The fortieth day after Easter; traditionally Thursday of the sixth week
Spring
Ascension of Christ, Kryziavos days, village crosses, walking fields, end of spring sowing, rye, swallows, sestinaiciai
Sestines is a movable spring feast on the fortieth day after Easter. In Lithuania it is connected with Christ's Ascension, the Kryziavos or Cross Days, visiting village crosses, walking around fields, the end of spring sowing, children and shepherds, the number six in food, and the name Swallow Day.
When Are Sestines Celebrated?
Sestines is a movable feast. VLE says it is celebrated on the fortieth day after Easter, the Thursday of the sixth Easter week. The date changes every year; VLE places it between April 30 and June 3, and notes that this feast of Christ's Ascension has been celebrated since the very first centuries of Christianity.
In Lithuania today Catholic liturgy often moves Sestines to the seventh Sunday of Easter time so people can participate more easily. Both the traditional Thursday rule and the modern transfer matter.
What Are Kryziavos Days?
The three days before Sestines - Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday - were called Kryziavos or Cross Days. Imbrasiene writes that during these days some work was avoided, meat not eaten, and people went to crosses, around fields, and to cemeteries.
Klimka emphasizes that village communities used these days for common prayers for peace, health, and harvest. It was not only individual devotion but a whole village walking through its landscape.
Why Were Village Crosses Visited?
During Kryziavos, old and young went to crosses. Girls wove wreaths and decorated them. In the evenings people walked around village and roadside crosses, sang, prayed, and in some places continued to the cemetery.
Jonas Balys interpreted this field-and-cross walking as a very old circular protection custom: the place walked around is enclosed in a protective boundary. In Christian practice it became prayer at the cross, while the circle through fields preserved the protective logic.
Fields, Rye, and the End of Sowing
Sestines comes when spring sowing in the village was supposed to be ending. During Kryziavos people avoided sowing grain, saying it might “cross,” while Klimka mentions exceptions such as cucumbers and peas in some places.
On Sestines itself, after returning from church, the farming family visited the rye field. They walked around it and sang or chanted by the rye, asking for the success of future bread. The green field is not background here but the central place of the feast.
Children, Shepherds, and the Number Six
Imbrasiene also calls Sestines a feast of little ones. A singing procession went through the village toward the cemetery, and children joined from farmyards wearing new scarves, caps, or shirts.
The number six appears in festive food. Around Liskiava, six small pies, eggs, or six pig's feet are mentioned. Around Birzai, people said one should eat six times and include meat with peas so pigs would prosper and flour not run short.
Why Sestines Was Called Swallow Day
Klimka recalls that in village speech Sestines was called Swallow Day. This relates to the late return of swallows and a tale about the color of the swallow's throat, linking the bird, Christ's Passion, and the rue plant.
Crosses are therefore not decorated randomly. Rue, wreath, swallow, and green rye form a delicate Sestines image: spring is ending, summer work is beginning, and people ask that the work be protected.
