Ancient Days 'Samanos' Festival Honors Partisans, Offers Taste of Forest Fare

The ancient days "Samanos" festival, revived by Laisvė and Vytaras Radzevičius, celebrated its fifth year on Sunday at the Merkinė manor site. This year's event focused on the theme of partisans, marking the 80th anniversary of the Dainava District.

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Partisan stories and testimonies are reflected in lectures, exhibitions, discussions, educational activities, the evening concert, and even gastronomy. Without a doubt, we are also holding the traditional artisan fair.

The festival incorporated partisan history through lectures, exhibitions, discussions, and educational activities. A traditional artisan fair, renamed the "St. Roch Artisan Fair," featured carefully selected craftspeople, prioritizing local Dzūkija region artisans and authentic food products. Visitors could also participate in a nature walk focusing on wild plants for food and household use, or view reconstructed partisan uniforms.

Historians from the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Research Center presented on women partisans, while the director of the Merkinė Regional Museum discussed the post-war town. A lecture shared the story of partisan Vaclovas Voveris, and another focused on partisan photographs.

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Partisan šiupininė is made from what partisans could have in the forest. If some farmer gave him bacon, a few potatoes, carrots, onions, butter, maybe he had some pearl barley – you cut all this, fry it, put it in a pot, add water and cook for a long time, hidden somewhere in the forest. I also quickly cut a few porcini mushrooms and threw them in, as well as various forest herbs. I cooked it until it thickened, so that the potatoes released more starch and the soup thickened. The most important thing is not some gourmet qualities, but that you eat and have the strength to carry out operations.

A culinary highlight was the reconstruction of "partizanų šiupininė," a dish often mentioned in resistance fighters' memoirs. Vytaras Radzevičius described it as a hearty meal made from ingredients partisans could obtain in the forest, emphasizing its purpose was sustenance for operations rather than gourmet taste. He noted that information on partisan food is scarce in their memoirs.

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I looked for information about partisan dishes in the memoirs of freedom fighters, but there is not much information about food there.