Cross-crafting heritage in the Lithuanian diaspora in the United States: expressions of national identity

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Lietuvių liaudies menas; Kryždirbystė; Nacionalinis tapatumas; Imigracija; Lietuviai išeiviai JAV; Lithuanian folk art; Cross-crafting; National identity; Immigration; Lithuanian Diaspora in the United States.

ENThe article analyzes the expression of national identity among the Lithuanian diaspora in the US through the preparation and decoration of the wooden cross - a symbolic object that already from the early 20th century helped to reveal the peculiarities of Lithuanian culture as well as the cataclysms of the state's history. The ornate cross, which in the interwar Lithuania was a symbol of national identity, sustained its status in immigration. Immigrant masters abundantly decorated cross-crafting monuments with ornaments typical of Lithuanian folk art and understood as holding national characteristics. Among these were the tulip motif, various symbols of statehood, colours of the national flag, images related to Lithuanian Catholicism and Lithuanian history, etc. For Lithuanian post-war immigrants, such crosses - outdoor monuments and interior objects - became a symbol of Lithuania, their homeland, as well as a declaration of their national identity. [From the publication]

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Menotyra / Arts