LITHUANIAN-AMERICAN NEWS JOURNAL. May 2013

Transcription

1 LITHUANIAN-AMERICAN NEWS JOURNAL $5

2 this month in history May Anniversaries 550 years ago May 20, 1463 Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon renewed and expanded the privileges of the city of Kaunas. Lithuanians still celebrate this anniversary during Kauno miesto dienos (Days of Kaunas City), an annual series of cultural events, including folk art fairs and concerts, in the streets and squares of Kaunas's Old Town. 450 years ago May 21, 1563 Martynas Mažvydas, author and editor of the first book printed in the Lithuanian language, died. Martynas Mažvydas ( ) was a 16th-century Lithuanian author of Samogitian origin. He spent his youth in Vilnius, where he worked with other pioneering Lithuanian authors in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. To help spread the new Protestant faith in 1547, Mažvydas, while still a student in Königsberg, compiled and published the first printed Lithuanian book, Catechismusa Prasty Szadei (The Simple Words of Catechism), based on the Polish version of Martin Luther's Kleiner Katechismus. This book was the beginning of literature and printing in Lithuanian. Of about 200 copies printed, only two have survived. One is at the Vilnius University Library and the other at Torun University Library in Poland. Among Mažvydas other works are The Song of St. Ambrosy, a translation of "The Form of Baptism" from German into Lithuanian and The Christian Songs (Gesmes Chriksczoniskas), which served as a basis for later Protestant books of songs. 140 years ago May 2, 1873 Jurgis Baltrušaitis ( ), symbolist poet and noted translator, was born. He participated in the struggle for independence and, as president of the Russian Writers Union, in 1919 helped rescue many writers and intellectuals during the first years of the Bolshevick regime. He became Lithuania's ambassador to Russia in 1920, a post he held until Rumsiskes museum exhibit commemorating deportations. Photo: Terese Vekteris 65 years ago May 22-23, 1948 Soviets deport more than 40,000 Lithuanians in just two days Although deportations began in 1941, they peaked in May 1948 when the Soviets conducted "Operation Spring," the largest-scale deportations in Lithuania's history. Over two days, approximately 12,100 families (about 41,000 people) were seized from their homes and exiled to Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk oblast and the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous SSR mainly so the Soviets could appropriate their privately owned land and establish collective farms. A year later, another 9,633 families (32,735 people) were deported to remote parts of the Soviet Union. In all, from , some 132,000 Lithuanians were deported to Siberia, the Arctic Circle and Central Asia and were not allowed to leave the remote villages. More than 70 percent of the deportees were women and children. During the same period, another 200,000 people were thrown into prisons. Deportations continued through 1949 and years ago May 10, 1993 Vladas Vitkauskas (b. May 7, 1953 in Viduklė) became the first Lithuanian and the first mountaineer from the Baltic states to climb the world s highest mountain, Mt. Everest. 10 years ago May 10-11, 2003 Lithuanian voters approve referendum to join European Union Lithuania was invited to begin negotiations to join the EU in December 1999 and was formally invited to join in December In 1999, only 29 percent of the population supported joining the EU. When the vote was held in 2003, more than 90 percent of voters supported the 2003 Lithuanian European Union referendum. Lithuania joined the EU on May 2004.

3 contents Vol. 37 No. 4 / Bridges is the official publication of the Lithuanian-American Community, Inc. EDITOR Teresė Vekteris CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, FOOD Christiana Noyalas (Naujalis) CO-CONTRIBUTING EDITORS, GENEALOGY Richard Gostautas Tom Sadauskas ART DIRECTOR Daniel P. Craig, Jr. ADVERTISING & SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER Rimas Gedeika 4 Music from the Heart of the People Interview with Singer-Songwriter David Tamulevich by Saulius Dzikas 10 In His Heart, He Knew His Father Would Approve Excerpt from Desire and Red Wine, A Life s Journey by Victoria Norvaisa HOW TO CONTACT BRIDGES Business Office 78 Mark Twain Drive, Hamilton Square, NJ gedeikar@aol.com Editorial Correspondence and Permissions 6125 McCallum Street, Philadelphia, PA bridges.terese@gmail.com Subscriber Services and Advertising 78 Mark Twain Drive, Hamilton Square, NJ gedeikar@aol.com LAC, Inc. National Executive Board 43 Anthony Street, New Haven, CT Phone: , Fax: LithuanianUSA@yahoo.com 7 Digging for Ethnic Roots - One Inch at a Time Interview with Father Patrick Baikauskas by Romualdas Kriaučiūnas All statements and opinions, including product claims, are those of the organization/advertiser making those statements or claims. The publisher does not adopt, or put forth, any such statement or claim as his own, and any such statement or claim does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher. BRIDGES (ISSN: ) is published 10 times per year (Jan/ Feb and Jul/Aug combined) by Lithuanian-American Community, Inc. The known office of publication is located at 78 Mark Twain Dr., Hamilton Square, NJ The editorial office is located at 6125 McCallum Street, Philadelphia, PA Periodicals postage paid at Trenton, NJ and additional locations. Vol. 37, No. 4. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections and changes to LAC, Inc./Bridges, 78 Mark Twain Drive, Hamilton Square, NJ SUBSCRIPTIONS: For subscription questions or address changes, write to LAC, Inc./Bridges, 78 Mark Twain Drive, Hamilton Square, NJ Subscription rates are: US: $20 per year or $38 for two years.; International: $45 per year payable in advance in US funds. COPYRIGHT: 2013 by Lithuanian-American Community, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. PRINTING: Printed in the USA by Lithuanian-American Community, Inc. Departments c2 this month in history 3 from the editor 12 lac news New Charlotte chapter; Aspen consulate; Historic marker; Lithuania at travel show; Kazickas recognized; Kriaučiūnas awarded 14 a taste of lithuania Sūris Success by Terese Vekteris 16 current events 18 genealogy tips & tricks Getting the Lay of the Land by Tom Sadauskas 20 subscription form c3 calendar Cover: Artwork created by Elena Bouvier from photographs taken by the editor at an exhibit at Rumšiškės open-air ethnographic museum commemorating the deportation of Lithuanians to Siberia by the Soviets Back cover: View of the Church of the Apostles St. James and St. Philip from Lukiškes Square in Vilnius. Photo: Marcin Białek, Wikimedia Commons 1

4 from the editor She Was 'Mano' All I had left to do for this issue was drop in my letter, give it a final once over and send it off to print. But when I opened the file, I didn t see my last round of corrections. A panicked sweep through our folders led to the devastating realization that we had somehow lost the latest version to the "cloud" with no time to recreate four hours of editing before I left for Women s Weekend at Camp Neringa. I know better than to send something off without making a copy, but for some reason this time I had. My six-hour drive gave me plenty of time to think, and by the time I arrived I had concluded that the loss happened for a reason, that my original letter on the subject of deportation somehow wasn t the right one, and that the weekend would inspire a new theme. And that s how this came to be about Mano. Those of you who know Lithuanian know that the word mano means my or mine. It was also my name for my maternal grandmother. Those of us who are the eldest child in the family often have the privilege of naming our grandparents, though we don t always do it consciously. Our baby brains can make an association based on word repetition or our limited speech abilities can make a mispronunciation stick. According to my mom, my grandmother used to rock me, whispering, mano mažytė (my little one). And because she repeated it so often, I began to associate the word with her, and she became Mano. And for me, it made sense. Mano truly was mine. We had a three-bedroom house, so my parents got a room, my brother got a room and Mano and I shared a room. Our twin beds were side by side, and any time I was cold, or scared or sick, I would worm my way over until I was in her bed, snuggled close to her side. Never once did she fail to put her arm around me and draw me close and whisper, mano mažytė. I never felt more safe or more nurtured. My mother went to work early, so Mano got me and my brother up for school and made us breakfast. After school she sat us in the kitchen to begin homework with a snack of blynai while she made supper. Mano taught me how to make kugelis, let me help stuff homemade kielbasi and allowed me to cut the dough circles for virtinai with a particular cup of the perfect circumference. I still have that cup. My friends all thought it odd that I shared a room with my grandmother, but it seemed like the most natural thing for me. It wasn t until I came back on breaks from college that I appropriated the den so I could have my own room. Mano by then had lost some of her capacity to speak clearly because of strokes, but her soft embrace was the same and I would still put my head in her lap while she stoked my hair. There are days when I ache to do so again. S o Happy Mother s Day, Mano. And Mom and Grandmom, too. I love and miss you all. "Those of you who know Lithuanian know that the word 'mano' means 'my' or 'mine.' It was also my name for my maternal grandmother." Teresė Vekteris, Editor Please Tell Us When You Receive This Issue In an effort to deliver Bridges to you as quickly as possible, we need your help so that we can address issues around delays with the post office. Could you do us a favor and send a quick to bridges.terese@gmail.com to let us know when you received this issue? Just put the date and your state in the subject line; for example: May 10, Ohio. You don t need to write anything in the , unless you want to, of course. We always welcome your comments and feedback. You may be able to address delivery issues on your end as well. The date this issue was mailed is on the address label on the back. If you feel that there was an unusual lag between the date on the label and the date you received the magazine, you may want to ask your local post office branch if they can tell you the reason. 3

5 they had survived, as did so many others by selling mushrooms and berries. Growing up on Lincoln Avenue, I myself remember the tailor and the shoe repairman both relatives. I remember visits to Worcester, Mass., where my grandmother s sisters moved when I was a boy, and I heard a lot of Lithuanian spoken there. How did you find your way back to the Lithuanian-American community? How did you become interested in a deeper understanding of the music and culture? Music from the Heart of the People: An Interview with David Tamulevich By Saulius Dzikas David Tamulevich outside of Alytus during a trip to Lithuania to meet relatives and to perform. David Tamulevich, an established North American folk music singersongwriter, has recently found his way back to his Lithuanian roots, which he traces from Branford, Conn., to the village of Žervynos and a 300-year-old ancestral home. In anticipation of the May 18 concert that David s folk music ensemble, Mustard s Retreat, is doing together with the Lithuanian duo Eastlande (iš Rytū Šalelės) in Hartford, Connecticut, I seized the opportunity to speak with David to find out how his music and family history have come to be woven together in the fabric of his identity. Tell us about your Lithuanian ancestry. When did your parents arrive, what part of Lithuania are they from and where did they settle in the U.S.? I was able to find a great deal of information back to my great grandparents generations on both sides, but in a nutshell, my grandfather Mikus Tamulevičius, born in Žervynos village, married Juzė Vainilavičiūtė of Mergežeris. My grandmother s side of the family hails from Alytus, and came to the United States through Hamburg, Germany aboard The Bremen in 1910; they settled in Branford, Connecticut. An uncle on my father s side was a coal miner in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area, but we have not been able to find out any information about him or his family. What memories does your father have of life in the Connecticut Lithuanian community? Mikus' son Edward and Marijona Krilaučius were my grandparents, and had three children, including my father, Walter Tamulevich. Most of the extended family ended up living on Lincoln Avenue in Branford; in fact, nearly everyone living on the street was a relative! My father was born in 1923, and from the stories I have heard, the Lithuanian community was very tight knit, as was my family. Most of the men worked at the Malleable Iron Fittings Company. Picking berries and gathering mushrooms were things my father did when he was a kid, and did with me until I left for college it is still a favorite pastime of mine. It was amazing to go back to the old family home in Žervynos and discover that this was how My Lithuanian heritage was always close to the surface, especially because of my grandmother. I learned a few words kaip tau, gerai, sveiki, aš noriu pinigų and when she came to visit us she would make koše: a potato/bacon casserole. We were always asking her about Lithuania; it was our history. Though she remembered very little, we couldn't get enough of her stories of her homeland. In August of 2011 my folk music group, Mustard s Retreat, was asked to perform in Lithuania for a week. It was a lifelong dream come true. With hopes of reuniting with my family, I went to the Balzekas Center in Chicago with some papers that had been among my grandmother's effects, which they translated for me. One was a partial letter that my great-grandfather Mikus, who had stayed in Lithuania to take care of the family farm, had written to my grandfather Edward sometime in the early 1920s, sending greetings from many family members. There was also a $10 postal money order from 1926, which my grandfather had sent home to his father. There was an address there, and the name of a village Žervynos. The geneology division at Balzekas provided a list of people still living in that area who might be relatives. I wrote a letter detailing the family history I had, which the Balzekas Center translated into Lithuanian. I sent it to about seven or eight people. My great uncle Juozas' granddaughter wrote me back two weeks later saying yes...i had found them! 4

6 for the Tai-aš festival, and then another week in July 2012 for the Akacijų alėja (Acacia Alley) festival, near Kaunas. We played a number of concerts in various cities, as well as appearing on a number of national TV shows. Please describe your musical life the type of music you play, who your audiences are and how you got into it. David has performed in Lithuania several times with his band, Mustard's Retreat, appearing at music festivals, in concert venues and on national television. There is no way to describe my feelings, though I am certain your readers will understand. Finding your family roots actually finding family who had survived WWII and the Soviets...the first contact in over 80 years amazing. Then followed the trips to the family farm in Žervynos, meeting the daughters of Juozas, who were in their 90s. Upon meeting me they pressed wedding photos of my grandparents into my hands. I found quite a few relatives there; my grandfather's brothers and four daughters, all in their 90s. The village of Žervynos is a beautiful place, set amid the southern forests, near the Polish and Belarus borders. Many of the buildings still have thatched roofs. One of the daughters still lives, with her son, in the family house, where they figure our family has been for up to 300 years. The one common room is the room my grandfather and the rest of the family were born in, lived in, ate in. We had a couple of family gatherings and feasts there. Tell us more about the circumstances that brought you to Lithuania. I have been back to Lithuania twice to perform: once for a week in October 2011 We are singer-songwriters who grew up on folk songs and the singer-songwriters of the 1960s. We do some traditional music and storytelling as well as our own songs. I grew up in a musical family. My mother played viola in the Southern Connecticut State College orchestra and my dad was always singing little funny songs around the house. I sang in the church choir and took piano lessons. But it was when my sister got a guitar for Christmas and showed me a couple chords, that I got hooked on folk music. There was a thriving folk scene in the New Haven area, and besides going to see performers whenever I could, I also helped start and run a coffeehouse at Trinity Church in Branford. What are your hopes for future involvement with the U.S. Lithuanian community, and with musical life in Lithuania? I want to learn to speak Lithuanian better than I currently do and to be able to sing more in Lithuanian, which I am working on. I enjoy meeting people in the community, sharing our stories, our common ancestry. I love the deep history and music that goes back thousands of years. It has always resonated with me, and now it is a whole new and delightful world to relish and explore. I hope we can do more shows like this one we are doing in Hartford, and I am SO looking forward to it! More trips to Lithuania are hopefully in our future; to perform, to spend more time with my relatives and to find my grandmother's family. continued on next page Mustard's Retreat Folk Heritage Concert May 18, 7 p.m. Hartford, Connecticut Please join Mustard s Retreat and Eastlande on Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 7 p.m. at Trinity Church, 53 Capitol Ave., Hartford, CT for an evening of folk music, followed by refreshments in the church hall. The concert will be preceded by International Street Musician s Night, featuring live musical performances and sing-alongs in front of Trinity Church and in the parish courtyard starting at 6:15 p.m. Information: Neringa Pangonyte, , neringaus2@yahoo.com Eastlande. Photo: Sophia Dzikas 5

7 a better word, premiering in Hartford. What will you try to convey to the audience? David meeting his great-aunt on the Žervynos farm that has been in his family for 300 years. While you were in Lithuania, did you have the opportunity to sample any live music? We saw many, many Lithuanian musicians and singer-songwriters, doing everything from folk to jazz to blues to pop. We were incredibly impressed by the variety, the professionalism, their performance skills. The Tai-aš Festival's main theme was music as a universal language, which we found to be very true. Though we could not understand the lyrics, we were very moved by the performances. Do you see major similarities and/ or differences between North American folk music and traditional Lithuanian song? There is an exoticness and easternness, a depth of history to the traditional Lithuanian music. It is more modal with its harmonies, which I find very appealing; it resonates deeply with me. And there is a similarity there to the traditional American Appalachian music, which actually came from Europe. Mostly I love the lyrics: so rich, so evocative, so poetic! How does your Lithuanian heritage figure in your musical life? Has it borne any influence, and has that changed recently? We nearly always talk about our Lithuanian experiences when we perform, and sing the chorus to one of our songs in Lithuanian. We will do much more at this concert in May! We find people of Lithuanian extraction everywhere we go, and part of my goal is to let them know of my success in finding long-lost relatives how profoundly meaningful it has been to me and how they can begin to research their roots if they haven't already. Many of them have amazing stories to tell. It is a new-found community for me, and it is thrilling. Please tell us a bit about the Heritage Series, Crossroads of North American and Lithuanian Folk Music concerts that are, for lack of We hope to convey the true universality of folk music; it is music that comes from the heart of the people, whatever their origin. We have paired songs in a number of categories: courtship and love, love of country, summer solstice, community and just good old-fashioned fun. Our program should speak to all generations, to the descendants of various waves of immigrants, and should bring together both American and Lithuanian audiences. The performers that night will represent that diversity one thirdgeneration and two first-generation Lithuanian-Americans, and our colleague, Michael, who will be an honorary Lithuanian for the night! We hope to see the same diversity in our audience. We play what we enjoy; we re not trendy, we re genuine. I think that is the key to our success. The bottom line is that WE have a good time, and that seems to translate to our audiences. Mustard's Retreat is about to start its 40th year of doing music together. We like people. We like to share, to laugh, to sing together, to share some common space and ground. We hope to see you at one of our concerts soon, and we hope you take the time to share your own experiences with us. Iki pasimatymo! ( Till we meet again! ) A calendar of other Mustard s Retreat concerts may be found at: mustardsretreat.com/shows.php Saulius Dzikas is the host of the weekly Lithuanian Radio Hour in Hartford, Conn. He resides in Bristol, Conn. 6

8 Please verify all events, as places and times are subject to change. calendar ONGOING Through December 30 Exhibit: 80th Anniversary of Darius and Girėnas Heroic Transatlantic Flight Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, 6500 S. Pulaski Road, Chicago MAY 2013 May 11, 5:30 p.m. Grandis Folk Dance Ensemble Annual Concert Lithuanian World Center, th St., Lemont, Ill Info: , grandischicago.org May 11, 7 p.m. Lithuanian Film Festival Lithuanian Music Hall, 2715 E. Allegheny Ave., Philadelphia Pietys and Tadas Blinda Pradžia. Bar and concessions open at 7 p.m., films begin at 8 p.m. $3 members; $6 non-members. Info: info@lithuanianmha.org May 11-12, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. 41st Annual Baltimore Lithuanian Festival Catonsville Armory, 130 Mellor Avenue, Catonsville, Md. Adults $5; ages 12 and under free. Free parking. Info: lithuanianfestival.org, baltimore.lithuanian.festival@ gmail.com May 18, 1-3 p.m. Amber Roots Philadelphia Lithuanian Heritage Club Lithuanian Music Hall, 2715 E. Allegheny Ave., Philadelphia English-speaking. Open to all. Enter through side door. Bring a dish to share. Info: milliemarks@aol.com, May 18, 7 p.m. Lithuanian and American Folk Song Concert with Mustard s Retreat and Eastlande Holy Trinity Church, 53 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, Conn. $15 adults; $10 seniors, students Info: neringaus2@yahoo.com, May 19, 12:30 Daughters of Lithuania Society General Meeting Lithuanian World Center, th St., Lemont, Ill. JUNE 2013 June 3-July 12 Lithuanian Summer Language Institute University of Pittsburgh Six-week intensive beginner and intermediate courses; six credits. Info: programs/ceeu/index.php June 15, 1-3 p.m. Amber Roots Philadelphia Lithuanian Heritage Club Lithuanian Music Hall, 2715 E. Allegheny Ave., Philadelphia English-speaking. Open to all. Info: milliemarks@aol.com, June 16 Lithuanian State Youth Theater Production of "He and She" Estonian House, 4 Cross Street & Veterans Highway, Jackson, N.J. June th European Conference on Baltic Studies Tallinn University, Estonia Register through June 1 Info: balticstudies2013@tlu. ee or online: June 22, 4-11:30 p.m. Joninės/St. John's Festival Estonian House, 4 Cross Street & Veterans Highway, Jackson, N.J. June 22 Omaha Joninės Celebration Info: omahosltb.blogspot.com June Heritage Family Camp in English (younger children) June Heritage Family Camp in English (older children) June 30-July 6 Family Camp for Lithuanian Speakers JULY 2013 July 7-21 Children s Camp for Lithuanian Speakers July 9-21 Youth Camp "Ateitis" for Lithuanian Speakers who have completed grades Camp Dainava, Austin Road, Manchester, Mich. Info: Kristina Volertas, volertas@ verizon.net, dainava.org July 21 Lithuanian Friendship Day (Putnam Picnic) Immaculate Conception Convent, 600 Liberty Hwy, Putnam, Conn. July Third Week Children s Camp for Lithuanian speakers ages July 25-28, 2013 Knights of Lithuania 100th Anniversary Convention Boston Marriott Quincy Hotel, Quincy, Mass. Info: knightsoflithuania100th anniversary.org July 28 - August 10 Heritage Children s Camp in English (for ages 7-16) AUGUST 2013 August 4-11 Lithuanian Language Courses Camp Dainava, Austin Road, Manchester, Mich. One-week intensive courses for beginner, intermediate and advanced students. Info: Ausrele Sakalaite, ausreles@ comcast.net, August 5-7 Intensive Lithuanian Language Courses for Adults and Children Lingua Lituanica, Vilnius, Lithuania Info: August th Annual Lithuanian Days Schuylkill Mall, Rt. 61 and I-81, Frackville, Pa. Info: kofl144.weebly.com August Third Week Heritage Children s Camp for English speakers ages August 11- September 2 World Lithuanian Mountain Skiing and Australia Tour Snowy Mountains, Perisher, Australia Info: Ed Mickie, edmickus1@aol. com August Meno8Dienos Adult Art Camp OCTOBER 2013 October 20 Cepelinai Dinner St. Anthony s Parish Hall, Omaha Info: omahosltb.blogspot.com NOVEMBER 2013 November 9 Lithuanian Foundation Gala Info: lithuanianfoundation.org November th Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show featuring artists from Lithuania Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia Info: pmacraftshow.org 2015 July 3-5, th Lithuanian Song Festival Chicago Info: lithuanian-american.org 21

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