We’re in the middle of autumn, and it’s been absolutely beautiful this year. So much sun and clear blue sky – the Baltics haven’t seen such weather in quite a while. Of course, as all good things in this world, the unusually cheerful weather is going to change soon. I’ve heard something about snow in Vilnius already this Thursday!

But there’s good news for all who are in Vilnius (or planning to visit) this October: it’s going to stay warm here at least till November, because Vilnius is being hit by a wave of Portuguese sights and sounds. On the 18th, as a guest of Vilnius Jazz festival, a Portuguese composer and pianist Filipe Raposo is giving a concert inspired by traditional Portuguese and classical music.

On the 20th, there’s a screening of Os Mistérios de Lisboa, or Mysteries of Lisbon a new film about the most beautiful city in existence, in the Portuguese embassy in Vilnius. And on the same occasion, my photo exhibition “Portugal in Balck and White” will be opened in the embassy’s gallery.

Then on the 28th there’s another concert – the one I’ve been waiting so long for – fado singer Joana Amendoeira, joined by the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra. And it’s in the Church of St. Catherine! The sound is going to be amazing. I first heard Joana in Vilnius in the summer of 2008, and then again in 2009 in the town of Cascais, Portugal, where I was living at the time. Joana has a beautiful voice and her songs are full of Portuguese spirit – just the thing to keep you warm when days are getting shorter and winter is fast approaching.

Don’t know about you, but I’m feeling warm already. Oh, it’s the radiators – the central heating was just turned on. Just one more reason to be happy.

Well, it’s been a crazy summer, and these chronicles haven’t been updated much recently. But that doesn’t mean there was nothing to tell! On the contrary – the summer was full of events and interesting things, and I’ll try to describe at least some of them.

Let’s start with a shovel, a trowel and a brush – the tools that you’re most likely to use if you want to uncover items from centuries ago laying under ground. These tools became very well known to first year students of Applied History from Vilnius Pedagogical University who practiced archeology for two weeks in June and July in the village of Tamašiūnai, near Aukštadvaris. A 15th century graveyard was being explored, and the excavations continued throughout the summer, with groups of students changing every two weeks. I’ve always been fascinated by the work of archeologists, but never had a chance to come closer to the actual digging sites, so when a friend of mine suggested to go with him to Aukštadvaris and visit his course mates, I was very excited and immediately agreed.

In the scorching heat of the day we hitchhiked from Vilnius to Vievis, where we got extremely lucky and were picked up by a driver who took us right to our destination. The students were resting after a long day’s work by the lake, and were happy to share with us their fresh impressions of the excavation. Besides being tired and having sun burns from working in the heat of thirty something degrees, they were also very excited and told us about what they’d already found in the graveyard – the skeletons of two grown-up people, pieces of flint and even a whole spur. They also told us to talk to their supervisor, Dr. Ilona Vaškevičiūtė, as she would be able to tell us more about the work of archeologists in Lithuania.

My friend Tadas with Dr. Vaškevičiūtė

To those who do not know much about archeology, I must say that, contrary to what most people think, the aim of archeological excavations is not to dig up and bring to museums and laboratories everything that can be found under ground. Today’s archeologists acknowledge the fact that, although excavations are important for learning new things about various periods in history, the existing technologies of excavating still damage the excavation site to some extent. But they, as every other technology, are evolving, and future generations will probably have much better, more sophisticated ways of working, so the bigger portion of findings is left for them.

What does get excavated these days, however, is still very interesting. Dr. Vaškevičiūtė tells us about a sword discovered not far from their excavation site just a few weeks ago – that’s only the third 15th century sword discovered in Lithuania so far. She also shows us another finding – something her students found just the day before. Neatly wrapped in a soft cloth, there’s a real metal spur. It’s very well preserved, and we can even see tiny decorative ornaments on it.

I am curious if soon we’ll run out of places to excavate – Lithuania is a small country, and with archeologists working every year, are there still many things left to discover? Dr. Vaškevičiūtė assures me that there’s still enough work for hundreds of years. She is worried about something else – Lithuania, just as any other country in the world, is lately suffering from an increased activity of so called black archeologists. Today’s advanced technologies enable them to detect graveyards and other places with archeological artifacts, which they then loot by taking jewelry and other commercially valuable items and leaving everything else behind. It’s not uncommon to find things that the looters weren’t interested in simply scattered on the ground around around the excavation site.

Lake near the excavation site

Students

Although our meeting with Dr. Vaškevičiūtė and her students was short, I learned a lot of new things about archeology. My friend Tadas, who was supposed to be working here too, but was unable to because of another project, says one of the reasons he chose to study Applied History was the possibility to gain practical knowledge of archeology which he finds fascinating. I hope I’ll get more chances to visit excavation sites like this in the future, because for me, this was one of the most interesting lessons on Lithuanian history ever.

At this very moment, a group of 20 young Lithuanians are working hard to make some 50 year-old forgotten cemeteries look… well, alive. They cut their way through trees and bushes, put up old fallen crosses (or make new ones on the spot), and wipe moss off gravestones to reveal Lithuanian names engraved on them. Today, those names can be found mostly in cemeteries around here, but this wasn’t the case in the 1940s, when, according to Stalin’s instructions, hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians as well as Latvians, Estonians and many other peoples were taken from their homes and deported here, to Siberia.

Some of those people were able to come back after Stalin’s death in 1953, but many died of hard work, starvation and cold. It is their names that are engraved on those old mossy gravestones. Almost every family in Lithuania was affected by the deportations in one way or another. But with time, many things are forgotten, and sometimes one may find a little Lithuanian cemetery in a remote Siberian village has been turned into a dumpster by the locals. Memory is fading fast, and those who have lived though the turbulent times of deportations are silently passing away, taking many untold stories with them.

In 2006, the first four expeditions of Mission Siberia, a project organized by the Lithuanian Youth Council, set off to four different places in Siberia, the places where Lithuanian people are known to have been deported and lived. The project proved to be not only meaningful, but also extremely successful, and this year, on the 1st of July, a crowd in Vilnius central train station waved goodbye to the 8th expedition, heading to Sverdlovsk Oblast.

The 14 young people that joined this expedition successfully passed several stages of selection, including a questionnaire to check their motivation and an exhausting 2-day, more than 50km trial hike in Lithuanian forests, and were selected from 1200 applicants. Other people in the expedition include the guide, his assistant and a small crew that’s making a documentary film about it.

The organizers of the project assured that another expedition will take place next year, and the project will continue. The main purpose, however, is not to tidy up all the cemeteries, but to tell the younger generation of Lithuanians about the nation’s past, and no textbook can tell it better than their peers. Each member of the expedition will spend the whole year visiting schools, universities, cultural centers and other places, giving presentations about the expedition and it’s aims.

And I guess if, after hearing the presentation, a schoolkid will visit his or her grandparents and ask them to share their memories, the project Mission Siberia will have really succeeded.

New York? Wrong, it’s Vilnius. At least for yesterday, the night of June 19th, when the annual event, called “Let there be night!” (“Tebūnie naktis”, lit.) occupied more than 80 different places of the city. After it’s kick-off in 2007, the happening is developing and expanding fast, with more concerts, workshops, and other events every year.

City street before nightfall

The idea is not original and was borrowed from other European capitals, but good ideas can and must be shared. Vilnius seems to have succeeded in adopting one of them and embracing the night, however short, filling it up with culture from dusk till dawn. This year, there was something for everybody: you could listen to classical, jazz or popular music, go on guided excursions, participate in workshops, choose from a large number of film screenings (from early American avant-garde shorts to documentaries about Tibet in the newly-named public garden of Tibet), learn to dance lindyhop, watch bats in the Vilnius University botanical garden, drink milk with cookies, make your own perfumes or a nightgown with nordic patterns, learn a few laughing yoga exercises, listen to lectures… you name it.

A late night snack: milk and cookies

Random fun fact: there are still some individuals who think it’s all about visiting most or, ideally, all the events on the short night’s list. Good luck, guys! It must have been hard work, running from one place to another, knowing there are 83 in total. Get some rest now, because next year there will definitely be more. Sorry for those who got scared of the hard rain and stayed at home, because just before 9 pm the rain stopped, the umbrellas were all folded up and the bright, sleepless night took over every corner the city.

Let there be rain!

Haven’t seen last night’s statistics yet, but in 2009, the events of “Let there be night!” were visited by approximately a hundred thousand people. Whatever the number this year, the city sure felt like a beehive yesterday. Vilnius is alive, and it seems like the best things in this city happen naturally and spontaneously, without the “Cultural capital” label stuck to them.

Poetry readings in second-hand bookstore Mint Vinetu

A stained-glass workshop