Vietiniai. Nepaprasta kelionė į Trakų kraštą

• Lietuvių kalba / Lithuanian
• Rusų kalba / Russian
• Lenkų kalba / Polish

LTKnyga sukurta atrinkus tekstus ir nuotraukas iš gausybės medžiagos, kauptos lauko tyrimuose. Atlikdami tyrimus fotografas Arūnas Baltėnas ir aš, tautosakos tyrėja Lina Leparskienė, lankėmės Trakų krašto miestuose, miesteliuose, kaimuose ir vienkiemiuose, susitikdavome su vietos gyventojais, prašydavomejų pasidalyti pasakojimais iš savo gyvenimo. Keliaujant Trakų rajono ribų nepaisyta, tik siekta laikytis istorinės Trakų dekanato teritorijos. Todėl knygoje rasite ir Vilniaus rajonui priklausančias Grigiškes, Dėdeliškes. Norėdami atskleisti krašto religinį turinį, tiesiog privalėjome aplankyti ir Keturiasdešimt Totorių kaimą, kuryra arčiausia mečetė prieTrakų, bei kapinės, kuriose artimuosius laidoja irTrakų totoriai. Galiausiai sukūrėme savą Trakų krašto žemėlapį - jame nėra griežtų ribų, tik kelias, jungiantis labai skirtingus ir drauge labai panašius žmonių likimus. [Iš Pratarmės]

ENThis book was created by selecting texts and photographs from an abundance of materials gathered through feldwork, carried out by the photographer Arūnas Baltėnas and folklore researcher Lina Leparskienė. During the study, they visited cities, towns, villages, and homesteads of Trakai region where they met with locals and asked them to share stories from their lives. From the abundance of texts collected, portions of stories about people's lives were selected. These stories are like short etudes from the theatre of 20th c. history-they talk about what did and what could have happened; about how people lived and what they believed in up to the exact moment when they told their story to the two strangers who were’ collecting an archive of memories for future generations'. This is precisely how the purpose of the fieldwork was presented to the people who became the heroes of this book. Their photographic portraits reveal just how beautiful the person favored with a long life can be. Each portrait presented in this book covers two time frames: the moment in time when the image was captured and the entire life of the person. Each image of a landscape or interior hides a student and a teacher: who performs the research and observes is the one who learns, while the locals are those who teach - they are the ones for whom the earth, the trees, gardens, or things belong only because they are next to them every day. Trakai region is located in Southeastern Lithuania, in the so-called Vilnija. It is a sort of unofficial ethno-cultural region, where Baltic and Slavic cultures collide. In the academic field and the eyes of the public, it is singled out as a unique historical-cultural reality. The antagonism, appearing in the early 20th c, between Lithuanians and Poles competing for the city of Vilnius, formed the tradition of an emotional relationship with this territory.In this book, Vilnius is seen as a borderland, which we try to understand not from the positions of the prevailing culture, but by looking at the daily lives of the people. The everyday experience of otherness is positive. And this is the most incredible feature of Vilnija. Although the people of Vilnija are considered among of the most sedentary in Lithuania, it isn't really that simple to find a true local who has never once left their native place. The people of this region usually identify themselves as Lithuanians, Belarusians, Poles, or simply locals; there are representatives of other nationalities as well. The Karaim are those who rightfully identify themselves as the real locals of Trakai. A large part of them are educated, having seen more of the world, and for them Trakai is the place where they always want to return. We can find echoes of the Karaim people in places that are further away from Trakai. In many villages and towns we found local Russian Orthodox and Old Believers, as well as Tatars. In the historical memory of these peoples, we find that once their ancestors came here from other lands, yet today they perceive themselves through the prism of Lithuania. Many people came to live in Trakai region during the Soviet era, they had to tame this new land and become the first generation of locals. Others experienced a sort of slight emigration from one village or town to another as they formed families or looked for work. The genocide of the Jewish people, the mass Polish migration after war, constant movement of people within what had been the Soviet Union and in modern-day independent Lithuania, changed and continues to change the local communities. However, one thing that is characteristic of Trakai region always remains-the cultural diversity that took root in this land. Often this diversity thrives within one family or even an individual's identity.The material in this book is grouped by location, and these places can be visited when travelling to or from Trakai - by foot, bicycle, car, train, bus. Each place is revealed through the stories of the people; they are connected through reasoning and remarks on the things that were seen and experienced; the people whose stories are published are briefly introduced. The texts are presented in the same manner as they were told by each individual. [From the publication]

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Istorija / History