Knitting articles by Donna, Old Blogs
FALL COLORS: Lithuanian History
Originally posted 9/20/2010
As fall begins – here in Lithuania anyway – I am determined to spend more time writing, less time roaming the streets. I’m sure the weather will cooperate in furthering this plan. And while I am in Lithuania, what better to write about than history? And where better to begin than at the beginning? The beginning of what? Of my attempt to understand.
As I’ve been working on this book for the last several years, I’ve found the topic of history the most difficult to approach. This morning I thought I’d take a look in Arctic Lace to see how I’d handled history there, since I didn’t have any specific memories of struggling with that subject. Lo and behold, there is no chapter specifically about history in Arctic Lace! How is it that I could have forgotten that? Thinking back even further, though, I do remember having a terrible time on the history chapter for The Knitted Rug. And that was just the history of a craft, not the history of a land, a people, a culture, and so much more, which is what I am attempting now. All in just a few pages! I’ve tried several different approaches, but haven’t been happy with any of them.
First I made a timeline and tried to fill in the names and dates and places the way we would have learned about history when I was in school. Boring! Over simplified to a fault, and at the same time so full of details that no story takes shape. If you don’t believe me, take a look at this timeline on Google. Is it any wonder that I hated studying history in school? Give me stories any day; but put raw facts and figures in front of me, and I’m nodding out in a few minutes.
Next I tried to look at the history from many different perspectives. The Lithuanians have one big, overarching story to tell – their national mythology – just as we have our own in America. But, perhaps because it’s a small country, or perhaps for other reasons that haven’t surfaced in my mind, other versions of the history of Lithuania are fairly easy to come by.
I found books and articles about Jewish-Lithuania, about Polish-Lithuania, about Russian-Lithuania, and even about the Belarusian perspective of Lithuanian history. I also, perhaps obviously, stumbled onto a few histories of Lithuania written from the US or Western European perspective. Depending on the time period covered and the language of the author, we might read about Vilnius, Vilna, Vilne, or Wilno, we might find street names given in Lithuanian, Russian, Yiddish, or Polish – or an Anglicized variation of any of these. In each of these stories, nuances lurked in the shadows while some differences were stark. All of the narratives made sense in one way or another, but they jumbled together in my mind like a bowl of alphabet soup. Again, no clear picture took shape for me.
Third, I thought I would approach the history of this country through my own travels here, pointing out interesting historical events and facts as I discovered them. On my first visit here, I saw the city through the eyes of a stranger and a tourist. The next summer, I lived here as a student of the Lithuanian language and explored the country through its museums, monuments, textiles, and people. On my third visit here, I came as a writer, and I found myself immersed in the stories of the millions of Jews who had spent their lives here at one time or another. This year I feel some confusion as I try to settle in for a longer visit with my husband: Lithuania is home but not home, strange but safe, foreign and familiar, new and old. I am, in a way, seeing Lithuania through my own history of visiting, even though that history spans only a few summers, not decades, centuries, or millennia.
I am reading a book called “The Borders of Lithuania: The History of a Millennium” a book about the history of Lithuania as seen though maps. The colors I’d like to talk about today (to keep the post on the topic of Fall Colors!) are the colors of maps. And the approach to history I am exploring now is how stories can be told through maps. Maps are interesting things. Some are meant to be miniaturized versions of the real world, showing roads or terrain or the shapes of land masses.
Other maps are meant to solidify political borders, make them real to us in a way that can only be done through miniaturization. In the real world, a border is invisible unless it is patrolled or demarcated with a fence or wall. But on a map, we can draw a solid line and say, “Everything in this line belongs to me and mine.” Maps can also be quite abstract but still provide valuable information, the way subway maps do. Maps tell the truth and they tell lies at the same time.
The lies are not necessarily intentional deception, but leaving out some information and distorting other information to make the map useful for one purpose, at the same time makes the map useless for anything else. So with each version of history that we read, we must determine the purpose of the author. The mere listing of dates and names may be the most accurate way to look at history, but it does not provide any insight into the culture or motives or thoughts or lives of the people who lived at the time.
I’ve been writing about the history of Lithuania for several years. Drafting and outlining and making notes and drafting some more. I have written four or five versions of this blog post in my notebook, on my iPhone, and on my laptop. And although I still haven’t come to terms with anything, I am starting to see a thread, a spine, that is holding together the facts and figures I’ve been collecting.
The history of Lithuania is very long, bloody, and complicated. That said, here’s what I’ve pared it down to, this is what I see as the basic shape of the history, buried under layers and layers of names and dates and details. This is my outline of Lithuanian history, and you’ll be able to read more of it when my book is finally finished. With this outline I feel as if I finally have away to approach this chapter without getting bogged down by details and without getting too politicized by all of the different viewpoints about each event. My chapter will cover just a bit of what happened, largely from the Lithuanian perspective, but with a few sidebars to highlight other versions of the story where I think something important is left out of the main narrative, and with a few notes about my own travels and personal observations.
0 Pre-history. Sometime after the last ice-age, wandering tribes who would become known as the Baltic people settled in what would, thousands of years later, be called Lithuania. Lithuania was first mentioned in writing in 1009, when Saint Bruno, a Catholic missionary, was murdered by the pagan Lithuanians he had been sent to convert. Although Lithuania is over 80% Roman Catholic today, the nation celebrated the 1000 year anniversary of this event with flair and aplomb.
1 Medieval Lithuania. During the middle ages Lithuania became a unified nation under its first and only king, Mindaugas, who converted to Christianity in order to receive the Pope’s blessing and the crown, and thereafter reverted to paganism, or so the story goes. Ruling as Grand Dukes rather than as kings, Mindaugas’s successors saw Lithuanian lands expand eastward to the Black Sea. Today July 6, coronation day, is still a national holiday. The names of Mindaugas and his successors Gediminas (founder of Vilnius), Algirdis and Kęstutis (brothers who co-ruled over the east and west portions of Lithuania), and Vytautas the Great (who consolidated Lithuania’s power and defeated the Teutonic knights) are on monuments and street signs throughout the country.
2 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Jogaila was the last pagan ruler of medieval Lithuania. In 1386 he converted to Roman Catholicism, was baptized Władysław II Jagiełło, and married 11-year old Queen Jadwiga of Poland, beginning a partnership that would last for over 400 years. In 1569, the ties between Poland and Lithuania were tightened further with the formation of the Commonwealth of Two Nations. Lithuania’s influence in the partnership waned over time, as Polish culture gained a stronghold, especially with the gentry, in Lithuania lands, and the empire lost many of its Slavic lands in Kievan Rus’ territory.
3 Lithuania No More? In 1795, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was completely dissolved, all of Lithuania’s previous lands being absorbed into Russia, bringing an end to the existence of Lithuania as an official political entity. During the 19th century, a new Lithuanian nationalism was born, in no small part due to forced attempts at “Russification” such as the banning of Lithuanian publications printed with the Latin alphabet, prohibiting the use of spoken Lithuanian in schools, promoting the Russian Orthodox faith, and switching from the Gregorian to the Julian calendar.
4 The Twentieth Century. The twentieth century in Lithuania was dominated by the violence and oppression of World War I and II, the holocaust, and the Soviet occupation, which lasted from the end of the second World War until 1990. Lithuania experienced a brief period as an independent nation, albeit with a portion of the nation including the capital city of Vilnius under Polish rule, from 1919 to 1939, when Stalin and Hitler divided up the land under the Molotov-Ribbintrop Pact.
5 Lithuania Today. Lithuania rejoined the map as an independent nation with the collapse of the USSR. On March 11, 1990, Seimas (parliament) declared Lithuania’s independence and demanded the withdrawal of Soviet military forces. Today Lithuania is a member of Nato and the European Union and is changing at an unprecedented pace.
Experience level – advanced beginner
After I finished my Arctic Lace Knitting Book, I finally allowed myself to explore the world of lace knitting and discovered that is is much more varied and elaborate than I could have imagined. Around the world and over time, knitters in different countries and regions have developed unique styles of lace knitting that range from easy-intermediate (like the knitting of the Oomingmak knitters) to advanced-insanely- difficult (like some of the Victorian patterns designed by English knitters). Other lace styles are used in Estonia, Russia, South America, Lithuania, Germany and Austria, and New Zealand. I’m sure there are even more, but these are the styles I’ve explored so far. – Donna Druchunas –
Experience: All skill levels, basic knitting skills required.
Have you ever wondered why some people can read charts easily and others find them incomprehensible? The truth is, charts are written in a code that can be deciphered by knitters who learn the symbols on the page and in their knitting. Charts do not use arbitrary symbols, but each symbol includes the instructions on how to make the indicated stitch! In this class, you will learn the secrets of interpreting chart symbols for texture and cable stitches.
You mention such an amazing things right here and it is at all times pleassure to read. Hope to hear more and be taught from you.
You mention such an amazing things right here and it is at all times pleassure to read. Hope to hear more and be taught from you.
My family history is in Lithuania. Many nights as a child I listened to my grandfather’s stories while trying to learn lacemaking and knitting from my grandmother. I have always wanted to visit but a deep seated fear of the oppressions they suffered have always kept me here. Your writing allows me a window, a much longed for view of “home”.
Thank you for sharing.
My family history is in Lithuania. Many nights as a child I listened to my grandfather’s stories while trying to learn lacemaking and knitting from my grandmother. I have always wanted to visit but a deep seated fear of the oppressions they suffered have always kept me here. Your writing allows me a window, a much longed for view of “home”.
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Donna- good job of summarizing what is a long and complicated history; I know because I’ve had to help my 3 daughters research it 3X for their grammar school “Heritage Day” projects!!! Cultural perspective,symbolism and mythology is so interesting when evidenced in the craft and art of a people, no? Any of this you can help preserve and pass on to future generations is appreciated- my grandmother sewed,crocheted,tatted,made cutwork-embroidered pillowcases out of flour sacks and so on……but I know little about any of the whys and hows of traditional Lithuanian patterns used in weaving and knitting…I have read some of the pagan Lithuanian mythology…. guess i will have to start following you & reading your books!!! thanks….
Hi Donna- good job of summarizing what is a long and complicated history; I know because I’ve had to help my 3 daughters research it 3X for their grammar school “Heritage Day” projects!!! Cultural perspective,symbolism and mythology is so interesting when evidenced in the craft and art of a people, no? Any of this you can help preserve and pass on to future generations is appreciated- my grandmother sewed,crocheted,tatted,made cutwork-embroidered pillowcases out of flour sacks and so on……but I know little about any of the whys and hows of traditional Lithuanian patterns used in weaving and knitting…I have read some of the pagan Lithuanian mythology…. guess i will have to start following you & reading your books!!! thanks….
Sekmes Jusu ranku darbo srytyje.
Sekmes Jusu ranku darbo srytyje.
Thanks, yes, it is quite complicated. Especially compared to American history. And it’s even more complicated when you read the stories of the neighboring countries and see how each nation interprets the different periods of time, wars, and so forth.
I just finished recording a DVD on Lithuanian knitting with information about color patterns and the meanings of many of the symbols. It’s for Piecework and it’s supposed to come out in June.
I hope you get to visit Lithuania, because it is a wonderful experience. Do you have any of the items that your grandmother made? What treasures they must be.
Thanks so much for writing and please do keep in touch.
Donna
Thanks, yes, it is quite complicated. Especially compared to American history. And it’s even more complicated when you read the stories of the neighboring countries and see how each nation interprets the different periods of time, wars, and so forth.
I just finished recording a DVD on Lithuanian knitting with information about color patterns and the meanings of many of the symbols. It’s for Piecework and it’s supposed to come out in June.
I hope you get to visit Lithuania, because it is a wonderful experience. Do you have any of the items that your grandmother made? What treasures they must be.
Thanks so much for writing and please do keep in touch.
Donna
Ačiū jums! I love writing about Lithuanian textiles and folk art and I very much want to visit Lithuania again soon!
Ačiū jums! I love writing about Lithuanian textiles and folk art and I very much want to visit Lithuania again soon!
Hi Donna, I am fascinated by Lithuanian history. I am the daughter of Vitautis named after King Vitautis. My grandmother was from Lithuania and escaped during one of the wars. I have always wanted more information about my heritage and can’t wait for your book to become available. I did a paper on my grandmother for history when I was a freshman in college. My teacher was so fascinated by the story she kept my paper. I had done it on a typewriter so nothing on file, unfortunately. I have registered for your Lithuanian socks knitting and lace knitting classes at Knit Lab in New Hampshire. I can’t wait to meet you and hear about the history that you have to share with the group. I have always wanted to learn the language but my father and aunts that spoke it are now gone. I have always regretted not learning the language but look forward to knowing more about the history. On Ravelry I joined the Lithuanian group and a woman who is from Lithuania gave a short brief on the history of the country. It was quite interesting. Someday I hope to visit Lithuania but I’m not sure my husband of Greek descent would enjoy a vacation there. I look forward to meeting you soon.
Hi Donna, I am fascinated by Lithuanian history. I am the daughter of Vitautis named after King Vitautis. My grandmother was from Lithuania and escaped during one of the wars. I have always wanted more information about my heritage and can’t wait for your book to become available. I did a paper on my grandmother for history when I was a freshman in college. My teacher was so fascinated by the story she kept my paper. I had done it on a typewriter so nothing on file, unfortunately. I have registered for your Lithuanian socks knitting and lace knitting classes at Knit Lab in New Hampshire. I can’t wait to meet you and hear about the history that you have to share with the group. I have always wanted to learn the language but my father and aunts that spoke it are now gone. I have always regretted not learning the language but look forward to knowing more about the history. On Ravelry I joined the Lithuanian group and a woman who is from Lithuania gave a short brief on the history of the country. It was quite interesting. Someday I hope to visit Lithuania but I’m not sure my husband of Greek descent would enjoy a vacation there. I look forward to meeting you soon.