The Sodyba - Homestead

The Sodyba - The Homestead

Each family‘s sodyba (homestead - also called namas, daiktas) comprised not only buildings, but orchards and gardens, corrals and ponds as well. Generally, Lithuanians tried to maintain the integrity of their property, and it was not the custom to distribute their wealth amongst their children. Properties passed intact from father to a son, usually the eldest, but possibly a younger son. Other sons received a cash payment, daughters were išleistos į marčias (sent to be daughters-in-law), and other sons - į žentus (as sons-in-law).

We have some knowledge of the 16th to 19th century homesteads listed in manorial inventories, and from this we learn about the many farms that were not broken up as inheritances or passed to one son, but where several married sons lived and worked on their father‘s farm with their wives and children. Such large families could at one time encompass 40 to 50 individuals, and the sodyba contained many seperate buildings - some for each married couple to sleep in, for bread-making , beer-brewing, for laundry, for the storage and threshing of grain,etc. This kind of farm might contain upwards of 20 buildings. Often, these included an old-style dwelling with an open firepit, as well as a new-style house with a brick furnace, larger windows and more convenient layout, as well as several of each kind of outbuildings: the klėtis (granary), tvartas (cattle barn), jauja (drying barn), maltuvė (handmill room), and pirtis (sauna). The entrance to the sodyba was enhanced by leafy trees, both fruitful and ornamental. Lithuanian folksongs celebrate the sodyba, referring to it as ūkininko dvaras (the farmer‘s estate).

This article was printed in Bridges, 2011