International Choral Music Festival "Golden Strand of Šalčia"Tarptautinis chorinės muzikos festivalis „Auksinė Šalčios juosta“

Auksinė Šalčios juosta is an annual choral music festival held in Eišiškės (Šalčininkai district) each June 1. The event brings together amateur and semi-professional choirs from Lithuania (and sometimes abroad) to perform sacred and folk-derived choral repertoire. Concerts take place in the historic Church of Christ’s Ascension, often integrated with liturgy. The festival emphasizes local cultural heritage (the Šalčia River symbolic in the area) and communal singing traditions, drawing mainly regional participants and audiences.

Organized by the Šalčininkai District cultural center, this festival reflects the region’s multiethnic heritage by showcasing Lithuanian and folk choral music in a sacred setting. Eišiškės has a significant Lithuanian-speaking community near the Belarus border, and the festival fosters ties among local choirs and surrounding villages. It highlights the cultural identity of southern Lithuania (Dzūkija) through collective singing, reinforcing community bonds and preserving traditional music practice.