Nature-travel

By June Molloy. LITHUANIAN HERITAGE July / August 2021 The last few years have been difficult for us all. The Covid pandemic has left no one untouched, impacting all walks of life in every corner of the globe. People have been forced to work from home, or to suddenly home-school …

Editor’s prologue: Lithuanian Heritage published an article by Tom Gregg about celebrated Canadian/ American-Lithuanian anthropologist Dr. Birutė Mary Galdikas in the November/December 1998 issue. In preparation for this follow-up interview, I extracted that article and put it on our website in the open access area: www.draugas.org/extracts/bgaldikas.pdf. We also viewed the …

Sandra Baksys. After 25 days and 4,500 miles criss-crossing the Midwest, following upon the heels of a similar expedition on the East Coast last year, Augustinas Žemaitis and Aistė Žemaitienė, both of Vilnius, Lithuania, have visited more Lithuanian-American heritage sites than anyone else in the world. This year’s “Destination Lithuanian …

John Baltrus. As promised almost two years ago (in Draugas News, July 2017) this past summer, I returned to Lithuania to continue my exploration of its countryside by bicycle. All I needed to do was dust off my bike, put air in my tires, and hit the road. I thus …

Vilius Žalpys. In the April 2018 issue of Draugas News, Vilius Žalpys conveyed his initial findings of Lithuanian pioneers in Oklahoma. Here he continues to report on the latest developments in this fascinating but little known Lithuanian enclave. The Oklahoma File Revisited This fall I returned to Oklahoma for a …

by Eugenijus Jovaiša. Aestians is the name given to people living to the east and south of the Baltic coast in the general region of Klaipėda by the Roman historian Tacitus. The history of the Aestians or aisčiai, our ancestral people, is a fascinating puzzle full of charming details of …

Part adventure, part history course and civics lesson, Mission Siberia (MS) is an annual two-week expedition by young Lithuanians to various locales in Siberia, where Lithuanians were once forcibly exiled by the Soviet government. MS has become one the most recognized youth-centered projects in Lithuania. The initial purpose of the …

By Egidijus Bacevičius. Greater Trakėnai (Hauptgestüt Trakehnen) is famous as a birthplace of riding horses. The origin of the Trakėnai breed and the attempts to preserve it are a part of equestrian history that involves Germany and Lithuania Minor, and recently, Russia as well. “Trakėnai” is an old Baltic word meaning …

By Judita Bačiulytė and Kazimieras Mizgiris. The history of the treasures of Juodkrantė begins in the middle of the 19th century, when a large quantity of raw amber was discovered near Juodkrantė during a project to deepen a seaway in the Curonian Lagoon, which is known as Kuršių marios in …

By LEO ALGMINAS. Soon after Lithuania regained its independence in 1991, I traveled there to see for myself what the country of my birth looked like after nearly a half century of Communism. As a self- employed consultant to a particular segment of manufacturing, I also scouted for ...