As you saw in my last blog, Lithuania has ancient castles. And actually not so few! Why? As I wrote before, Lithuania has a very long past reaching back to the 12 century. In those days, there lived many generations of dukes, one of whom even became the one and only (so far) king of our land. His name was Mindaugas. Anyways, talking about castles, they were used as the residences of the dukes and as defensive fortifications. One of the most famous castles is Gediminas Castle, which stands on a hill in Vilnius, the centre of the capital of Lithuania. So time for its legend :)
According to the legend found in the Chronicle of Lithuania, Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, once had a prophetical dream. He dreamt that an iron wolf standing on one particular place in Vilnius was howling like hundreds of wolves. As the Lithuanians were pagan in those days, the Grand Duke asked the chief pagan priest Lizdeika about the meaning of his dream. The priest answered that this dream reflects the Gods’ will that Gediminas should build a castle in the same place where the wolf was howling. The extremely loud howling in the dream, said Lizdeika, probably meant that this castle would make the city of Vilnius prosperous and famous in all the Europe. In fact, the castle was built in 1230 and the capital was moved from Trakai to the new town Vilnius, which has remained the capital of Lithuania.
Talking about Trakai, this small town is situated about 30 kilometers (we don’t use miles or pounds, or feet or Fahrenheit in Lithuania!!!) away. There are a lot of picturesque lakes in that area. Actually, the Castle of Trakai itself is surrounded by the lake and you need to walk over the bridge if you want to visit.
PS. See – dream interpretation was so popular and powerful (people were building castles after dreaming a wolf :) even in ancient times!
According to the legend found in the Chronicle of Lithuania, Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, once had a prophetical dream. He dreamt that an iron wolf standing on one particular place in Vilnius was howling like hundreds of wolves. As the Lithuanians were pagan in those days, the Grand Duke asked the chief pagan priest Lizdeika about the meaning of his dream. The priest answered that this dream reflects the Gods’ will that Gediminas should build a castle in the same place where the wolf was howling. The extremely loud howling in the dream, said Lizdeika, probably meant that this castle would make the city of Vilnius prosperous and famous in all the Europe. In fact, the castle was built in 1230 and the capital was moved from Trakai to the new town Vilnius, which has remained the capital of Lithuania.
Talking about Trakai, this small town is situated about 30 kilometers (we don’t use miles or pounds, or feet or Fahrenheit in Lithuania!!!) away. There are a lot of picturesque lakes in that area. Actually, the Castle of Trakai itself is surrounded by the lake and you need to walk over the bridge if you want to visit.
PS. See – dream interpretation was so popular and powerful (people were building castles after dreaming a wolf :) even in ancient times!
3 comments:
I love your contry...
And sounds like u r really pround of you country!!
From the picture I can see how beautiful Lithuania could be.
And I sware that I know Lithuania in Chinese, just because the Chinese translante is so different from the original one, so I didnt regonize it in English.
It's a famous country and I know the bastketball team of your country is really good!!especially the male one.
Wow, what an interesting story! I really like how you connected it to the dream stuff that we are studying in class right now. I want to visit Lithuania someday!
Hi Loretta,
It is amazing the pictures and the story you have published about the castles of your country. You know, for the majority of Latin Americans little is known about such a wonderful place. Thank you for all the information.
Regards,
ETL
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