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.