09/09/2026
A SPECIAL GUEST GROUP IS JOINING US AT DOŻYNKI!
This year, our Dożynki stage is getting a special visit from our Lithuanian neighbors! We’re excited to welcome Smiltis- Houston tautinių šokių kolektyvas, a Houston-based ensemble bringing Lithuanian music, dance, and tradition to the Houston Polish Harvest Festival this year! 🎶
And if you’re wondering… why Lithuania at a Polish festival? Well, there are a few hundred years of history behind that answer. 👀📖
Poland and Lithuania were united for centuries, first through a dynastic union beginning in 1385, and later through the Union of Lublin in 1569, which created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth — Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów. 👑 Until 1795, it was one of the largest and most culturally diverse states in Europe, bringing together Poles, Lithuanians and many other peoples, languages, faiths, and traditions under one Commonwealth. 🇵🇱🤝🇱🇹
Poland and Lithuania go WAY back — nearly 600 years back. So really, Smiltis isn’t crashing our Polish Festival… they’re just showing up to the family reunion. 😂 Because this is Houston, thankfully they only had to cross town instead of cross the Atlantic!
That’s what Dożynki is all about: keeping old traditions alive, sharing them with the next generation, and celebrating the friends and neighbors whose histories have been tangled up with ours for centuries — different dances, different languages, and the same love for making sure everyone knows exactly where we came from! 💃🕺
Come cheer on Smiltis, experience a little Lithuanian folk culture, and give our Houston neighbors the BIG Polish Festival welcome they deserve next weekend!
