Month: March 2020

 Every summer when I go to Lithuania, we take a day trip to Cepkeliu Raistas, which is a swamp that I’ve posted about on here before. We go to the lake nearby and set up a fire and some snacks to eat before we embark on our journeys. We collect our baskets and knifes, roll up our sleeves ,make sure our socks are tucked into our pants nicely, put on some boots and go out into the woods to look for mushrooms. The entire family comes and splits up either into groups or by themselves. We start off walking on the dirt path, but we eventually cant escape the enticing call of the woods. My aunt knows all the right spots to look for mushrooms. She knows which tree she found that Baravykas under last year and will go to that same exact spot to find another one again. Baravykas is the most special mushroom there is to Lithuanians. In the summer and fall, we pick HUNDREDS of baskets of them and dry them so my family can enjoy them in the dead of winter. They’re also the most rare and hardest to find. We stroll along the forest peacefully, talking about love and God and how lucky we are to be able to see and walk in such a wonderful place. As we walk, all of the sudden, my aunt sees something in the distance and walks away from me. I follow her, and she leads me to patch of beautiful Voveruskos. These are my favorite mushrooms, I’m always so happy to see them. We both crouch down, pull out or knifes, and start pulling them out from under the moss. We cut the dirt end from the root, making sure no worms spoiled them, and place them carefully into our baskets. We gently cover the earth with moss again and keep walking to find more. Mushroom picking is one of the most peaceful things you can ever do. In the depths of Lithuanian forests, there are no sounds to be heard. No roaring engines or chattering people, not even from a distance. Its so silent that you can hear your own heart beat and the blood coursing through it. The wind rustles the trees occasionally, or a bird will chirp to us, but other than that… absolutely nothing. 

(these are Baravykai)

Some days are luckier than others. We could walk around the forest all day only to find a couple mushrooms, but other days you can find a whole basket in an hour. It all depends on how much it rained the night before.  

(These two pictures are Voveruskos)

Mushroom picking can be quite dangerous and scary at times, believe it or not. Once you stray from the path to pick up a mushroom, you might not no which way to go back. Once you look up from the moss, everything around you looks the same. Its so easy to get lost, and its happened to everyone of us at least once. My aunt told me stories about how she got lost for a whole day once and had nothing to eat but the mushroom and berries she picked. Countless times we’ve had to set off the car alarm so that our family members would know which direction to go. My mom and I got lost once and prayed for hours in the woods for God to show us our way back.There’s no phone service once you go in the forest, so once you’re lost, you’re the only one that knows you’re lost. It’s a daunting and scary world out there in the woods, but its one of the most serene places you’ll ever experience.  

For some people, mushrooms are the reason they can live. There are a lot of poor villages in Lithuania that depend on picking mushrooms to stay alive. On the drive home, you see countless grandmothers and young children parked on the side of the road selling their jars of mushrooms and berries. One liter may not look like a lot to you, but to that child, it bought them their schoolbooks and pencils for the fall.   

After a whole day of picking mushrooms, my entire family comes together and cooks dinner at the fire. We compare the mushrooms we all collected throughout the day and hear boasts about whose were the prettiest , who collected the most and whose tasted the best. My aunt would prepare the best soup over the fire. Adding our mushrooms and any scraps we hadn’t finished from lunch, it was the perfect way to end our day. We’d talk around the fire and sip at our scrap soup and then prepare to drive back home.  

Mushroom picking always creates the best memories for me and I can’t wait until next year when I get to do it again.  

Lithuania is obsessed with basketball. Like… obsessed. Not even the way Penn State is obsessed with football or recently becoming a “basketball school”. Lithuanians live and breathe basketball. It runs through their veins. At every game, no matter if its an important one or one that’s just being played for fun, there will be a huge crowd of Lithuanians dressed in yellow, green, and red, screaming their heads off and chanting our anthem.  We are a very small country of only three million, but it seems like all of us three million gather at every game. 

For Lithuania, basketball isn’t just a sport. Basketball has a way deeper meaning for us than it does for anyone in the world. Lithuania is rooted with a deep history of oppression and mistreatment. Basketball is what gave us independence. Basketball is what gave us freedom. Basketball is what gave Lithuania its name, and I’m going to tell you why just now. 

Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union for the longest time and for 50 years was forced to play for the USSR team at the Olympics. The team was composed of players from many countries occupied by the Soviet Union, but most of them were Lithuanians. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the Soviet Union won the gold medal. The best player on the team, Arvydas Sabonis, a Lithuanian, got drafted to play in the NBA but couldn’t because the country was still occupied. 

Everyone knew that it was Lithuania who had truly won. We carried the team and we were the reason for the gold medal, but nobody recognized it. 

For years, Lithuania experienced horrible turmoil. Its people had to listen to the Russians and had absolutely no freedom. People couldn’t practice their religion freely or do anything. Tanks came into the city one night and killed 13 people that were protecting the Parliament from being overtaken by the Russians. My parents and grandparents all lived through this and saw it live. People were dying and nobody saw it. 

But nevertheless, Lithuania pulled itself together and declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. It became the first Soviet state to do so, and was the catalyst for the other countries to do so as well. During these terrible times, basketball is what kept the people united. It’s what kept hope in people’s hearts. The love and pride Lithuania had for its basketball team united everyone, and kept the people going strong until the end. 

( March 11th 1990, the day Lithuania declared independence. This year was the 30 year anniversary!!)

The 1992 Olympics was the first time Lithuania was allowed to play with its flag. It was the first time our yellow, green, and red was shown at the Olympics. They were no longer playing for the Soviet Union. They were their own independent team, just like their own independent country. 

(This is the Baltic Way, I’ll do another blogpost on it perhaps)

And guess what!? We won a bronze medal! The first time we played as Lithuania, we won! AND we beat Russia, our enemy…

This was the craziest moment in basketball history for Lithuania, and is the reason why we are all so obsessed with it. It’s not just a sport, its a symbol of independence and strength. At those 1992 Olympics, Lithuania showed who was boss all along. They persevered through the toughest times and emerged victorious. 

(This is them accepting the bronze medal)

The Grateful Dead sponsored Lithuania’s trip to the 1992 Olympics because they were greatly inspired by their story. When Lithuania stepped onto the court to accept their bronze medals, they showed up wearing the most ridiculous, tie-dye Lithuanian colored outfits that the band had given to them. Everyone else was in their official uniform, but Lithuania proudly stepped on the podium, laughing, crying, cheering, and proudly parading their country. The american dream team won gold that night, but everyone in the crowd and back at home knew that Lithuania was the true winner. They were the OTHER dream team, and they still are. 

There was a whole movie made about this. I’ll link the trailer here if anybody wants to watch it. Its AMAZING and I legit cry every time lol so plzzz take a look. 

Lithuanians are always known for being over the top, and Uzgavenes is something that shows just how crazy we can get. To translate to my readers, Uzgavenes is the day before lent starts, also known as Fat Tuesday. The whole day is dedicated to stuffing yourself silly and preparing for the intense spiritual period of lent. Although it has its pagan traditions, its religiously rooted and always signifies the last time we can celebrate before going into a period of deep concentration. 

All day, we eat pancakes. But not the fluffy buttermilk pancakes you’re imagining. Nor the fancy French crepes. Lithuanian pancakes are made from yeast, and they are fattening as hell. breakfast . lunch, dinner, and everything in between is spent stuffing ourselves with these delicious, pillowy pieces of dough. 

 

When I was a kid, we would go to church and celebrate this holiday. There was a whole day of festivities arranged and we would wait all year to attend. In the center of the hall would be a giant, stuffed, hideous dummy. She was called the More, and she is responsible for keeping winter. We would shout at the grandmother, dressed in masks and scary costumes, in an attempt to scare her and winter away. The tradition is to burn the More, but in church we never actually did that. We would scream “ Ziema Ziema bek is kiemo”, which translates to “winter winter leave our backyard!”. Eventually winter gets scared away and spring is allowed to come in. 

Another tradition is the war between “Lasininis” and “Kanapinis”. Lasininis translates to “porky” and Kanapinis… i don’t really know how to translate it but it’s like the weaker, frailer twig. Porky resembles winter, and is fat and huge from eating too much, while kanapinis represents spring, who is weak, cold, and poor. The two battle to the death, and eventually kanapinis wins, which allows spring to come. My dad has played both parts in the battle over the years, and it’s always been very fun to watch. 

These traditions might seem weird but they are the ones I’ve always grown up with. I love them to death and I hope I’ll get to see many more of these battles one day. 

(Kanapinis and Lasininis in battle)

 

When I was a kid, my grandparents and I in Lithuania would visit the beach after a storm. We’d sift through the washed up seaweed on the beautiful baltic shores, looking for Lithuanian gold. We’d sometimes find these stunning, deeply orange or yellow pieces of pure sunlight and stash them in our pockets. They were just like the ones we’d collected at home, but each of them was unique in its own way. This gold is not the shiny smooth type you all imagine. It’s a little rough and ragged around the edges, and sometimes there are little critters hiding in its million years of memories. This gold I speak of is called amber, and it is infinitely more valuable than a 24 karat. 

You will never visit Lithuania, or even a Baltic state, without seeing millions of these speckled stones in street markets, in souvenir shops, churches, homes, and on people’s necks. It is everywhere you look. We turn amber into anything. Statues, chess boards, miniature toy boats, hair clips, necklaces, ornaments, crosses. You name it. Amber is our national stone. It is said to have healing properties if worn. Amber is a powerful healer and cleanser of the body, mind and spirit. It also cleanses the environment. Amber clears depression, stimulates the intellect and promotes self-confidence and creative self-expression. It encourages decision-making, spontaneity and brings wisdom, balance and patience.

To me, amber means home. You’ll rarely see a picture of me as a kid without an amber necklace. At every stage of my life, even when I was an infant, I wore something made of amber. My aunt gifted me a necklace when I was a baby, and in pictures you can see it hanging around my neck loosely, down to my belly button. Years later, you see that I’ve grown into it and it finally fits me well. My entire family has hundreds of amber items. It decorates our home and brings warmth and joy to every room. Amber is home to me, and i’m not quite sure what it is about this honey colored stone that draws us Lithuanians to it, but it is special in every way.