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The last living branch of this oak dried up eight years ago. Still, foresters say it’s hard to look at the oak virtuoso who has graced the end of the year without feeling. After all, both the oak tree and the entire place in the forest where it grew up are surrounded by a mysterious, sacred, sad, instructive and concentrating aura.
Witness the tragedy
The history of the Sharava oak can be found online, although it is embellished in one place and shortened in another. As the foresters said, they collected information from encyclopedias, some from newspapers, or surviving stories from people who still remember the events of the time, passed down from one generation to the next. Therefore, your information is considered the most accurate currently available.
An uprising took place in the Sharava forest in 1863, during which many rebels were killed, the latter being buried in the Sharava cemetery.
Among the victims were 7 priests who provided religious services to the rebels and encouraged them to fight. Every morning they gathered to pray next to a thick old oak 1 km west of the village. An outdoor altar was prepared, a cross was nailed to a tree above it, and the Blessed Sacrament was hidden in an oak hollow.
Someone betrayed the rebels to the Russians, and one morning when the rebels finished hearing mass, the Russians surrounded the prayers with the Cossacks and began to kill them. Some of the rebels were killed, some were taken prisoner, some fled, and the priest they worshiped was beaten. All the arrested priests were hung from the branches of the Sharava oak tree.
Mykolas Valadka, a 17-year-old survivor of the rebel massacre, was drafted into the Russian army and then returned in 1932. He organized the construction of a chapel and Rebel Remembrance Day. Since 1933, prayers for the dead have been held every year in the fall, according to Bronius Kviklis’s encyclopedia “Our Lithuania.”
A large number of people gathered to worship for many years. It is true that, as the witnesses to the events passed into eternal rest, their children became obsolete, the number of people who attended worship decreased every year.
However, they were stopped entirely just because of the coronavirus pandemic; However, the oak services were no longer held, the St. Foresters Mass for the dead was ordered in the church.
Photo by Eglė Kuktienė / A cross on the fallen oak of Sharava, a chapel built next to it
Exceptional data
Vaida Venckuvienė, forestry assistant for the Skaistgiris forest district in Kėdainiai district, says that oak and all forest space are very expensive for foresters. Although he remembers terrible moments, at the same time it reminds him of the most important things: freedom, courage, concentration, respect. The place is mystical, but, says the interlocutor, with a good aura.
“His virtuous reminds us how temporary we are on this earth. It makes you think about it, realize your minority, your powerlessness ahead of time. At the same time, he asks that this time be used wisely, ”says the ranger, adding that although the oak was very impressive from a natural point of view, its imaginary history is much more valuable.
“Different sources speak differently, but to our knowledge, foresters, from all the information collected and the many sources, this oak was more than 600 years old.
It was over 230 cm in diameter and over 30 meters high. It is true that the oak tree has been broken lately, probably by lightning.
For us, as for the entire community in the Kėdainiai district, it is close and very expensive due to the history. As a natural monument, it is impressive, but its history is much more remarkable. That story is very real, by word of mouth.
And those services were organized by the former forest company Kėdainiai, a large number of people gathered in them, but the coronavirus forced us to end this tradition, “said the interlocutor.
He added that the oak was one of the few oldest in Lithuania, and we probably wouldn’t find another, at least something similar, in Kėdainiai.
An uprising took place in the Sharava forest in 1863, during which many rebels were killed, the latter being buried in the Sharava cemetery.
Mystical and peaceful place
According to the forester, the oak, which sprouted in the year of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, attracted people and created a good aura. “It was magical,” he says, adding that people felt encouraged after services, children played around them, even bravely slipped inside, and after services, no one was in a rush to part.
“We foresters, if we are planning a meeting somewhere, we generally choose ‘by the oak’. Everyone knows what they are talking about, everyone wants to go there, that place in the forest is welcoming, close, acceptable to everyone. Not for nothing, apparently, that place was also chosen for worship at that time, ”says V. Venckuvienė with great tenderness in his voice.
Skaistgiriai Village Community Photo / Sharava Oak
Oak, as a natural monument, is protected by the state, and the entire area around it is also protected. There is no activity there, full of virtuous, the forest is natural. Perhaps the fact that man does not try to claim that place for himself, on the contrary, allows nature to take care of everything that man has done there, and makes that place so pleasant.
“The interesting coincidence is that on April 19, our fellow geneticists had gone to the Sharava oak tree still standing, took several samples and three days later said goodbye to all of them.
Because it was extremely large, there was a lot of empty space around it, not covered in trees. When he turned around, he didn’t hurt anything, he didn’t break anything, he just ended his long life with dignity and lay down next to other trees in the forest, ”said the ranger.
The children are growing
While the oak was still green, many of its depths were harvested and sprouted. This natural monument was thus cloned not only here, in the Sharava forest, behind the wooden sculpture of the forest. There are sons of the Sharava oak both in the Botanical Garden of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas and in other parts of Lithuania.
Photo by Eglė Kuktienė / Sharava oak
“Our director at that time was very enterprising, he organized everything. The descendant of the oak tree grows near Gistinis Skaistgiris, so the whole place will continue to be supervised and organized by us. poodle, and a hill of crosses, a viewpoint, benches. People go there to pick mushrooms and berries; they rest in that place, they get stronger, they recharge their good energy and they continue traveling ”, says V. Venckuvienė.
The traditions will continue
She adds that due to the virtuous and natural ecosystem left for the course, the place becomes even more dangerous, so later, when the quarantine ends and the Sharava oak child grows even more, it is unlikely that the services are performed alive. But the traditions will continue, albeit in a somewhat different way.
“Every September, we foresters order Holy Mass in the church and the tradition will continue.
This forest was a sanctuary for the people, they hid here, the forest protected and protected them. Here the people celebrated and rejoiced, believed and saw death. The oak saw so much, it witnessed such important events.
Soldiers of the Republic of Lithuania near the oak
Twenty years ago, there were a crowd of people here, the shooters gathered, songs were sung, there was a whole event, not just worship.
I myself had to be in the cult three years ago, it has already gathered few people, a circle completely proper to those for whom history is dear.
And for us foresters, this place is very important, dear, we will not forget it ”, promises V. Venckuvienė.
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