis, currently a member of the European Parliament, urged Lithuanian voters to support pro-European parties during local elections on March 1 this year.

"Let's look around us and inside us since all of us have become participants of a new global test. May Lithuania fulfill its duty once again," he added.

Heads of state and other officials attended a ceremony at the famous Rasos Cemetery in Vilnius to honor the memory of deceased signatories of the Act of Independence.

Rasos Cemetery is a resting place for Jonas Basanavicius (1851-1927), a former activist and proponent of the Lithuanian national revival, who has been given the informal honorific title of the Patriarch of the Nation for his contributions to the country's independence.

Lithuania's independence day origins go back to 1917 when over 200 delegates convened for the Vilnius Conference and adopted a resolution stating the objective to make Lithuania an independent state.

The Council of Lithuania consisting of 20 elected members was charged to reach the objective. On Feb. 16, 1918, all the members of the Council signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania.

In 1918, Tautiska Giesme, the poem by famous Lithuanian poet Vincas Kudirka, became the national anthem of Lithuania. It came back to prominence in 1990. Endit