A Goosebump Inspiring Lesson in Lithuanian Culture

The Hill of Crosses in Šiauliai, Lithuania, is a mysterious and beautiful place of pilgrimage in northern Lithuania, home to hundreds of thousands of crosses. After a full day in Riga, Latvia, we began our journey to reach it. It was a bit complicated to figure out how to get there, especially since we were coming from a different country and not somewhere within Lithuania. But we made it work of course. After arriving at the Šiauliai bus station, we found a taxi driver who was willing to take us there and wait for us while we visited the hill. He looked exasperated when he realized that we wanted to stay for a little while while he waited, but we agreed to pay him so that was that (the Baltics are really cheap by the way--this taxi was a bargain by my standards!).

My eyes probably looked like they were going to pop out of my head when the car pulled up to our destination. Heaped on a small hill were literally hundreds of thousands of crosses. A path of crosses lined the walkway to the main hill, where there is a large statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched and in front of that a large crucifix added by Pope John Paul II during his visit in 1993. I began my walk among the crosses, stopping to read the inscriptions on some of them and admiring the beautiful sight.

The history of this place is hard to pinpoint to this day. There are at least a couple of theories--one being historical and one being more spiritual. The first: families placed crosses on this hill where battles had taken place during rebellions against Russia in 1831 and 1863 when their loved ones were lost to the battles and bodies not found. The second one: Around 1850 or before a man of the neighboring village who was very sick promised to build a cross on the hill if he got well, and then he got well while erecting the cross. Regardless of how exactly the Hill of Crosses started, it only gained momentum as time went on. During the time of Soviet occupation, the Hill of Crosses was completely destroyed several times, the wood being burned and the metal being melted. KGB guards would even patrol during the day to prevent new crosses from popping up. Not long after every disappearance of the Hill of Crosses, the crosses would be placed again in secret and the number would keep growing. The number was said to reach 100,000 by the time of the Lithuanian Revival in 1988. Today it is customary to add a cross to the hill when visiting it.

The suffering endured by Lithuanians is impossible to imagine, and yet they acted so courageously by not giving up on adding the crosses, even when religion was forbidden and people were severely punished for it. After WWII began, Lithuania was occupied three times. Including forced emigration, Holocaust victims, and mass deportations, Lithuania lost one-third of its population. (I'm not suddenly a history wiz, I got these figures here). This place is a microcosm of Lithuania. It is a testament to the hope and courage of its people even when history was not so kind. It's a display of the Catholic identity of its people. It's a continued source of hope and solemnity to visitors from around the world.

I found myself getting chills as I thought about the stories that might be behind each cross, the resilience of the people who insisted they be here, and the reasons people keep coming back to this day. Wow.