I would be going to trips with my parents or my grandma or just with friends to this town called Palanga. It's sort of the beach party town (of course, when I was little I would be going here "for the clean seaside air"). The only thing I did not like is that the beach would be always packed by people and you could not so easily find a free spot. And if you want a shade you have to go near the forest, where the ant problem might arise (nobody likes ants when all you're wearing is a swimsuit!).
So our little party beach town (or pensioners resort, depends in which part of town you are)... I can't really say I love it, sure it's fun to go there with friends once in a while, but since I don't like clubs too much (more of a pubs girl), I can't find the true charm of this town. But there are a few things that I like here.
Birutė's hill
Birutė was a guardian of fire (vaidilutė in Lithuanian) which meant that she sacrificed her life of protecting the eternal flame (which meant she couldn't get married) but the great duke at the time Kęstutis saw her and fell in love. Sooo...he sort of "released" her from her duties as fire guard and asked her to marry her (this is a very important point as he did not MAKE her marry him, he ASKED her and only after she said yes, he married her). So every time Kęstutis would ride into battle, Birutė would come on this hill and wait for him (aaawwww). After he was killed she returned to live here and she was buried on top of the hill.
Lurdas (I have no idea how it is in English)
This is the place where she supposedly took care of her fire and this is also a place to pray for everybody (that's why there's a Saint Mary's sculpture).
Birutė's park
Yes, another thing named after Birutė (she was taking care of Palanga after all) and yes, the statue you see there is Jesus. Yes, like the one in Brazil. Only that in Brazil it's huuuuuuuuge, and here we have the smaller version. I'm not really sure why. But this park is cool, there's a small botanic garden, amber museum and ponds with swans (careful, they might bite!). Great place to have a walk, read a book or take your date.
And I can't finish the story about Palanga without a few legends.
Eglė the queen of grass snakes
There's a story of how a girl Eglė was bathing in the sea with her sisters and when she returned to her clothes there was a snake in them. Wanting to get rid of the snake she had to promise to marry him (weird, I know). The parents were trying to trick the snake king, but he finally arrived for his bride (turned into a handsome guy as well) and took her to the seas. They had four children (three sons and a daughter) and when they turn adolescent Eglė starts missing her home. So she does some quests in order to have the permission to leave and before she goes, her husband Žilvinas teaches her a chant to call him out of the sea:
"Žilvinas, dear Žilvinas,
If alive - may the sea foam milk,
If dead - may the sea foam blood..."
Unfortunately, angry family members learn about this chant and kill Žilvinas and when Eglė finds out about that, she gets really furious and turn herself and her children into trees as a punishment for her family's betrayal. Her daughter is turned into common aspen as a symbol of her weak will and telling the angry family members about the chant. The sons are turned into oak, ash and birch and Eglė turns herself into a fir tree (which by the way is eglė in Lithuanian).
Jūratė and Kastytis
This is sort of our version of little mermaid story. Kastytis was a fisherman and one night he was out in sea and since it was a stormy night his boat started sinking and he was saved by Jūratė, the queen of all sea and sea life, and taken to her amber palace under the Baltic sea. She was actually the one who made the sea stormy as she wanted to punish Kastytis for fishing in her waters, but she fell in love with him. Buuuut the thunder god Perkūnas found out that Jūratė fell in love with a mortal man and destroyed the castle (that's why you can find amber in the sea - it's the remains of the palace). He was so angry that he killed Kastytis and chained Jūratė to the floor of the sea. And it is said that to this day you can hear her mourn the loss of her lover in the sound of a stormy sea.
No comments:
Post a Comment