According
to friends I should have just called this series a nature-inspired 24 Days of
Christmas, because so many of the ornaments aren’t purely Latvian, Lithuanian
or Estonian… While this may be true, I have to underscore the importance of
nature/the natural in the Baltics. The most important holidays of the year (Jāņi, Ziemassvētki, Lieldienas for Latvians...)
are all tied to the change of seasons, and these rythms of the natural year
carry over into everyday life. Historically so much depended on the natural
world (the harvest especially), and so the Baltic peoples lived life close to
nature: eyes open for signs that seeds could be sowed or harvested, the
livestock let out to graze for the season, for animal behavior that might
signal weather patterns. They were also practical folk, decorating their homes
with what was on hand, such as evergreen branches, pine cones and dried grasses
in the winter. Latvians were drinking bone broth and birch tree juice before
they were featured on trendy NYC menus, and teas and herbal remedies have been
a way of life for hundreds of years.
The
traditional brown and green ceramics of Latvia certainly reflect these ties
with nature, as do the traditional symbols that often adorn pots and vases. Some
symbols, directly represent plants and things found in nature, such as the Jumis and Skujiņa (I talked more in
depth about Jumis here). The Skujiņa (evergreen needle) symbol is
repetitive lines running parallel to one another, similar to the needles on a
fir or spruce. When you draw the stem in down the middle
it is called a Laimes slotiņa (Laima’s
broom), Laima being an ancient Latvian goddess of the life cycles of people.
With her broom she would sweep away all that’s bad from a life story...
With some Sculpey oven-bake clay that we found on sale we
settled on yet another nature-inspired craft that could easily be made more Baltic
by incorporating some of the traditional symbology. We rolled out the clay on a
work surface, cut out shapes using cookie cutters, and then experimented with
pressing various branches, leaves and seeds into the clay. The boys had fun
collecting on a recent hike, the task made more enjoyable by trying to guess
what would leave identifiable marks and designs on the clay.
Some items such as sweetgum seeds did not work as well,
as they tended to tear holes in the clay without leaving any particular
pattern. Meanwhile, evergreens left beautiful skujiņas and Laimas slotas, delicate arrangements worthy
of display on our Christmas tree. The consensus was to leave our ornaments very
natural this year; other than baking to harden the clay, and tying
a piece of raffia and maybe a seed or bell on to hang the ornaments with, we
left them alone.
In
addition to painting the finished product, one could also press some of the
other traditional symbols into the clay: Ūsiņa zīme, Mārtiņa zīme or an auseklīts. We’ve used lace doilies to
imprint patterns, but in my opinion the most beautiful ones come from nature:
western red cedars and their latticework of needles, ferns and dried seed heads,
leaves with distinct veins reflecting entire trees on their surfaces… Most
importantly have fun making them, and do it together as a family or group of
friends – you’ll find the time together to be just as beautiful as the end
result. See you tomorrow on 24 Days of a Baltic Christmas for a hearty Estonian winter's meal.
These are very nice! Before didn't think about stamping on a branch of Christmas Tree as ornament.
ReplyDeleteJust this past Sunday I was teaching my Latvian school 5th graders some of what you mention here, i.e. importance of nature!
ReplyDelete