Celebrate Christmas and Easter Traditions: Šiaudinukai and Margučiai
Imsre Sabaliunas-Bruzgiene, Viktoras Juska and Donatas Astras taught 64 of the older boys and girls (12 to 16 year-olds) how to make straw Christmas ornaments and etch Easter eggs at Camp Dainava.
In preparation the night before, Imsre, Vic and Don tidied up the classroom and added plastic tablecloths and soaked onion skins (see traditional recipe for egg dye).
On Monday, they taught six groups (būreliai) how to construct Christmas ornaments (see snowflake in photo) using wheat straw. To streamline preparing the applique, campers used jigs supplied by Don and pre-ironed straw from theStrawShop.com.
After lights out, Imsre, Vic and Don dyed 96 eggs until 1:00 am for the next day’s classes. Fortunately, only three eggs cracked because the eggs were placed in cold water and gradually boiled in several batches.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, they showed the older campers how to decorate eggs using X-acto knives to etch the designs (see eggs in carton in photo).
This year’s theme at Lithuanian Heritage Camp was ‘Celebrating Lithuanian Family Traditions’, so our students had learned how to carry them on into the future. It would not have been possible to teach so many campers these intricate arts without the help of Imsre and Vic. You, too, can learn how to create these beautiful straw Christmas tree ornaments or Easter eggs to pass on to your families in our workshops.
In addition, this year was special for Don because he brought his granddaughter, Addison Astras, to her first Lithuanian Heritage Camp. Camp was fun, all made new friends and the weather was perfect.
Help Camp Dainava with its Capital Campaign
For more than 60 years, Dainava has provided a unique place for people to create memories against a backdrop of shared Lithuanian heritage and Catholic values. Now, the camp is in need of significant renovations and improvements to ensure it remains as a treasure for generations to come. Learn how you can help Dainava raise $500,000.