Rudamina Local Custom Tips by matcrazy1

National bird of Lithuania?

I met many, even very many white storks both in Lithuania and in north-eastern Poland. This one on my picture put up a nest on the top of a house along the road from Rudamina to Lazdijai. There were many stork's nests located on a top of phone or electrical posts as well. In winter you can meet my white stork in... Tunisia.

The most unique place where I saw walking storks was freeway/motorway A1 from Klaipeda to Kaunas. They were searching for food on green strip which seperated opposite carriageways. Hmm... some of them were killed by fast driving cars there :-(.

Lofty monuments

Look at this column, topped by an angel statue, put among beautiful coniferous trees by Rudamina parish church. It was a monument to Lithuanian priest and fighter for Lithuanian independence Antanas Milukas (1871 - 1943).

There were quite many such wooden and lofty columns with a sculpture or a statue put on a top around Lithuania. They were put to commemorate someone or something which was usually explained on accompanied plaques (usually in Lithuanian but sometimes in Latin or Polish language as well).

Greenhouses or rather plastic tunnels

There were quite many small greenhouses located by local houses in Rudaminy. Usually they looked similar to that one on my picture. They were not fit with glass but with plastic foil which created more a kind of a plastic tunnel than a greenhouse.

As I know the only quasi-private and relatively effective agriculture allowed in the former Soviet Union consisted of very small ploughlands with such plastic tunnels put by local, state-owned houses. Locals were allowed to grow limited amount of vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers) and fruit trees (apples, cherries) for private use there.

Wooden top of church towers

I was lucky to see a few churches in the area close to Rudamina. I found that church towers were usually topped as on my picture.

There was a wooden, cubic shape structure on the top of a church tower with a holy cross put on it. I have never seen something like this anywhere else, have you?

Lithuanian or Eastern mess?

There was unbelievable but... pretty mess around many local houses. Rudamina's, Lithuanian or the Eastern (the Southern ?) local custom ? In the USA I was told and I saw quite different... Arizonian (southern ?) mess: look :-).

Well, a mess (but clean, please) is always more interesting than perfect order and maybe even beautiful, am I wrong? And the perfect order is not that much natural for human beings. At least are there any perfect humans ?

Local honey and celadon colour

There were quite many wooden houses in and around Rudamina which were painted in similar colour (celadon?) to this one on my picture.

Enlarge, please to see the two strange cubic, wooden constructions put by the house - the old beehives. Hmm... I didn't try any honey there but I bought some in a grocery in nearby town of Lazdijai and it tastes good. I saw some honey liquers there as well.

Homemade drinks and drunk Brussels :-)

This older guy on my picture was preparing something special in this large machine put outdoors by his house. What was that? Juice or... moonshine? I think some juice... machines for moonshine look different, right? And, as I know it's not allowed to produce any alcoholic drinks unless for personal use.

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Since 1 May 2004 I am an European Union citizen :-) and I, being definitively over 17yo :-(, can import booze from any EU country (without any customs :-) but only for personal use. How much? Well, they counted in Brussels (the city itself was not that bad :-) that I can need for my personal use:
- 10 liters of spirits,
- 20 liters of strong wine (sherry, porto),
- 90 liters of normal wine (incl. up to 60 l of sparkling wine)
- 110 liters of beer.

How did they count it? If you know e-mail me, please ASAP! Cheers :-)

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Lazy, boring, gossiping, the best life?

Rudamina was a village where everyone knew everyone, I was sure. The simple life looked lazy and boring there. There were no attractions for locals (or I didn't find any) except... other locals. Is simple life the best or... gossiping, lazy and boring ?

Locals used to stop a car (there was one!) in the middle of a street (there was one!) and talk to other locals, just met a bicycle rider or a walker like on my picture.

Typical wooden house

There were quite many, 2-store (-floor) wooden houses in and around Rudamina which were similar to this one on my picture. They were usually built either in 19th or at the beginning of 20th centery.

These houses looked similar in shape to many houses built in Poland but they were not brick/cement but wooden. They had a front vestibule (porch) put on the ground floor which either had typical windows (like usually in Poland) or was fit with a lot of glass (like on my picture and often in... Germany).

The balcony on the roof of the front porch was typical as well. Lithuanian wooden houses were usually painted in either green or yellow or orange.

Small roofs above saints

Take a closer look at the cross on my picture which stood by Rudamina's parish church.

Pay attention to small, wooden, gable roof above a statue of a saint. I found such or similar small roofs typical for Lithuania. They were put either above the statue of a saint or - larger ones - above the whole cross which in this way looked more like a chapel than a cross itself.