Kestas, Roz^e, & Ona in front of the only store in Musninkai.
Antanas, Jonas, & Kestas in front of the church.
My alarm went off at 6 AM, so I got up, showered, dressed, and got Elena up and dressed. Then got Vikki & Mari up - in Mari's room. They were out until 4AM! They preferred to get up slowly rather than have breakfast. But they had a great night out. So Elena & I got Sharon and had breakfast. A sort of scrambled-egg cake, which was quite good, in addition to the regular buffet. Upstairs to clean up and get the girls. Kestas arrived, and we were off to Musninkai, via a lovely scenic route.
The Kanclerai family has a family requiem mass and family gathering at the end of every September. I'm fortunate to have attended two now. The family originally lived in Musninkai. Our grandmother, Mama, was born in the hamlet of Kaimineliai, which is a group of houses on a side road north of the church. Our grandfather, Tete, was assigned as church organist and choir director. He met our grandmother, who was in the choir and the daughter of the local magistrate. Tete fell in love with Mama and idolized her father. Mama & Tete married - and soon left for the US - in 1913. Much of Mama's family left for Kaunas during the period between the world wars, when Lithuania was independent, but Poland held Vilnius, so the capital was moved to Kaunas. They eventually sold the family house because it was impossible to control its use by Soviets and drunks. But they still gather in Musninkai at the end of every September to celebrate the family. We all met at the parish church. Mari, Elena, & I were amazed that we could really follow the service, even though we couldn't understand the Lithuanian. It was the exact pattern of our Episcopalian Rite II. We said our English prayers and responses along with the Lithuanian ones.
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Kestas, Roz^e, & Ona in front of the only store in Musninkai. |
Antanas, Jonas, & Kestas in front of the church. |
Jonas, Juze, Dalius, Vikki, Roz^e, Antanas, Kestas. |
Ona, Regina, Roz^e, Elena, Mari, & Vikki. |
Elena in the organ and choir loft where her great-great parents met - and that meeting was really the start our family. |
The altar. It may not be obvious, but this is an unusual crucifix. Christ's feet are nailed separately - not one crossed over the other. |
From the church, we drove up the road to the cemetery.
Every grave is a beautiful garden. |
The Man of Sorrows, and Ruta. Mari's husband Keith carved me my own Man - definitely not this size. |
Vikki putting a candle on "our" grave. Mom's ashes are buried there, along with her grandparents. Mom's is the middle plaque. |
Juze, Valentina, Sharon, Elyte, Mari, Vytas, me, Elena, Ona, Jonas, Regina, Antanas, Ruta, Elena, Aldona, Dalius, Aurija, and Pieras. |
Then we caravanned a tad up the road and onto the little lane to Kaimineliai and up the drive, through an apple orchard, to the old Kanclerai home. It has been fully, and faithfully, restored to as close as possible to how Mama's grandfather built it. A neat young couple recently bought it. He's Lithuanian; she's from Latvia but learned at her wedding that her grandmother came from Lithuania.
Elena, Mari, Elyte, & Regina being greeted by the young couple. |
Regina, Elena, Kestas, Aldona, Elyte, & Ruta set up drinks and pastries. |
And we all went in and had a party - brandy, juice, and pastries! Can you imagine? You buy a house and it comes with the entire Kancleris family - including five from the US! What a lovely couple to welcome us into their new home because it is "our" old one.
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A bunch, but by no means all, of us on the porch.
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Then we all drove back south of Musninkai to a great restaurant high up above the River Neris for the family dinner.
Elena found a playground with traditional Lithuanian toys. |
Emute, our newest Lithuanian relative, with Grandma Aldona. |
And we all went in to a long table laden with platters of delicious food. Breads, herring, fresh veggies, cheeses, meats
Gabriela, Elena, Pieras, Rasa (Emute's mother - no question as to why Ema is a beautiful baby), Aldona, Dalius, Mari, & Vikki. |
Vikki, Grandpa Kestas with his Emute, & Jonas. |
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Juze, Valentina, Antanas, Ona, Roz^e, & Elyte. You can see the heaping platters. Even now, I can taste and smell all the goodies. |
We ate our fill. And then they brought out the skewered chicken on rice with cooked veggies - the main course! And then, Ruta's delicious fruit pastry! Even with the help of Sturvys alus and the Lithuanian vodka - for some of us - we couldn't eat it all. We rolled away from the table.
We did lots of visiting and chatting outside. Even if we were using at least three languages, plus lots of gestures. And hugs. Finally, it was time to head back to Kaunas, this time, by the A1. Tauras rode with us and spent the whole ride talking historical re-enactment with Mari. She's in SCA and he does Knights Templar sword fighting.
Back in Kaunas, Kestas took us up above the Aleksoto funicular for a great view of the city before taking us to Metropolis.
Looking down at Aleksoto bridge and the Old Town. The cathedral is the large brick church beyond the bridge, and the town hall is the tall white building to the left. |
Looking across to the New Town. The Church of Christ's Resurrection is the gleaming white tower up on Z^aliakalnis (Green Hill). It was a looming dark thing when Mom & I came. The Soviets thought it was best suited for a warehouse. |
Vikki and I discovered that the Internet places close early on Saturday. So we each wandered around Laisves a bit alone. Mari & Elena took their own stroll. It was a lovely late afternoon to just soak in Lithuania. Then Sharon and I wrote post cards and chatted. No thoughts of dinner after the family party.
In the evening, Kestas & Aldona came to take us to visit Aurija & Laimis in the Birute neighborhood. And Birute is Sharon's mother's real name: what her parents called her. Of course, the fool who wrote out her birth certificate wrote Bertha.
Wow! What a house. It's behind a wall, with a lovely front garden and a drive to a garage. There's a ground floor basement and a staircase up to the main floor, with a big entry room, much too nice to be a "mud room". There's a central room with other rooms off it all the way around. And they built this whole home themselves, literally. Two surgeons and their boys with the help of Uncle Jonas. Makes our being proud of painting our own house look a tad shabby.
The fireplace in the central area - a big family room open to the second floor with its surrounding banistered hall, which is surrounded by bedrooms and the home office. |
Sharing photos, tea, & cookies in the living room. Kestas, Aldona, Darius, Elena, Tauras, Mari, & Aldona. |
The dining room. Those big windows overlook the back garden. |
Elena and Tauras playing pool in one corner of the huge attic playroom - or series of play-alcoves. |
Lovely, relaxing evening. But we were tired from a long and busy day. So home to Metropolis, and to bed.
The next day: 9/28
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