Beer festival is different!
On a rainy Saturday evening, I received an invitation to visit the event of the national Lithuanian student corporation Neo-Lithuania, called "Alutis". Neo-Lithuania is the oldest student organization in Lithuania, continuing the beautiful traditions, founded in 1922. The celebration to which I was invited is one of the most favorite celebrations of corporators. It is a secret medieval student festival that dates back to the very first years of the university's existence in the city of Kaunas. It is characterized by its unique traditions and especially good mood (pay attention to the name of the holiday). The event was held in Rysiai courtyard and had a strict dress code - all men had to wear dark suits and white shirts, while girls had to wear a classic elegant suit or a dress with a low neckline. Well, in a word, it was necessary to dress up like a truly solemn holiday. And indeed, as soon as I entered the hall, I felt like I was at an expensive banquet, despite the fact that glasses and snacks (potato chips, nuts), dumplings, baked bread were laid out on the tables. It seemed that everything would be like an ordinary company celebration - sitting at the table, long congratulatory speeches and communicating with each other... But this is where I made a mistake. When I sat down at the table, I saw a little song on the glass. At that time, I realized that there would be a lot of singing (well, of course, what's a ball without songs), but I was more surprised by the sheet that was placed inside the songbook. These were the rules of the "Alučis" celebration. Unfortunately, they are not published publicly, so we invite you to visit the next celebration, where you can get to know them!
In addition to reading the rules, the question arose (I think you would also be interested to know this), who is the Presidium, the Counterpresidium, what do those Latin words mean... At first, everything seemed like a "dark forest" to me. However, I will start from the beginning about the course of Alutis:
The Alutis celebration was held by candlelight. It created a cozy atmosphere and, of course, saved electricity. It all started with the Presidium's welcome. The presidium is a group of several persons responsible for the order of the celebration. Everyone had to listen to him or they would be punished. The first order of the presidium is for the brewer (one of the members of the counterpresidium) to check whether the beer meets the standards and is suitable for the beer festival. Beer was "tested" from a large horn that the brewer had brought with him. Well, of course, patron Wolfs Engelman's beer was perfect for this celebration, so the brewer gave permission to the Juniors (the youngest members of the corporation) to fill the glasses of all the guests. At that time, I got a little lost, because all the participants of Alutis started smashing their glasses on the table. "Well, weirdos," I thought. But then the brewer explained that banging the glass on the table is a sign to Junior that he should fill your glass with beer. Of course, I immediately followed everyone's example. The main idea of the beer festival is to express one's love for beer, which is why corporators treated it with great respect throughout the evening. It was noticed that one package of beer was kept near the radiator and this, of course, did not escape the watchful eyes of the Presidium. Therefore, Juniors were told to drink the entire glass to the bottom in one go as punishment. Believe it or not, everyone drank the beer to the bottom, and to prove it, they put an empty glass on their heads. As the celebration gained momentum, songs, dances, and communication began, but the Presidium did not lose control throughout the evening and kept calming the guests from time to time so that they did not get too crazy. In conclusion, I would like to say that the Aluč festival really left a great impression on me and I would recommend everyone to try a different, non-traditional beer drink at least once in their life, which, believe me, will definitely not leave you indifferent. So, until the next meetings in Alutsi!
Author: Linas Jocas
