The famous crusader worker from the Raseiniai region discourages those who want to ask for a cross: there may be quite a few crying

“What a tree allows”

“I usually start with what the tree allows. There is rot in this place, first it removes the cancer cells and then what is left. There is such a paradox in life: I started to make a bear, but a moose came out. Now that moose is standing next to the cafe on the road, more precisely, sitting, playing the guitar ”, laughs Richard when we talk about what will be born from a tree in his garden.

The carver also speaks with a smile about the oak tree that we found in his patio that day during the visit: “So you can get it at the entrance, there is room for the wings.”

And at the entrance there is a devil with open wings. How the teacher laughs, what coronavirus sits here.

How upset Richard gets talking about how the tree itself dictates ideas for his future work:

“About 200 years ago, this guy has had as many surprises as him, uiiii. The most interesting thing was once with the shepherd of Ariogala Gintautas, he is a great man, the man is above all wonderful. Called, says: I have an oak tree, I need to do something. I say – where did you get it? It says: the garden is growing. Pastoral patio? Okay, yes. I think about how here, how many are there, and he asks: how much to cut you? It is already lying in the garden.

I screamed to do nothing, I’m coming. I drive and the 30-meter oak is in the garden. We think about what to do. I cut out everything I need, and now St. George is there. “

I drive and the 30m oak is in the garden. We think about what to do. I cut as needed and now there is St. Jorge.

Of another piece of this oak, the carver says that he could have created a pagan sculpture.

“I found it lenciūgo piece, ties, nails and explosives. The complete history. When you find all this, you understand that here you can plan whatever you want, and that is why the uncle thinks differently ”, the smile does not disappear from R. Ramanauskas’s face.

In memory of M. Martinaitis

I ask: is not the carver dictating the idea to the oak, but the oak to the carver?

“No, I’m just an executor. Sometimes the idea succeeds. Here’s a recent one: ten years of lying on a log, I didn’t think about what to do. The idea was for something sacred to be done, but there was nowhere where And here is something to remember Marcelijus Martinaitis – we put everything in a pile and it turns out that that oak from the same parish, a farmer who supports a lot, is not indifferent to these things, he left me that oak, maybe I’ll do something ..

How can I accept such a gift and seize the opportunity? And ten years later, on that occasion, it became such a variant that it all came together. You can plan whatever you want ”, says R. Ramanauskas on the pillar of the chapel to commemorate the birthplace of M. Martinaitis.

This chapel pillar was inaugurated in the village of Paserbenčiai (Kalnujų sen.) With archaic symbols and a commemorative plaque on April 1, commemorating the 85th anniversary of the birth of the honorary citizen of Raseiniai, the essayist M. Martinaitis, which commemorates the birthplace of Martinaičiai.

Uncut branch – nose to hand

Richard works almost exclusively with oak. As they say, for the longevity and size of this tree.

“There are no trees that big in Lithuania. And when there are dimensions … I am already finishing teaching foresters that there is no need to cut the branches completely, you have to leave a little. Then you immediately have a detail: an arm or a nose, it gets something more interesting. If there was as much clay as you wanted you would get off, here it would be different. I enjoy what nature allows me.

I have mentioned many times that if the oak is meant to grow 150-200 years, it has already been destined for firewood, and I can extend its life for another 50 years, I think I am doing a good thing. Firewood is firewood, after all, in the worst case, firewood will come out. But if something turns out more interesting, why not? ”Says the carver.

If the oak is destined to grow 150-200 years, it has already been destined for firewood and I can extend its life for another 50 years, I think I am doing something good.

The firewood is also a pity for the oak. It’s better than “fooling around,” says Richard, laughing that he also buys firewood, except firewood is different. Something is born from them, and the ovens are enough.

“And if I give a person a smile after doing something stupid, that’s all”, R. Ramanauskas is convinced.

When asked to estimate how many such smiles he has already given, how many more serious work he has done, the carver says he has made more than a hundred crosses and chapel pillars:

“I think the most impressive work is in memory of the Pope’s stay in Šiluva (The Way of the Cross – Red. last.) – A gift from God, there was a contest, the right circumstances and they told me to do it. As I did. There were all kinds of stories he could tell and tell about how oak trees, foresters, etc. were converted. But the effect is there. It’s just that this is the first work that is not marked with blood. “

Discourage from crosses

When interested in what he means, R. Ramanauskas says that crosses are most often ordered in memory of those who were murdered, tortured, or simply dead. And you tend to think that’s it.

I have such a vision of abandoning the cross because the cross is a symbol of suffering. I’m trying to show that we try something different.

“That Way of the Cross, where I also contributed, there is no memory for blood, all with hope, future, good humor. These are the best jobs you can do. It goes only a spoonful of tar, which damaged the barrel of honey: one of those drivers demolished two pillars of the chapel. At least I would have knocked down those who were on one side ”, – even because of the losses suffered, the carver does not lose his good humor and shows his deteriorated works.

When asked if he should apply to the client, or if the client has yet to apply to him, Richard says this is what applies to the client. But he admits to having an idea for the future:

“I have a vision of giving up the cross because the cross is a symbol of suffering. I’m trying to prove it, let’s try something different. Also, the cross is something very dry. The Lithuanians decorated it, but the cross will live at least several times shorter than the pillar of the chapel. I discourage this very often, we better make some kind of chapel pillar, ceiling pillar or something like that. However, there is one thing so thankful that you can customize that character more.

If you do it in memory of a grandfather or grandmother, you can use their name and put the same symbols on the chapel, you are left with such a nominal job. I have that goal. But if I’m stubborn, I make a cross. “

He says he has also spoken with colleagues about the need to change the tradition of crosses.

“It is enough to complain,” he continues.

“The art of chainsaws”

Another comment by R. Ramanauskas is that, as they say, “that technical art of chainsaws” became very popular, when the object produced was polished to appear drawn and printed by a computer.

According to the carver, it becomes even less interesting:

“It just came to our attention then. Such nuances, when at first the effect is very great, and then you start to think, somehow here popular art is very far away. But yes, there has come such a time, if I did everything. With ax and chisels, no one would pay me that much. One was like that, admittedly, it won’t escape anywhere. “

I am not an artist, I am a craftsman. Artists are the ones who do something that nobody understands.

Named as an artist, Richard laughs jokingly:

“I am not an artist, I am a craftsman. Artists are the ones who do something that nobody understands. And I am a craftsman and if my trade brings joy to someone, everything, I do not need anything else. I am a folk teacher, I was born with him and will die with him. “

99 percent. the oak comes to the wood carver’s yard by chance. And he says he started befriending a tree in 1980, that’s how it happened.

First I liked my friend’s hobby of carving out of pine bark. Later he entered the Pedagogical Institute, where he intended to become a teacher of works.

This failed because, barely a month after his studies, he offered to run the students’ workshops himself.

Ričardas moved to Raseiniai, because here, as he says, his true homeland, his mother came from here.

The last living aunt invited him to return and save his homeland. So he came back and, he says, Vilnius doesn’t miss him, even though he was interesting there.

Not meant to be bagotam

“There were such financial problems. Mom needed to make a bench in the garden. We talked with legs and spiked tables. She didn’t have those tables, but she had such a curved board, she had it, I got a bench like that. A neighbor comes over, says “I need a kit. Well. I did it for him. He comes from Tytuvėnai, from a restaurant, says: I need 20 of these. So I gathered all the boards and cleaned the patio.”

When I was in a financial crisis, the guy helped me, everything nusinulinau, I have it. No matter how much I plan, no matter what comes to mind, it’s not meant to be bagotam.

I started to think that the business could be here. I find five cubic meters of old oak boards. But somehow, something is not needed inside, so do not rush to buy. I’m not in a hurry, but I’m posting an ad on the internet that I do banking. And what do you think? One call in three months! And everything as cut. Well thank you, when I was in a financial crisis, the guy helped me, everything nusinulinau, I have it. No matter how much I plan, no matter what comes to mind, it’s not meant to be bagotam“,” R. Ramanauskas laughs, recounting another turn of his life.

R.Ramanauskas simply radiates good humor and good humor. Towards the end of the conversation, he leads to show another of his passions: a beautiful motorcycle.

“Today I have fixed the insurance”, he laughs on a hot day in March and reveals that as soon as quarantine restrictions allow, he will travel by motorcycle in Lithuania. As they say, there is a lot to see.