Christmas Manners: It's not too late the thank Santa.

Bulger Park, Veteran's Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, December 1966. He appreciates the effort.

Independence Day

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1965. The older girls sing during an Independence-Day minejimas. (The younger children waited in the audience until it was our turn to take the stage.)

That's my friend Ron at the piano. My friend Kris stands second from left. The braided trim on Kris's folkdress and mine were identical because our Mom's worked together to sew the blouses and aprons.

Thank you for a lovely performance!

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1966. The pianist accepts the applause at the annual Independence-Day minejimas.

The Independence Day "Minejimas"

Today, February 16, is Lithuanian Independence Day. The children from our Lithuanian School prepared for the annual "minejemas," or commemoration, every year. Although we participated in many cultural programs, the Independence Day "minejimas"was our most important "programa."

The Displaced Persons who made up the Lithuanian population in our suburban enclave sometimes organized the event at the hall of the local park district. (It's now called "Bulger Park," but boomers will remember it as Veterans Park.)

Often, the Independence Day celebration intersected with a more formal occasion, the "Balius" ("ball") that the local Lithuanians annually hosted. The Balius was a formal occasion, and it was one of the few adult parties that the children attended.

The locals rented a large, then-attractive hall operated by the Melrose Park Fraternal Order of Eagles. The hall stood on the second story of the village's main shopping district, near the intersection of Broadway and Lake Street. The hall was a large space, with a stage, a dance floor, and an annex in the back with a bar. The lighting and acoustics were decent. We felt familiar with and comfortable in the hall especially because one of the nice Lithuanian families in our community owned the store that stood on the first floor of the same building.

As children, we looked forward to the Balius because we got to fool around at the party as soon as our performances ended. We ate Lithuanian sausage, braised sauerkraut, boiled Russet potatoes, and rye bread. Usually, the younger set hung around in the back annex, where, after dinner, we danced and drank 50/50 or Canada Dry Gingerale.

The adults conducted a "loterija," or raffle, at the end of the evening. In 1967, I was declared one of the winners. I learned I could choose one of several prizes. I remember standing at the prize table with my Mom, deciding what to take home. Mom saw a Napoleonas torte among the options, but I was unmoved. I wanted a record album. The only LP on the table was "Tubby Chess and His Candy Stripe Twisters do the TWIST," which of course spoke again to the Lithuanian immigrant community's branding paralysis: whoever selected the prize as a lure for the "young people" could not distinguish Chubby Checker from an imitator.

The organizers felt badly for me and Mom, and I took home both the torte and the faker LP.

I went back to the Balius several times when I was in high school and college. The event was a good chance to recycle prom dresses.

The Fraternal Order of Eagles Hall burned in 1989; I don't know whether it still stands.

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1965. I take a bow after finishing my poetry recitation. This was my first performance at an Independence Day event. Look! My lifelong friend Kris sits on the far left.

*     *     *     *     *



Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1965. The children from our Lithuanian School sang folk songs. I stand in the first row, on the far right, and Kris is directly behind me.

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1966. After the children sang, we danced. Kris and I are in the center, holding hands. The adults watch patiently. There's the back annex.

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1965. We are having fun! You can see the "FOE" letters suspended above the stage.

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1966. Our Lithuanian School sometimes had more girls than boys enrolled.  

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1966. After our successful performance, we show our gratitude to our Lithuanian-School teachers.

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1966. It's the end of our segment of the "programa."

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1965. We then sit and wait, oh my, during the rest of the performance. Usually some soprano sang Lithuanian tunes. Kris is behind me, again.

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1967. I give a bouquet to the soprano, too.

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1967. Ha ha! There's my Mom, holding the Napoleonas torte prize. I hadn't noticed the torte until I posted the photo. I instead was focused on the Lithuanian sausage in the front, on the right. There's my Mom's best friend, Donna, smiling beautifully on the far left.

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1967.  There's the rye bread.

*     *     *     *     *

Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1966. It's the end of the night because I've taken off my folkdress crown. Mom and her friend, Jadzė D, are keeping an eye on it. Both women wear knitted dresses.

"No Peanuts Allowed in Building"

Bulger Park Hall, Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1969. Our Lithuanian School sponsors another minejimas. We performed at that hall often.

It's okay to use a script if you're not reciting poetry.

Bulger Park Hall, Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1969. I serve as co-emcee of the Independence Day minejimas. 1969 was the awkward year during which I wore an improvised folkdress. Here, we're introducing the "talent show" portion of the show.

I earlier posted another image from the 1969 minejimas here.

An Awkward Stage

Bulger Park Hall, Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1969. Until I looked at photos from this minejimas, I had forgotten that there was a stage when my Lithuanian-school classmates and I wore improvised folkdresses. We had grown out of the children's costumes our Moms had sewn, but the teachers determined we still were too young to wear the preteen models. As a result, we sported pleated, plaid skirts for this independence-day performance. Those of us who still had heads small enough to fit our crowns wore those, too.

Christmas Manners: Watch the teacher's cues.

Bulger Park, Veteran's Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, December 1966. I am relieved my part in the play has ended.

ADDED: Typo in header corrected. Usage!

Christmas Manners: Show your appreciation, even if he is a Santa Fake.

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, December 1966. The bunnies know how to be grateful.

Christmas Manners: Don't ask questions.

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, December 1966. It seems ridiculous to be dressed as a mouse (or a rabbit) for a Christmas play. But I'm reciting a delightful poem.

(Was this costume the inspiration for the moose outfit?)

Christmas Manners: Dance for Santa

Bulger Park, Veteran's Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, December 1966. It's a practiced routine.

Waiting

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1965. I'm sitting with other children from our small Lithuanian school, ready to take the stage in another minejimas. I am again the only girl wearing tights. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, sits on the right, at the end of the third row.

Sized

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, February 1971. The girls perform at another Independence-Day celebration.

Choreography

In the spring, our little, suburban Lithuanian school organized another program, or "minejimas." Sometimes the minejimas coordinated with the Easter season. I better remember the spring minejimas as a celebration of Mother's Day.

The spring minejimas featured the usual activities: choral singing, folk dancing, and poetry recitations. Some of the older Lithuanian kids—teenagers who no longer attended the Saturday school—played piano or sang solos. The teenagers looked very grown up. The young men wore suits, and the young women dressed in the full-length, formal versions of folk dress.

The dances we performed at the spring minejimas—and at most of the minejimai—were Lithuanian standards that any native would recognize. One year, however, our teachers got creative and taught us an elaborate, stylized dance that was an extrapolation of traditional numbers. Whenever I think of the dance, I laugh because it reminds me of the "choreography" scene in White Christmas.

The new dance must have represented some spring fertility right or a celebration of maidenhood. Only girls participated in the dance, and we carried and "artistically" managed wreaths of flowers throughout the number. The wreaths were made from coat hangers. When we practiced the dance, we used coat hangers covered in masking tape. Our Moms and Grandmothers only covered the wreaths with flowers—plastic flowers—the night before the performance.

I remember the plastic flower wreath dance as a particularly absurd little chapter in my Lithuanian-school career.

Suburban Chicago, May 1965. I practice the wreath dance in our Rec Room. The shiny object behind me is the phonograph; what you see are its speakers.

*     *     *     *     *

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, May 1965. We have finished our performance, and we await the applause, with the flower wreaths resting on our laps. I am sitting, second from the right. My friend Kris stands, second from the left.

Biting my Lip

Bulger Park, Veterans Park District, Melrose Park, Illinois, Autumn 1965. I appear nervous about this recitation.

Check out the jukebox.