Happy Lithuanian Independence Day -- AGAIN!

Twenty years ago today, Lithuania rose up and declared itself the first of the Soviet Socialist Republics independent of the USSR. At first it almost seemed like a quaint, quixotic, symbolic thing to do ... but no! The Lithuanians were really free, and as more countries joined them, the Soviet Union crumbled around them! (And of course, some countries had never recognized their incorporation into the USSR in the first place.)

To commemorate this anniversary, here 's a timeline of the events leading up to that momentous decision and a retrospective article from the Irish Times. Finally, here's the obligatory Wikipedia entry.

Remember, it took the Soviet Union almost 18 months from this date to recognize Lithuania's independence -- following bloodshed, a failed Soviet coup and the U.S. president's siding with the Lithuanians. By then, the USSR was about to fall apart.

Springtime

Slavic University is but a month away, and I'm looking forward to it! I'm not going to have a perfect kit, but I will try to spiff up a bit (and document my efforts here).

I also think I ought to make some margučiai and bring them to Slavic U. What am I talking about? Well, the singular is apparently margutis -- and margučiai are the same as pysanky -- in other words, decorated Easter eggs. Since the event is the weekend after Easter and the mid-Atlantic region will be bursting with new flowers and plant growth, what would be a better A&S display?

I've been saving yellow onion skins for a while now, and I have a gallon zip-bag filled with them. I look forward to boiling them and mixing in a spoonful of vinegar to create a natural dye. I may also experiment with the cooking water from red cabbage and green spinach leaves. These plant-based materials may not provide the intense color of modern commercial dyes, but I'm willing to try them nevertheless. If they all fail, I've got some dye tablets left over from last Easter!

The more common (and especially Ukrainian) technique is to use hot wax to draw the designs first, then color the eggs. I seem to recall, though, that last year I found some examples of Lithuanian eggs in which the artist dyed the eggs first, then scratched off the designs with a knife. I may experiment with both methods.

There's also the question of whether to draw the designs on raw eggs -- and then blow the contents out, leaving only a varnished shell to keep for the long term, or to decorate hard-boiled eggs -- and then have people peel and eat those artworks. Again, I may try both methods. I am thinking that the scratch-off method may leave the eggshell weak. Maybe I should try that on the hard-boiled potential lunch specials. :-)

So, without further ado, here are some links to eye candy!

• The decorated egg I made at the 2009 Kingdom A&S Festival (a beginner's effort, to be sure).
• A very nice blog post from 2009 with photos of margučiai and even a short video on making them (the artists seem to be using hot wax and either a very fine brush or a pin embedded in a pencil eraser).
• The previous blogger's 2008 set of Lithuanian eggs.
• There's a whole Flickr pool of photos of margučiai!
• A Wordpress blog with lots of photos of pysanky decorated in a more Ukrainian style.

Happy Lithuanian Independence Day!

Today is the anniversary of Lithuania's brief independence in 1918. In honor of the date, I'm posting a couple of links to YouTube videos (here and here) showing some military-type observances of the 10th anniversary celebrations of independence in 1928. It's way out of the SCA's period, of course, but in some of the banners, and in the decorations at the end of the second film, you can see the Vytis and the Pales of Gediminas -- both ancient heraldic symbols of Lietuva and its leaders.

My apologies for again abandoning this blog for a couple of months. Not much happening here at the moment. However, the calendar is sneaking up on me -- Slavic University is less than two months away! Holy moley! Also, registration for Pennsic University at Pennsic 39 is now open. I guess it's really getting to be time to decide whether I'm going to teach something special about the Battle of Grunwald's 600th anniversary and, if so, what I'm going to say.

One note: At the Storvik Performers' Revel, I told a five-minute version of the Tale of the Battle of Zalgiris, and it went over pretty well with the audience, even though I'm not much of a bard. Maybe I will practice that for future use at SCA events this year.

Baltic-style provisioning

Ah, where to get Eastern European food without spending all that money on airfare and hotels? Wouldn't it be great to have a listing of stores and restaurants that provide such tasty ethnic victuals?

Disclaimer: The following is not a commercial endorsement. I'm simply pointing out a few food sources that I know of.

Not far from Storvik, I've found the Kielbasa Factory in Rockville, Md. LOTS of varieties of frozen pierogies and other treats. Plenty of candy and canned goods imported from Poland. Some of these things are Polish specialties; others are simply food products you can get elsewhere, but with Polish-language labels. I think the people who run the store are natives of Poland, too.

Also in Rockville, plus two other sites in northern Virginia, is the Russian Gourmet. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but I hope to do so in the new year.

In my hometown of Gardner, Mass., Bonk's Market is still in business. I know, "Bonk's" isn't much of a Slavic name, but when I was growing up, it was the place to go for Lithuanian "white" (i.e., not smoked) kielbasa and fresh rye bread. (My hometown has even more French Canadian Americans than Polish Americans -- that's why Bonk's also serves up poutines rapées at this time of year.) I haven't been to Bonk's in years, but when I'm in Massachusetts next week, I'll have to check it out!

In the Boston area, the purveyor of Eastern European groceries seems to be the Baltic European Deli not far from Andrew Square. I've never been there, but maybe I ought to check it out on a future trip.

Finally, I stumbled upon PolishPlate.com, a Web site that lists lots of Polish shops and restaurants around the U.S. Of course I can't vouch for its completeness. Mostly, I'd like to hear from other Slavic Interest Group members, SCA folks, and re-enactors who can suggest food-related business they're familiar with.

Lithuania's castle in the air?

I meant to post this over the weekend, but I got busy.

Believe it or not, the Washington Post actually published a news story about a medieval Lithuanian palace! Of course, the article painted the palace -- actually an ongoing reconstruction of a 15th-century palace in Old Town Vilnius -- as ye olde white-elephant boondoggle. After all, nobody remembers exactly what it looked like, since the original was destroyed 200 years ago. Ah, well, even if it can't serve as SCA documentation, I'd like to visit it some day -- along with the rest of Old Town Vilnius.

Slavic stuff on the horizon...

Since I last posted on this blog, I've been added to the tentative class list for Slavic University 2010. (Yes, I know, that's the title of my existing course instead of the one I've been developing, but we'll see how far the development goes.) Several other classes have been announced. I know that Posadnitsa Sfandra is a dynamic teacher because I've taken one or two of her Pennsic classes over the years.

Plus, Baron Bardulf is planning to bring his portrait-photography setup to Slavic U. He is the gentleman who took the formal photograph of me in my Cavalier outfit at Atlantia's Twelfth Night 2009. This is just a little more motivation for me to get a Baltic/Lithuanian outfit together in time for the event. Of course, if the Baron's time gets all filled up with appointments with people who haven't yet had the chance to pose for him, I will let them have their turns.

One more thing: I've learned that the Midwinter's Revel (Barony of Lochmere, Kingdom of Atlantia) will host an "Anything Slavic" A&S competition/demonstration. Since this is a fairly local event for me (roughly a 45-minute drive from my residence), I'll be really tempted to prepare something to enter -- and maybe not even Lithuanian specifically, just something Slavic. (This competition theme wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Their Royal Majesties have Russian personas and live in Lochmere, right? Naah....)

Just what I was looking for!

Not long after I wrote last week's post, I learned that Slavic University 2010 has indeed been confirmed for next April! I had met Lady Marija at Pennsic 38 and she said this event was in the works, but I didn't want to mention it on this blog until there was an official announcement.

Slavic University will take place April 10, 2010, in the Shire of Sylvan Glen in the Kingdom of Aethelmearc. Mundanely, that's Shepherdstown, West Virginia -- in fact, the event site is less than one mile from Atlantia's border! I can drive to it in 90 minutes to two hours, depending on traffic.

I told Lady Marija I'd be happy to publicize the event within Atlantia. I'm thinking of putting together some flyers to hand out at the University of Atlantia in February and the Kingdom Arts & Sciences Festival in March. Atlantia's current King and Queen, Their Majesties Vladimir and Kalisa, have Slavic personas -- see their photo here, at least until the next Coronation on April 3 -- so I'm hoping that sparks at least a little more interest.

So, there I have it -- more motivation to get off my duff and dive back into Lithuanian history and material culture!

One semi-related piece of news: the Lithuanian embassy has donated 62 new books about Lithuania to the Library of Congress. Dang, I can hardly wait to get a look at them!

The post-Pennsic sloth continues...

... but there is a ray of hope.

Seriously, you've probably noticed that I haven't updated this blog in over a month. It's a rather quiet time for me in the SCA; my home barony isn't having another event until February, and other things, such as mundane business travel, have gotten in the way of my attending other Atlantian events.

However, I recently noticed that the February 2010 session of the University of Atlantia will be held in the Shire of Isenfir, which is in central Virginia. It's a rather long but still reasonable drive for a day trip. Maybe this will become motivation to prepare for a "test run" of either of my class ideas for Pennsic 39. I'm open to suggestions, of course.

Cavalier outfit, again

Here's a better portrait of of me in the Cavalier outfit that I mentioned in the previous entry. It was taken at Atlantian Twelfth Night 2009 by Baron Bardulf Rauen of the Shire of Border Vale Keep. He kindly takes portraits of Atlantians with a professional camera/lighting setup and doesn't even charge for it. I am most grateful to him for making me look good!

I do enjoy this Cavalier outfit, even though I don't wear it often (and definitely NOT at outdoor events). My only quibble is that I wasn't wearing a bum roll under the skirt because I couldn't find it in time. Now I think I know where I put it.

And, yes, I know that this has nothing to do with Lithuania ... but I think a Lithuanian woman visiting western Europe would have "done what the Romans did" and chosen clothing to suit her new environment.

I would really like to write about late-period Lithuanian clothing -- the little we know about it -- but that will have to wait until another time.

Update on post-Pennsic sloth

In my last entry I reported on "post-Pennsic sloth." So, what have I been doing?

I'm still working on the second of a pair of mundane knitted socks -- the first ever that I have knit. Eventually I'd like to knit stockings in a more medieval/Renaissance pattern, but that's for the future.

I started messing around with tablet weaving on a secondhand loom that Lady Teleri gave me when she moved several years ago. I'm only using cotton yarn from my stash. I'll have to post some photos.

The major project is a non-SCA wedding at which the musicians of Three Left Feet will be performing on September 26. I'll have to learn some new pieces, and I need to get my Cavalier outfit all in order. This will be a good chance for me to expand my musical horizons in terms of style (non-dance music) and ensemble playing (a different lineup of musicians from our normal Monday night dance practices).