Dying Songs Archive
LITHUANIA: Summer Solstice / ‘RASOS’
Every June, when the sun reaches its solstice, people gather to dance, celebrate, weave beautiful flower and herb crowns, light towering bonfires, sing folk songs, and tell stories. Rasos has been celebrated since the earliest days of our nation - from pagan times - which is why, to me, it never felt like just another holiday. It has always felt deeply important and sacred. And I know it does for many Lithuanians, too.
People give thanks to nature and its spirits, jump over the fire for luck and purification, and at dawn, women release their flower crowns into rivers and lakes, wishing for the coming year to be fertile, beautiful, and abundant.
Since ancient times, the summer solstice has been one of the most meaningful points of the year - marking the shift of seasons, bringing light to the night sky, feeding the crops with sunlight.
Because I’ve been traveling a lot, I’ve missed these celebrations in recent years. Yet once again, this time, I fell deeply in love with Lithuania and its people. I realised how much I missed the feeling of being cared for, silently loved, and appreciated as part of a community. Here, no one forces emotions or joy onto you, the love is quiet. It’s felt in silence, simply standing together and knowing that something deep and unspoken connects us all: roots, grief, cycle and rhythm of nature, gratitude for what we have, and what we managed to maintain, unchanged for over a thousand years (likely even longer).
Most importantly, I couldn’t stop smiling when I saw so many young people coming to celebrate. It gave me peace to know these traditions won’t disappear anytime soon. We still understand their importance, and we all mutually respect them - regardless of age, gender, or beliefs.
Honoring the Dead / ‘ILGĖS’ / ‘ALL SOULS DAY’
The word ilgės comes from a Lithuanian root meaning longing or yearning. It reflects an emotional, almost poetic idea: the living feel a deep longing for those who have passed, and this longing becomes a bridge between the worlds of the living and the dead.
On the late afternoon of November 2nd, I left Vilnius and headed to a small village in the forests of the Švenčionys district. Through falling raindrops and winds that swayed the car, I found myself driving along a muddy, slippery road. To my relief, at the end of the road I came across fragments of wooden houses and light shimmering behind them.
As I tried to park, the mud was so sticky that the wheels began to sink, leaving the car completely stuck, impossible to drive out. Men came out of the building with torches and long wool coats and began pushing the car free from the muddy trap. I was given tea and invited to join them and take part in the ceremony.
Being Lithuanian, it felt very interesting that this was my first time choosing to witness the ceremony and visit the ancient village. Instead of driving to the cemetery to light candles, I found myself standing in front of a fireplace, listening to the songs.
Once again, there was a deep feeling in my mind suggesting that following these songs and traditions holds great purpose and deep emotional ties.
I have never tried to call myself religious, nor have I tried to find the “truth” of life or the meaning of existence. By not trying to define it, it feels like the purest way of truly experiencing it. I don’t call myself pagan either, but the energy of such a place during ceremonies - the silence settling among shoulders touching to form a circle around the fire, the complete absence of confusion, suffering, or the need to explain - feels exactly right for any human to experience and remain within.
My search for dying songs has brought me to a deep realization: it’s not about religion, nor about questioning meaning or purpose in life. These questions dissolve once one accepts that everything exists in presence - that all is one. There is no suffering, no need to search for meaning, because everything already exists; we only have to learn how to live with it.
This leads me to a conclusion: the lines spoken at the very beginning of the video resonate with the essence of everything - the essence of living and dying. Everything moves in a circle. To come together, to exist beyond concepts, is the pure truth of it all.
My journey of collecting this material to create an archive is still at a very early stage, but its depth carries me forward, bringing profound realizations about our world.