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Copyright of Darbai ir Dienos is the property of Vytautas Magnus University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Logos: A Journal, of Religion, Philosophy Comparative Cultural Studies & Art (08687692) is the property of Logos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The specificity of south-eastern Lithuania has been caused mainly by peculiar ethnic composition of its inhabitants. As a result, ethno cultural processes taking place within the multinational environment inevitably influence all life spheres of the inhabitants of that region. Nevertheless, from the point of view of ethnology, no research has been carried out on Poles living there. Firstly, on the basis of ethnographic field material, the article analyses several moments of the complex of a wedding ceremony. Invitation to a wedding, the eve of a wedding, the arrival of a bridegroom in a bride's house, farewell and blessing, the meeting of newlyweds from church at the end of the 20thcentury-the beginning of the 21st century are discussed in the article. The article aims to determine the peculiarities of these parts of a wedding complex, to trace whether wedding traditions of Lithuanian Poles are a continuation of Polish wedding traditions or a synthesis of Lithuanian and Polish wedding ceremonies and customs. In the Southeast of Lithuania there exists a peculiar model of a Polish wedding. The research has revealed that the tradition to arrange invitations to a wedding, which was adopted from Poland, is widely spread in weddings. An exceptional feature of the region is the custom of farewell with the parents of future spouses. For this particular custom the pictures of the St. Mother of God or other saints are used. There are also other wedding moments adopted from Poland such as the custom of farewell of a bride with the neighbours gathered outdoors. Sometimes a bride may even ask for their blessing. On the other hand, the ceremony of meeting the newlyweds from church is similar in both Polish and Lithuanian wedding traditions. There are very peculiar customs related to a myrtle wreath of a bride. Having analysed the field research material and referred to the research data of ethnologists, it becomes clear that at the end of the 20th century-the beginning of the 21st century, a certain part of Polish wedding traditions in south-eastern Lithuania is analogous to wedding traditions prevailing in other regions of Lithuania while the other part of wedding traditions has been adopted from modern Polish wedding model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]