All grassy fields lead to the Basilica

Andryte writing...

The past few days have been eventful yet exhausting. Yesterday, Tuesday, we took an 11 km (about 7 mile) hike with the kids to a chapel on a hill called Panų Kalnas. We hiked for approximately 3 hours as we sang Lithuanian folk songs (it turns out we know more than the locals), took lots of pictures (at least the kids did...), and observed the beautiful nature of rural Lithuania. The day before we had made little crosses, so we carried them with us on our pilgrimage. When we finally arrived at our destination, we squeezed into the tiny yet beautiful chapel. According to legend, several women had been buried alive in that area as they hid from Swedish soldiers. A chapel and many crosses have been built in their memory. We carefully placed our crosses alongside the icons, paintings, crosses, and other religious items. We said several prayers and then left to set up our picnic lunch. Our adult supervisor roasted hot dogs over a bonfire as a religion teacher led the kids and us in a series of activities. We played games, relaxed, ate, and enjoyed ourselves for about four hours before a bus came to drive us back to the center. We were exhausted, so thank goodness we didn't have to walk all the way back! The kids were kind enough to walk us home once again.

As we had been hiking, our new friend Ieva invited us to join her and her family at a huge celebration of Jonines (Feast of St. John and a pagan midsummer celebration) by a lake near Zemaiciu Kalvarija. When we finally got home from Panų Kalnas, we got ready for a night of fun. When we got there, w set up our tent for two and set out to find Ieva's family. We found them all right, setting up a HUGE tent (it could probably fit about ten people). Luckily they had room for the four of us, so we didn't have to squish into our tiny shelter. We then set out to the lake, where we wove ourselves wreaths from flowers and various grasses. We ended up wearing these wreaths for most of the night. As we came back to our campsite, we saw a huge bonfire being lit and tons of people dancing Lithuanian folk dances near the blazing fire. We ran to join them, dancing most of the night away. We learned several new folk dances and danced some that we already knew. It was an incredibly fun way to meet new people and celebrate. We went to sleep as the sun began to rise (at 3:30 a.m.). The next morning we were exhausted but really happy to have participated in such a traditional and energy-filled event.

As soon as we got home this morning, the three of us went directly upstairs to sleep for a few more hours. Our host family then invited us to join them for lunch, so we ate delicious chicken and vegetables. We then set out on an exploratory walk during which we picked ground berries (žemuoges) and enjoyed relaxing among grassy fields. We made sure that we always had the Basilica in sight in case we got lost. At one point, I think we accidentally left Zemaciu Kalvarija. Our friend Silvija then invited us to her house, so we walked home and quickly made ourselves scrambled eggs for dinner before leaving for her house. We spent several hours showing each other pictures and chatting.

Tomorrow we'll be at the center again with the kids, so it's time for us to catch up on some sleep. Labanaktis!