St. Peter and Paul's.

These are just a few photos to show you that there's more to Vilnius than the beautiful Old Town. This church is located just a bit off-the-beaten-track, so many tourists decide to skip it altogether, which is great loss to them!

St. Peter and Paul's., a set on Flickr.

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Ele

Mushrooms in Lithuania (well, some of them)

Considering the fact that I aim to present and represent Lithuania to my foreign audience, I cannot but write about a special activity that Lithuanians love-picking mushrooms. Now, you would say, what does one need to know about it? Because many countries have only few kinds of mushrooms in their shops, most of which  are imported goods, while we have about 400 edible varieties, out of which we mainly use 30. 

Let's begin with the king of our forests, the dream of every forager: the edible boletus.

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_edulis

We like them dried in hot borsch in winter, with herring, or in sauces. It's important to distinguish it from its fake cousin, so called Thunder Boletus, which has a pinkish inner side of the cap instead of white and sometimes the only way to know the difference is to lick them, so if you found the Thunder variety, you are soon to know :-)

Baltramiejaus mugė 2012

Šiais metais ir vėl vyks garsioji Baltramiejaus mugė. Garsioji ne todėl, kad šio vardo šventojo dienos išvakarėse 1572 metais Prancūzijoje buvo išžudyta daug hugenotų, bet todėl, kad Vilniui ši diena irgi yra ypatinga. 1495 m. Šv. Baltramiejaus dienos (rugpjūčio 24-osios) išvakarėse, Lietuvos didysis kunigaikštis Aleksandras patvirtino pirmojo LDK cecho statutą ir Vilniaus auksakalių cechui buvo suteikta valdovo privilegija. Kaip teigia http://www.vilniauspilys.lt/auksakaliai , Vilniaus auksakalių cechas vienu metu netgi turėjo 336 narius ir buvo didžiausias cechas LDK ir Lenkijoje. Taigi, "Amatų gildija" kviečia į Baltramiejaus mugės renginius, kur įvairūs meistrai pademonstruos įvairius amatus ir bus smagi kultūrinė programa.

Renginio programą rasite apsilankę "Amatų gildijos" tinklalapyje. Dar juos galit rasti Facebook'e: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amat%C5%B3-gildija/203792366322258 .

Apie amatus Lietuvoje turiu įdomią knygą, tik dabar "saugiai padėta", todėl reiks paieškoti. Tada papildysiu išsamesne informacija. Kažkuriems naujiems meistrams buvo būtina per vienerius metus susirasti...žmoną. Va taip vat!

Jau fotoaparatą blizginanti,

Kūtvėla

Assumption Day

Assumption Day is held every 15th of August in Lithuania. The period of summer meeting autumn has been important in our culture since ancient times. It is the day we say goodbye to plants and flowers. Crops have been taken, fruit and berries picked, jams made, - all major harvesting works are completed. During this day, women would pick the most beautiful field flowers and herbs and then Mother Earth for harvest and beauty. Farmers would bake bread from fresh grains and make beer or kvass. During this day the entire family gathered and the dead were remembered. It has also been a worldwide pagan festival, because on this day the Romans would worship Diana, the Greeks would worship Artemis- flora and fauna goddesses. With the introduction of Roman Christian faith in Lithuania, this day became associated with Assumption Day- Virgin Mary’s Being Taken to Heaven Day. It is said that when she died, Apostles held wake by her grave and Peter saw her rising from the dead and being taken to Heaven by God. When they opened her sarcophagus, the body was not there-instead, they found many beautiful flowers. And there appeared a sign in the sky- a woman clothed in the Sun, Moon under her feet, and 12 stars on her head, as described by John the Evangelist. The dogma about Assumption was passed only in 1950 but the liturgical celebration of it has been known since the 5th century. Every year there are celebrations in Lithuanian churches for this day. Herbs, flowers, crops, vegetables, etc. are blessed in churches. Dried flowers were kept with icons to protect from thunder or illness.

The topic has inspired many great artists and has been, in my opinion, the second most popular topic for painters after Annunciation.

Assumption by Guido Reni. Source: http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_237615/Guido-Reni/Assumption-of-the-Virgin

 So, what EXACTLY is going on at Assumption in Lithuania?

Aukštaitijos siaurukas kviečia į dviračių žygį

Turime Lietuvoje unikalų geležinkelio paveldą, siaurąjį geležinkelį, meiliai siauruku vadinamą. Standartinė bėgių vėžė yra 1435mm, buvusioje TSRS naudojama 1520mm, o visos vėžės, siauresnės nei standartinė vėžė, yra vadinamos siaurosiomis vėžėmis. Aukštaitijos siaurukas yra 750mm vėžės, taigi beveik perpus siauresnis nei standartas.

Taigi, kodėl jis toks siauras gavosi?