Gyvenamasis Namas - The House

Much has been learned through archaeological investigations, about our ancestors’ earliest circumstances and way of life, while written word about their homes reaches us from the 15^th century. The Polish historian Jan Dlugoš wrote that Lithuanians‘ houses were constructed of wood and straw, wider at the bottom, narrower at the roof-line, resembling a ship‘s hull. There was an opening in the roof above a cooking firepit in the floor, allowing smoke to ascend and by which sunlight reached some parts of the house. Dlugoš inferred that these buildings were primitive in the utmost, housing people, their possessions, weapons, farm tools, seed, and livestock as well. He opined that Lithuanians were coarse peasants, barborous and crude, inclined to idolatry, sorcery and magic. Dlugoš never visited Lithuania, but held a poor opinion of Lithuanians, describing conditions that had existed during a bygone era, rather than his own time. All the same, he was not mistaken about the 15th-century Lithuanian home. That was truly the old namas, which could still be found in Žemaitija at the beginning of the 19th century, an example of which we can see in the outdoor Rumšiškes Museum. This type of house was replaced beginning with the 16th century, by a newer type, the stuba, or troba, leaving the old house in use as an outbuilding. The stuba or troba was prevalent in the northeast, from the Nevėžys river across Aukštaitija, even south to Dzūkija, built with logs and a straw roof, similar to our American “log cabin“. The arrangements and design of Lithuanian homes varied from district to district, as did the particular names used for the homes and their sections: stuba, troba, šeimynstuba, pirkčia, seklyčia, stubelė, stubelaitė, butas, virtuvė, viryklė, priemenė, pirkaitė.

For our example, the Lithuanian ethnographer Ignas Končius describes a middle-class trobą in Žemaitija: One enters through the priemenė, an entrance hall which stretches all along the front length of the house, where firewood is heaped against one wall, along with various implements - yarn spools, a spinning wheel, numerous bags and baskets hanging on the wall - a rake, a scythe, several brooms in one corner, near a collapsing old vat. A particularly prosperous householder may have several small rooms (alkieriukai or kamaraitės) attached to one end of the house, with entrance doors both from inside the house, and from the outside.These might be used as pantries or store-rooms, but more likely as bedrooms for younger members of the family, or servants.

The chimney, part of the massive whitewashed brick stove, stands in the middle, dividing the house into two parts - one for the household‘s daily use (pirkia), the other for entertaining guests (seklyčia). The part of this chimney that stood above the roof might be prominently decorated, either by a bright coat of paint, or by ingeniously-folded combinations of fabrics and tin plate. “So devils may not worm their way in“ during a thunderstorm, not only doors and windows were securely closed, but even the chimney was plugged up. In eastern Lithuania, at about midnight on Kūčios night, one could climb up the roof, stick one‘s head into the chimney, and shout “Ar yra čia manasis?”. (Are you there, my own?) As a result, one’s future husband or wife would soon turn up -- (but not on the roof.)

Inside the house, there might be a small chamber at the top of the stove, an arrangement for the smoking of meats. At floor level, an open fireplace and one or two ovens were built into the stove, which also had a stepped construction that made a platform useful as a warm, snug sleeping space.

The pirkia, as the family‘s usual living space, was simply furnished, with a long table, benches and a few chairs, several storage chests (skrynios) often painted with colorful flower motifs, clothes closets (drabužių spintos), and/or bureaus (komodės).

One or two large beds stand against a windowed corner. If two, they would be positioned head to foot, covered by woven bedspreads and finished with at least two or three large pillows each, in fine white linen, some featuring beautiful crocheted borders. Often a lopšys (cradle) hangs above a bed. The pirkia can be finished with religious

pictures on the walls, a decorative towel-holder, bunches of dried flowers or herbs, and not a great deal else.

Furniture in the seklyčia is essentially the same as that in the pirkia, but of better quality, and the table is covered by a fine linen cloth rather than the coarsely-woven one used by the family. There might even be a cuckoo-clock on the wall, and a nicely-framed mirror. Flooring in the seklyčia was of wood, whereas in the pirkia it was generally clay. The seklyčia, as a part of the house reserved for guests and entertaining, is usually closed off and unheated. It is the seklyčia‘s windows that look out on the flower garden, pride of the household‘s maiden daughters. Windows have outside shutters, and fancy cut-paper decorations adorn the inside. Pots of flowers (geraniums are favored) sit on the wide windowsills. On the whole, the old-fashioned Lithuanian home is the picture of peace and tranquility.

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In the years since Lithuania regained her independence, construction projects have proliferated, especially in Vilnius, where many “skyscrapers“ (danguoraižiai) have changed the city’s skyline siluoette.

In place of the sodyba and kiemas, urban apartment complexes offer a patch of grass, children’s playgrounds, a few shade-trees and park-benches for residents’ use. Newly-built modern apartments offer conveniences that were unthinkable during the recent Communist occupation, and citizens take advantage of available financing for their mortgages. Neglected old manor houses, sprinkled throughout the country, are being claimed and refurbished, for a new life as B&B’s,

hotels, or convention centers. Some young families, unable to find employment in the cities, are moving back to the kaima, having decided to try old-fashioned subsistence farming for a while. If they have the resources, they might build a home, or just move back with parents. But the majority of residents in the kaimas remain in their old homes either because they are contented to do so, or because there is no other choice available to them.

The Lithuanian’s Home has changed, along with the country itself. But its major components are still the same, and are as dear and familiar to the Lithuanian, as they always have been.

© English Translation - Gloria O’Brien 2011

This article was printed in Bridges, 2011