Easter is fast approaching and, although this year it will probably be different from the rest, we are sure that your Eastern dinners will be plentiful, with a large selection of the most delicious dishes. Roast duck or goose will surely be the crown jewel of many tables. But did you know that, almost 90 years ago, many Lithuanians couldn’t even look at geese? How did that happen?
In 1933, a trial of more than 100 Nazis, which is famous in all Europe, took place in the Klaipėda Region. In protest, Nazi Germany ceased all imports from Lithuania, and geese were the main goods that Lithuania was exporting to Germany. In order to support geese breeders, the government passed a law, according to which officials, based on their category, had to buy a corresponding number of geese (first category officials had to buy one, second – two and so on). As proof of purchase, they received a special card. However, in most instances, they would only pay for the card, because they had no desire to keep the geese or even look at them. The story goes that even a famous opera singer, Kipras Petrauskas, once received a gaggle of geese as a reward and had to herd them throughout the entirety of the Laisvės Alėja boulevard, while the locals couldn’t stop laughing. Nowadays, these cards are exceptionally rare, because most of them were destroyed.
