Tales from the Lithuanian Woods

I can tell that your detective skill set is on High Alert as we venture further to the North. Several Captain Obvoius-like observations as to our change in dress shows me that I can’t get anything past you guys! Yes, the temps have plummeted, and those Accoutrements of Activity (Outdoor Department) have found their way out of the suitcases and onto our hands and heads. But have no fear! Neither rain, nor wind, nor snow, or gloom of night can keep us…. Well.…maybe Gloom of Night, no one likes that! And as you will see, there are Tales of Nere-do-Wells afoot, and I can feel them breathing down my neck.

                     There were several activities over the past two days that dealt primarily with old lifestyles and folklore. As the homogenization of our species continues to march forward, folks around the world are scrambling to ensure that their “story” is set down somewhere so that it can be told over and over again in the future. It is the wise culture that has this process already underway and is now just fine-tuning it to meet today’s standards.

                     Someone may ask why this is so important and that answer is not that obvious as the need to know and remember these types of things waxes and wanes with whatever is going on in one’s (or society’s) life at the time. But I think that it’s easy to simplify the answer and make it personal….. who doesn’t like sitting around with your grandparents and listening to stories of the ‘olden days’ and especially those about your parents! It is the wise family that keeps this tradition moving forward, enhanced by the modern ways of documenting these tales before the sources of them wither away forever. There are still questions that I have for my Mom that I wish that I had answered, or photos identified, before she was no longer there to ask.

                     It seems to be a little more important over here than back in the USA. That’s not taking anything away from our stance, it’s just that the stories over here can go back hundreds of years farther than ours do, and when you couple in the fact that in the relatively recent past, individual cultures have sustained incredible attacks on their very existence by overlords of repression…. well, this certainly does help hasten the need for providing vehicles for the survival of their tales.

                     The bulk of the last two days were spent witnessing such efforts. Here in Lithuania, a country whose heritage throws back to Baltic Tribes settled in their own little enclaves, the drives to keep the stories from being obliterated (even during Soviet times) started decades ago and sometimes needed to be disguised in order to survive. For example, unless you are “of” the people you’d have no idea what was being saved by the people because taken out of context, a fable just seems an innocent child’s tale. I am happy to report that these people’s stories and heritages seem to be firmly ensconced within both the actual and virtual walls of their assigned institutions.

                     One of the more enjoyable aspects of listening to these tales is finding out that no matter where you go there is a Princess waiting to find her Prince, a witch looking to thwart anyone’s plans, trolls aplenty just itching for a fight and a Souvenir Shop happily disguised in order to lure you in!

                                Here you go!

The Witch’s Hill

An attempt to keep the Lithuanian Folktales alive (when they were threatened by Soviet repressions) back in the early 1970’s these carvings were commissioned and then rendered. They have been lovingly cared for since then! There are about 80 carvings, here is just a small sample of them……

Folk songs….. folk tales……. there’s no better way to hear and see them than from people integrally involved with their keeping them alive!