Lithuanian Karaims ethnically belong to the Turkic nations. Their ethnic identity has essentially been determined by ethnic self-consciousness, perception of historic past, language, which belongs to the Kipschak‘s (Kuman‘s) family of the Turkic languages, religion, and the spiritual and material cultural heritage.
They have been settled in Lithuania by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas in 1397 mostly in Trakai, the old capital of the state. In 1441 the Karaims were given the same rights as the residents of other cities by the Magdeburg Law. When after the third division of the state the Karaims found themselves in the Russian Empire, they took care of their legal status under the changed conditions. First they became subject to the religious bord of the Crimean Karaims, and only in 1863, on the basis of their earlier rights and the Tsar‘s order, they got permission to found the Karaim religious board with separate senior priest for the Western provinces. Such system of Karaim religious hierarchy was functioning untill 1940 and again reestablished in 1992.
The joint efforts of priests and Karaim community to continue traditions of their ancestors were instrumental in preserving the national conciousness of Karaims, despite many losses (assimilation, low birth-rate, the decline of those who speak their mother tongue). The main role in this process during the 20th century was played by the highest senior priest, famous turkologist Hadgi Seraya Khan Shapshal (1873–1961), senior priests Simonas Firkovičius (1897–1982) and Mykolas Firkovičius (1924–2000). A strong sense of national belonging was preserved and national patriotic feelings were ceased to be treated as something negative.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
