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A little too festive this winter

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Judging by the size of the Christmas tree and myriad of lights, there's no great worry about electricity bills in the city council.  Same around the country as these ornamental trees are more brightly lit than ever.  I suppose it is a way to cast all our cares and worries behind us and enjoy the holiday season.  Yet, much of Ukraine remains plunged in darkness, so I'm not sure what kind of message this is sending.

For Vilnius the cake tree represents the 700th anniversary of the city in 2023.  The remote location made sense back in 1323, placing the capital closer to the heart of the Grand Duchy that stretched all the way to the Black Sea, encompassing much of present day Belarus and Ukraine.  Ruthenian was the language spoken between the nobility.  However, Mindaugas had chosen Catholicism over Orthodoxism, earning him a crown hand delivered from the Vatican in 1253, the only Duke to be coronated by the Pope.  Not sure what the story was with Gediminas, who founded Vilnius, but he never received such a crown.  Apparently the Poles made it difficult for the Pope's emissaries to pass through their land.  They didn't like a rival Catholic kingdom in the neighborhood.  As a result, various Dukes flirted with the idea of joining the Orthodox faith but never did.

A few years ago, Norman Davies tried to cast this "vanished kingdom" as a Slavic creation, even going so far as to say the name Lietuva had Slavic origins.  He had long been trying to claim Vilnius as a Polish city, even though the city came into being long before the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569.  A date that lives in infamy for Lithuanians, as they believe Grand Duke Jogaila had sold out the kingdom.  But, this was about the time Ivan IV was flexing his muscle in the region and Jogaila felt he needed the combined strength to avoid anymore territorial losses.  Ivan the Terrible had already cleaved off much of the old Ruthenian lands, claiming them as part of Moscow's manifest destiny.  Sound familiar.

This is worth noting as until this time the center of the "Russian" Orthodox Church had been in Kjiv.  Moscow was little more than a provincial town.  It was only after the annexation of these Ruthenian territories that Russia established the Patriarchy of Moscow, claiming all of Rus as its own. Today, Ukraine is attempting to re-establish what is rightfully theirs - the Patriarchy of Kjiv.

For centuries Catholic and Orthodox believers coexisted in the Grand Duchy and Joint Commonwealth.  There was even an attempt to forge the two faiths into one - the Ruthenian Uniate Church - but this was subsequently abolished by the Russians.  The last Metropolitan Bishop was Theodosius Rostocki at the time of the infamous partitions between 1787 and 1805.  Even the Uniate Church is making a comeback after two centuries of suppression with over 2500 churches now spread throughout Ukraine.

Of course none of this sits well with Count Vlad back in Moscow.  He was hoping to plunge all of Europe into darkness this winter, not just Ukraine.  Darkness being both literal and metaphorical in this case.  His imperial quest to absorb Ukraine and Belarus is as old as Ivan the Terrible.  For Putin these countries have no history outside Russia.  For that matter, neither does Lithuania, which Russia annexed in 1795 with the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Highlighting Vilnius' long history is very important to Lithuanians as their country fought off numerous annexation attempts for more than 500 years.  It is this fighting spirit that propels the tiny nation of 3 million people, making it a player on the international stage.  It was Lithuania's defiance in 1990 that sent the mighty Soviet Union into a tailspin resulting in the collapse of this socialist country in 1991.

I suppose this is why the tree is shining so brightly this year when most European capitals have chosen to dim the wattage on their trees.  Berlin is very proud that its LED lights use 30 percent less electricity and is only keeping its modest tree lit for four hours in the evening.  Not Vilnius.  It's Christmas tree burns brightly from sundown to sun up, which is the better part of 15 hours in winter.

Personally, I think it is a bit much as we are all having to suffer through extraordinary high utility bills this winter and the tree feels like a slap in the face.  We also saw our property tax spike by nearly 50 percent.  Sometimes it is better to show restraint in times of adversity rather than ostentatious display.  Let's celebrate when this war is over.

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