Kazyuk

At present, it is a fair of arts and crafts, toys, souvenirs from a variety of handicraft materials, as well as paintings and drawings . For the pleasure of visitors and participants, traditional drinks, such as beer , kvass , hot wine and all kinds of hot snacks, as well as treats (gingerbread, sweets and the like) are traded. The fair is accompanied by festivities, performances by chapels, amateur musicians, dances and songs. The fair is attended by craftsmen and craftsmen from various cities and localities of Lithuania and neighboring countries - from Latvia , Poland , and Russia .

The fair occupies several streets and squares in the Old Town - usually part of Gediminas Avenue , Cathedral Square , Piles Street and Barboros Radvilaites , Bernardina and others, Town Hall Square departing from it.

In 2007, the fair occupied the Town Hall Square, K. Sirvidas Square, Pilies Street, DJyoji , Vokeču , Rudiniku , Rudininku Square . The 2010 fair turned out to be the most representative - about 1,200 merchants took part in it, it occupied the entire central avenue and stretched all the way to the Zverinsky bridge .

The history of the Kazyuk fair begins from the beginning of the 17th century. On November 7, 1602, Pope Clement VIII, with his canonization bull, officially declared the former Lithuanian prince and King of Poland Casimir saint, temporarily, only in Poland and Lithuania. His successor Paul V declared Casimir a saint of the entire Roman Catholic Church , and Pope Urban VIII declared Saint Casimir the patron saint of Lithuania. Soon, the remains of St. Casimir, who were buried in Vilnius, in the Jesuit Church of St. Casimir by order (at the time of the announcement of the deceased) Sigismund Vazy were solemnly transferred to a specially constructed chapel in the Cathedral , where they are still located.

Presumably from the time of the ceremonial transfer of the relics in 1636, the history of the fair begins, since after such religious celebrations a “kermoshius” ( lit. kermošius , from it . These "kermoshuzyusy" were held for two hundred years, sometimes intermittently due to wars, epidemics, etc. until then, in 1827 (Vilnius was already part of the Russian Empire then ), Vilnius merchants did not demand privileges from the authorities to organize large, lasting several days, the so-called "Yomark" ( German: "jahrmarkt" and Russian " fair " ).

And this was, indeed, the beginning of exactly what is now called Kazyuk. Merchants built wooden booths, temporary awnings and tents on Cathedral Square . From that time, another tradition began - the traditional gingerbread oven “Kazyuk Heart”, which became one of the attributes of the fair.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the place of the fair changed, because in 1901 a monument to Catherine II was erected on Cathedral Square. The local authorities did not like the “neighborhood” of glorifying the Catholic saint in such a respectable place now. The fair was moved to Lukishskaya Square. By this time, not only merchants, but also peasants, specially coming from villages to trade their own crafts, were selling at the fair. Up to 2400 carts gathered at the fairs, there weren’t enough places for tents and booths, and the fair expanded along the entire embankment of the Nyaris River from the Zverinsky Bridge to the Green Bridge . Fairs were accompanied by carnival processions. The subject of trade, now, were, first of all, the products of artisans - agricultural implements and their parts ( scythes , axes, shovel cuttings , etc. ), household utensils (dishes, baskets), as well as indispensable Vilnius “Easter willows” (from dried multi-colored, often dyed, flowers and herbs) - the most important attribute of Kazyuk. It is assumed that the manufacture and sale of such willows is associated with the image of a lily in the hand of St. Casimir (as he was depicted according to the iconographic tradition). The prosperous fair was interrupted by the First World War and subsequent events of the beginning of the XX century. But in the 1930s, Vilnius Kazyuk again revived and reached its peak in 1935, when high-profile student carnival processions joined the fair. Vilnius in those years was part of Poland, and the national Polish Tourism Union organized special trains to Vilnius from other Polish cities. The most massive fairs were in 1938 and 1939.

The Second World War again interrupted the tradition of organizing a fair. And after the war, when Vilnius was part of the USSR , the fair was also removed from Lukishskaya Square, since a monument to Lenin was erected there. The fair was "exiled" to the territory of the collective farm market (Kalvariysky market). Due to the cramped and limited number of merchants, the fair was a miserable sight, although it was still popular among the population. In the 1970s and 1980s , Kazyuki began to slowly pass on Gorky Street (now Pilies ), in Piles Lane (now Bernardin Street ), attracting folk crafts, artists, hippies from other cities of the Soviet Union . Kazyuk then was a trade in souvenirs and artisans fairs. Later, Kazyuk acquired the character of a fair with the sale of mainly products and works of decorative and applied art of folk, pseudo-folk and author's art. With the revival of Lithuanian independence, the fair returned to Cathedral Square and the streets of the old city.

Kazyuk Fair has been running its chronicle since 2003, when the annual Kaziuko laikraštis (The Kazyukas Newspaper) began to appear. The newspaper promotes the preservation of crafts, describes the history of Vilnius and Vilnius Territory, and provides practical information for traders and visitors. The newspaper is sold only on fair days. It can be purchased in the mobile edition, located at the beginning of Piles street at number 2 or from numerous distributors.

• "Kazyukas" is the story of the Russian writer Ergali Gera , first published in the magazine " Banner " ( 1994 , No. 10), which takes place in Vilnius against the backdrop of the fair.

• Fair of St. Baltrameius is an annual fair (at the end of August) in the central square of Vilnius. ^[one]
• “Peoples' Fair” (“Tautų mugė”) is an annual fair (mid-late September) in the central square of Vilnius. ^{[2] [3]}

• “Muziejus laikraštyje” (newspaper “museum in the article”). Collection of articles 2008-2009, “Kaziuko mugės tradicijos” (Traditions of the Kazyukas Fair), Nr. 10 (62) author Vytautas Tenešis, museum employee, p. 66 .; Museum of the History of Trakai, 2011 - ISBN 978-609-8056-01-3
• Kaziuko mugė (Kazyukas Fair), author Libertas Klimka - Vilnius Center for Ethnic Culture, Vilnius, 2009, p. 95 - ISBN 978-9955-9308-1-5

• Official site of the Kazyukas fair
• The traditional Kazyukas Fair (2007) opens in Vilnius (Retrieved January 10, 2012)
• Kazyukas 2010: Armor and Fire Show (Retrieved January 10, 2012)
• About Kazyukas in Vilnius (Retrieved February 8, 2013)
• Documentary motion pictures about the Kaziuk Fair in 1936 (Lithuanian subtitles)