Statehood Day or Coronation Day is an annual
public holiday in Lithuania celebrated on July 6 to commemorate the
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
in 1253 of
Mindaugas
Mindaugas (german: Myndowen, la, Mindowe, orv, Мендог, be, Міндоўг, pl, Mendog, c. 1203–1263) is the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or r ...
as the only
King of Lithuania
The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Lithuania, which was established as an absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three ducal dynasties that managed to stay in power—House ...
.
Lithuania celebrates Statehood Day
/ref> The exact day of the event is disputable and was chosen according to the hypothesis of Edvardas Gudavičius
Edvardas Gudavičius (6 September 1929 – 27 January 2020) was a Lithuanian historian. He was known as one of the best historians in Lithuania specializing in the early history of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1953, he graduated from Kaunas P ...
, formulated in 1989. The day has officially been celebrated since 1991.
Traditions
At 9 PM every year, Lithuanians all over the world are encouraged to sing the national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
in the name of unity. The tradition has been around since 2009, when the anthem was sung to commemorate the millennium of the name of Lithuania
The first known record of the name of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuva) is in a 9 March 1009 story of Saint Bruno recorded in the Quedlinburg Chronicle ( la, Annales Quedlinburgenses). The Chronicle recorded a Latinized form of the Old Church Slavonic wo ...
.
See also
* Statehood Day in other countries
References
Festivals in Lithuania
July observances
National days
Annual events in Lithuania
Summer events in Lithuania
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