Lithuania celebrates Mardi Gras

Lithuania is celebrating Mardi Gras on Tuesday, or as it is called locally, Užgavėnės. On this day, Lithuanians traditionally chase out the winter and have fun before the seven-week lent period leading up to Easter.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė is hosting a celebration with pancakes and hot tea on the Daukantas Square opposite the Presidential Palace at noon.

Celebrations across central Vilnius will include song and dance and all traditional festivities associated with Užgavėnės: eating pancakes, merchants selling the last of winter, a staged battle between Lašininis ("porky") and Kanapinis ("hempen man"), and the burning of Morė, a stuffed dummy personifying winter.