"With great verve and acumen, this book 'humanizes modernity ethnographically.' Lankauskas mines wedding celebrations for what they reveal about how modernity is lived in Lithuania and what this says about national identity, collective memories, religion, gender, consumerism, social stratification, and a host of other key concerns in post-socialist studies. With the keen eye of a seasoned ethnographer, Lankauskas braids together observation, theory, and history to give us a thoughtful and insightful study of 'the good life' in Lithuania." -- Catherine Wanner, Professor of History, Anthropology, and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University "The Land of Weddings and Rain is a rich and fascinating ethnographic contribution to the under-examined social and cultural aspects of life after socialism in Lithuania." -- Daphne Winland, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, York University

In The Land of Weddings and Rain, Gediminas Lankauskas examines the components of the contemporary urban wedding – religious and civil ceremonies, “traditional” imagery and practices, and the conspicuous consumption of domestic and imported goods – in the context of the Western-style modernization of post-socialist Lithuania.

Studying the tensions between “tradition” and “modernity” that surround this important ritual event, Lankauskas highlights the ways in which nationalism serves to negotiate the impact of modernity in the aftermath of state socialism’s collapse. His analysis also shows the importance of consumption and commodification to Lithuania’s ongoing “Westernization.”

Based on more than a decade of ethnographic research, The Land of Weddings and Rain is a fascinating account of the tensions – between national and transnational, East and West, and old and new – that shape life in post-socialist Eastern Europe.

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‘This book delivers to the reader a good ethnographic study of the modern urban wedding rituals in Lithuania…. It also provides reader with a solid grounding in the life cycle rituals of Lithuanian wedding, in addition to giving the reader a glimpse into the way one former Soviet republic has dealt with and moved away from its Soviet past.’