Elena Pimpienė nee Šutaitė
Mano močiute, my grandmother, or čiute as we sometimes called her
was a great part of my life. Growing up my family would spend each Sunday
with them and parts of the school holidays. We grew up with them speaking
Lithuanian, with some English thrown in.
Looking back, I can see how much of their culture they passed on, but at
the time they were just my grandparents.
Elena was born in a small village in the Dusetos region to a
farming family. Her early life was the
farm and looking after her grandmother. When
she married my grandfather, they moved to Kaunas before making their way to
freedom in Germany. Their young daughter
died on the way, but two more children were born in the camps. After arriving in Australia, they settled in
Adelaide, raising their two children.
The family over time exploded to in-laws and five grandchildren.
Močiute was a great cook, and food was always plentiful at her
house. You did not leave without being
feed and taking some extra home with you.
There was always soup to start each meal, my favourite of course was
barokų sriūba (beetroot soup). Then an assortment of Lithuanian dishes,
meatloaf, sometimes cepelinai, cabbage rolls or kugelis. Desserts were the best, napoleonas cake on
special occasions, and hedhog cake she made us when we were small, even spirgai
at times. We once made krustai together,
but I had a hard time flipping the pastry through the slits. Once I asked her to teach me how to make
cepelinai, but by the time I arrived she had put it all together.
My grandparents back yard was really a huge vegetable garden with
fruit trees scattered around. They grew
many of their vegetables; cucumbers, tomatoes, capsicums, carrots, which my
family would receive bags full of when in season. Also the fruit; apples, pears, mandarins,
apricots, almonds when they came to fruit.
I love growing food as they did.
Being always industrious, močiute was a keen and very good
seamstress. She worked in clothing
factories in Adelaide and was always at her sewing machine making clothes for
someone. On weekends there was often Lithuanian
ladies sitting in her sewing room who came to get her measurements done or
fitted for outfits. She sewed the
dresses for the Lituania choir, made
scout dresses and even made our Lithuanian costumes. She was inventive and given the time (1980’s),
Lithuanian material wasn’t always available but its amazing what you could do
with some ‘Lithuanian style’ curtains.
She embroidered my sisters and mine blouses and aprons with stylised
tulips and geometric patterns.
My grandparents house was never cluttered, but the few things they
had reminded them of their home. Carved
wooden tulips that surrounded the clock in the sitting room, a wooden carved
hunter and tree, and the one picture that did hang in the dining room was taken
on their wedding day so many years ago in Kaunas. That picture hangs in my house now.
Weaving linen was a common practice in Lithuania and močiute grew
up to be very good at it. She told me as
a young girl, she would get extra money weaving items for the local
community. She didn’t have a large loom in
Australia, but my grandfather made her some small ones where she wove sashes
and bookmarks. She taught my mother to
do the same and I asked her to teach me.
She instructed me on how to cast on, how to read the patterns how to
make bookmarks, sashes and ties.
 |
| Linas & Elena's wedding day |
My grandparents were involved in the Adelaide Lithuanian community,
they went to church, attended some social events and came to all our school and
dancing concerts. It wasn’t until my
grandfather passed that she stood on a committee, becoming at one time the
President of the Pensioners Club. She
loved the outings, the bingo afternoons even when her eyes failed her she would
still attend. She volunteered for Meals
on Wheels but never quite liked it, not because of the work or the people, but
because of the dry scones they made for morning tea.
 |
| 50th Wedding anniversary |
Elena passed away in Adelaide in 2011, at the age of 97.
Mano močiutė, instilled in me a love of her country, she taught me
its language and showed me its beauty through her life. For this I would like to say, ačiū močiutė. |
| The Pocius kids, dressed in Mociute made clothes and tauntinai rubai |
