Life in the ruby: “Pircin aini with all the joys”

Musteika tells a quarter of a thousand years of history and it seems that he is not going to die at all. Both they and the “newcomers” return to live here. And they are all unique. Because living in a place like that has to pay. And really wanting.

The town and its experience

It’s hard to write about a town where you’ve been, spent the night, and talked to its people many times. You want not to want one or the other attitude to happen. And about the town itself you can probably say that it is not only one of the most remote, but also one of the most famous and popular in the country. Probably mostly with its dramatic beekeeping.

It is still supported by the Roma who live here. What a phenomenon. In a good way. Difficult, but simple and sincere. A man who, like a roar, continues to breathe life into the town. They try not only to live together, but also to learn by themselves and teach others the subtleties of the experience of ancient Musteikiškės crafts that are still alive.

We seek refuge in Christianity, Buddhism, yoga, or meditation. But when you think about it, it really is all here. All together and even better. Our old Lithuanian approach to nature, the environment and the philosophy of life. No need to look for anything strange. Just be patient and be able to understand what you are getting. Nobody here puts on the plate and does not read sermons. If you learn, you have to, if not, you are looking for something strange.

The trace of the sauna in memory and consciousness.

The subject of this part appeared a few years ago. Then I had to visit the steamy sauna in Rome a bit unexpectedly. Although, as it turned out later, Musteika’s sauna shouldn’t be assigned to anyone. They are just country baths. General.

I still don’t understand who made such an impression back then. It seems emotionally almost impossible to knock me out anymore. But there was something like that. Although the men met just after work to take a bath in a steaming sauna standing in the desert. No alcohol, songs or sauna customs. Alone.

Perhaps that calm, simplicity and lack of pomp was that impact in a good way. I was spoiled (like many people, probably) and to me the saying “bathroom” simply meant the politically correct term “party” or “dance.” So that surprise led me to this fall, when I went to Musteika with the clear goal of discovering what a sauna means to locals.

Amazing old Dzuk hospitality

The ancient inhabitants of the Dzūk villages continue to amaze. They will invite the guest to his purchase and offer him tea or something stronger, even if they do not know it at all and see it for the first time. Sometimes they ask me: how do you ask them and how do you talk to them? You don’t need to do that. Just say hello and these old men are already inviting you in. Look out the window, open the door and … speak. Sincerely.

So it was with Julia. Musteikiške, who has lived here for more than ninety years. As soon as I knocked on the window, the door immediately opened. It seems that he was waiting for us.

I ask if Ms Julia can say something about the sauna at Musteika. And she was just waiting for that. I listen and cannot be surprised: soft and expressive language. For a few minutes, she talks about everything about Musteika’s sauna, and I’m just quietly asking the gods that I actually hit the “rec” button on the phone, because it doesn’t happen again.

“We were two gas men”

“I’m from the other side of town. From Averk. Well, that’s what we were, Sepcyni Gaspadatori. Well, we all agreed to be in the sauna. They brought what they found, everyone gathered and built a buyer. He built them a bathhouse and made a stone oven. From small stones and from a smaller corner to that buyer.

Well and a ton of ovens add stoneware to so little ones, and add firewood and create. It burns, it burns. These sky stone stones are red. And if we drink pircina, we bring smart water. And those stonecutters are scattered and hot. And then we immediately wash with water. And then what comes out of the house brings more discussion. But it has no stone, it is not so clean. That’s right kids, tep it was.

Ajom, and we cure, the buyer is full. First garlic men. The men wash it, it is paraina. Well that’s what women always do. And we are already leading children and we are already seeing everyone. And we wash ourselves. Complete buyer is coming. Then when it cools down a bit, pour some cold water on that stove.

And there is a very hot pircina. The children are already crying. Lying face down and crying: “Very hot, grandma or mommy. It is very hot. Ale, look, he’s opening the door. That is why these boxes are made. This opens the box. That inait is already cold. That’s it, let’s live, little children. “

“As all the men come together, it is building in two weeks and a week.”

Nobody built their own private saunas in Musteika. It just wasn’t translated. All the neighbors are bathing in the sauna and they are all building it. Contribute as much as you can. Every piece of land, every piece of wood, every labor or the masonry of a kiln. They fired everyone in turn and supervised in turn.

Cayman was a septic buyer. And all in common. It helped how many gas men there were. After 5-6. Sometimes sepcynis.

They all stop after a while and are transported from the woods. Kap built, everything had its forests. And the captain did not have it, he steals, he withdraws the ire of the authorities. As all the men congregate, it takes two weeks and a week to build.

The stones were taken from Margioniai. That is, there were those Wallachians. Fields. Ride a horse, collect those stones and bring them back. That they were all trained people. He paid for everything. Everything was done by hand. In the beginning, people worked hard.

Buyers give land to anyone. It says here a little bit of zamele, yellow, tiny, stacykit. The fact that where such a yellow touch, that is, no one grew up. This is how I feel about that roller coaster.

The purchase was common. It didn’t belong to anyone. They all built together.

If they were standing, it wasn’t much of a celebration. That there were none of those bottles at the beginning. The old man was right. If you drank after a cherk and pretty. Don’t get it now. “

“Already bought ready, ainam men”

For the people of Musteika, the sauna was not entertainment, but an element of everyday life. There was only one wash here. Men and women separately. Strictly. Even until now, this attitude has persisted, and if someone sees a man and his wife going to the sauna together, it is seen as a distortion. Men and women bathe separately. Point.

“It just came to our notice then. Shiandzie is created by one of the other neighbors who follow the other week and always in this column.

On Saturdays create. Since there is more free time, create a good Saturday, and during the work year, it is every second. After work create afternoon. Light what tragic hour. Need incubation to incubate oven, stones.

Created with poor firewood. We had pine or ephemeral. What they had at the time and were creative. Break the jackal. Tadu goes on and on. Much firewood is needed. Some hugs are carried on wheels.

As it heals, then it watches for the catheter to heal and says it has healed. “Already bought ready, ainam men.” Set up, go back and forth first, a little after the scene. Kožnas brings smart and washed.

As the stones heat up and turn red, they are immersed in water and the water becomes hot. There was a spoon with a wooden lid for the stones.

Ale all pink rose. Men first. Women – later. When men change, we also see women. Pircin was not used in young children. They were washed at home in a log cabin. After about 5-6 years, vesc started. “

“Vantas is possible after Pentecost”

Vanta Musteika’s baths were personal. Like pipes. They were all tied up on their own. And it was not given to anyone. Unless the wife, if she didn’t have her own. He used to bathe alone and just standing. Now there were no hammocks as usual. Only banks at the borders. If someone wanted to take it seriously or couldn’t, only then would they turn to a neighbor for help.

“We wash with brooms. Vantas tied whoever paid. When I paid, I tied it myself. Pick up the forks, burn well, wrap. Burn the fork under the fork and there is a broom. Still to find where the leaves are cooler. We tie from birch. Sometimes we were still tied to the oak. But the best brooms are birch.

Birch trees grow, so after Pentecost you can tie up. After whit birch the same growth.

But most of the time, the men tied and herded cows. Kap pargini – paraina apsikory vantom. That winter should. Then I cling to a scepter or barn. In winter, you still clean your feet and take your brooms home.

If you get tired, take it off, then water it and they’ll relax. When you wash it, you remove the cover from the buyer and that is, behind the buyer there was such a ball, it is a ton of ball and it sinks.

Women are weaker, we didn’t used to do it, and men said, “I barely stayed alive.” Standing Vanodava. Humpback turns and magnifies itself through humps.

We first grew up in the forest, we call them woodpeckers. Pick up summers, muzzles and scratch your shoulders. If one of your legs hurts, you will be bitten by a rattle and then you will find out where it hurts.

I buy the scene with all the joy. Be happy that you live well, that the children are good, that a man does not drink. “

“Now young people no longer pay for pircin”

Every Saturday a smoke sauna is installed. The men meet their sages, bathe and disperse. Afterwards, the men’s sauna remains empty. Women choose already modern ways of bathing and do not visit the sauna.

The number of private and private baths in the village has increased. But, as Jonas from Musteikiškės says, “now young people don’t pay for a bath.” He comes, sits for a few hours, drinks brandy and doesn’t even take out the soap. John waits for the young man to finish, and only then leaves himself. Bath. As has long been the norm.

This is how Musteikis live. But not just a living sauna. There are still animals, birds and bees that show a special rural life. Here you can also see Tujinas, special wooden fences buried in the ground to protect animals from wolves. It is possible to meet Antanas, who speaks in the Aššninkai dialect, when he enters the courtyard of the house in Rome, go back a century and, if successful, hear Romualda swaying and screaming wolves.

Everyday life here is like in most remote border villages: leisurely, calm, and with a sense of humor. As it should be in a normal life.