Indigenous

Karaim, Lithuania

The Karaim arrived in medieval Lithuania as warriors tasked with guarding Trakai; six centuries later, you can still find their influence throughout the city, writes Simon Broughton

ou may not have been aware of it, but this was the

Y‘Year of the Karaim’ in Lithuania. At the official declaration, Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonyte described the Karaim people as a “unique treasure”, though official figures show there are only 196 living in the country today. Yet, despite being one of the smallest minorities in Europe, Karaim culture is still a big part of Trakai, the former Lithuanian capital (about 30km southwest of Vilnius), where they were once the city’s champions.

In 1397, Vytautas, ruler of what was then the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, invited several hundred Karaim families from Crimea to Trakai to serve as its defenders and warriors. Back then, they were famed for their swordsmanship, and the Karaim were duly given the land between Trakai’s two castles as reward. It is still called Karaim street to this day, and strolling here reveals wooden houses painted in yellow, green and ochre. Vytautas’ castle, built on an island in Lake Galvė, remains the most dramatic sight in town even now; however, Trakai eventually lost its need for an army. Once the Karaim were no longer required to be warriors, they became market gardeners and traders instead, and were famed for growing cucumbers – and where would Lithuania be without its gherkins?

While many minorities suffer marginalisation or persecution, the Karaim have fared better. “The community has always had a very good name,“ said Karina Firkavičiūtė, who has a house on Karaim street. “We are happy to see the highest representatives of our country come and celebrate our anniversary and congratulate us, so that our good relationship can carry on.”

Also on Karaim Street is the kenesa, the Karaim place of worship. It is a compact, square building with coloured windows and a pointed roof. It’s clearly neither a church nor a mosque, but it’s also not a synagogue. Despite the Karaim following an Old Testament religion that draws on the Hebrew Bible, they are not Jewish. They even managed to convince the Nazis of this, so survived the tragic devastation of Lithuania’s large Jewish community during the Second World War.

While there are less than 200 Karaim in Lithuania, there are a similar number in Poland and a wider diaspora around the world – in Crimea and Ukraine, Turkey, Europe and beyond. Yet their estimated global population is 3,000 at most and the Turkic Karaim language is on UNESCO’s endangered list – by the early 2000s, there were fewer than 50 fluent speakers.

Many Karaim came back to Trakai this year to celebrate 625 years in Lithuania with a concert by the lakeside. It even saw Polish musician Karolina Cicha, a specialist in minority music, arrive to perform with local Karaim singers. It was a welcome serenade for a people inseparable from the history of Trakai.

Sounds from the street

(this page; top to bottom) The Karaim are a close-knit community and have managed to maintain a presence on colourful Karaim Street in Trakai for over 600 years; Karolina Cicha (pictured middle) performs on the shore of Lake Galvė as part of the ‘Year of the Karaim’

Six ways to experience Karaim culture

1The island castle Rising like an apparition from Lake Galvė, Trakai Castle looks like something out of a fairy tale, with its orange brick walls and pointed tiled towers. It was this that the Karaim were originally invited here to defend. Today it is reached via two wooden bridges and contains the Trakai History Museum, which has a collection of weapons, pottery, glass and furniture. At the top of the castle is a room with displays about the Karaim and the Tatars, who were also invited to settle here by Vytautas. You can rent boats on the lake and take trips that encircle the island.

2Karaim Street Known as Karaimų in Lithuanian, this is the small main street of the town, stretching from the centre towards the Island Castle. Most of the current wooden houses date from the 19th century, presumably replacing older examples. Some of them have very attractive gardens, as once the Karaim switched from being warriors to market gardeners and traders, they planted vegetable plots running down towards the lake. These have now mostly disappeared under cafés and restaurants, but many of the residents in the street are still Karaim.

3Kenesa The kenesa (prayer house) is also on Karaim Street. This largely wooden building dates from the late 19th century and replaced one that burnt down in 1824. It remained in use during both Nazi and Soviet occupation, while the more modern kenesa in Vilnius, built in the early 20th century, was turned into an archive, then apartments, only to be reconsecrated after Lithuanian independence in 1993. The Trakai kenesa is a petite square structure with stained-glass windows and a pointed roof. It has an upper-floor balcony for women. Services are held on Saturday, but visitors are not encouraged. There are, however, online guides to the two kenesas (karaim.eu/en/kenesas-virtual-tour).

4Old Karaim Cemetery With its overgrown gravestones and Hebrew lettering, the Karaim cemetery in Trakai is very atmospheric and looks rather like the old Jewish cemeteries of Poland and Lithuania. It is located off Zalioji Street on the mainland and is divided into two parts: the older northern section, which was in use from the 14th century until 1710, and the later southern one, which goes all the way up to 1932. Inscriptions in the latter start to appear in Russian and Polish rather than Karaim.

A call to arms

(this page; top to bottom) Trakai Castle was built by Grand Duke Vytautas after he deemed it vital to beef up the defences of the peninsula – which also included inviting the Karaim to be its defenders; kybyn are typically filled with beef or lamb

5Karaim Ethnographic Museum

This museum was set up in 1967 on Karaim Street, just up from the kenesa, but unfortunately it’s been closed since July 2021 for restoration. There’s no scheduled date yet for reopening, but it has Lithuania’s richest collection of weapons, handicrafts, clothing, household objects, documents and photographs charting Karaim history.

6Karaim food Karaim specialities are widespread in Lithuania. There are many places in Trakai to taste them, but only two are run by Karaim families: Kybynlar (kybynlar.lt/en) and Kiubete (kiubete.lt/en), which are both named after famous Karaim dishes. The moon-shaped kybyn pasties are filled with meat, cheese or vegetables, while the larger circular kiubete pies are said to be shaped like either the sun or a shield. Help them down with a shot of krupnik, a strong, sweet liqueur spiced with cloves and muscat nuts.