Presentation and screening of the documentary essay “Padudenam!”

Dieveniškės is the easternmost point of Lithuania. “Padudenam!” is a mystical journey to a picturesque and mysterious land where people still speak several languages and dialects, and the ancient tradition of incantation is still alive. The Šalčininkai district, bordering Belarus, is a unique melting pot at the crossroads of languages and peoples. Here, nine out of ten inhabitants consider themselves Poles, and Lithuanians make up barely a tenth. But in this region there stands out an island of the Lithuanian language – the environs of Dieveniškės. “This isolation had a positive effect – it somewhat separated the island from the greater expanse of Lithuania. They feel isolated, archaic,” says Dr. Nijolė Tuomienė of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. Incantations are one of the oldest folklore traditions, known since Antiquity. In Lithuania they have been practised since ancient times. “After a while a woman comes and says: I want an incantation against snakebite. Oh my God, I say, but the one who does incantations against snakes is Stefka. I went to Stefka, she said that she had passed it on to Jadzė, go to Jadzė. And so I stayed,” smiles the incantation-woman Jadvyga from the village of Jurgielionys. The incantation tradition of Dieveniškės is exceptional. “Throughout Lithuania it is believed that if you pass on an incantation or reveal the words, you can no longer heal yourself. However, in the Dieveniškės region many texts were written down precisely because they were not kept secret. This is partly connected with the Belarusian tradition,” explains Dr. Daiva Vaitkevičienė of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore. “The person of the borderland and their identity have always interested me – how various cultures and languages competed with one another and influenced one another. Dieveniškės, just a few dozen kilometres from the capital, and more broadly all of south-eastern Lithuania, is a truly multi-ethnic alloy. Although scholars have long studied this region, the wider public knows little about it,” says the project's author Antoni Radczenko. When? 29 July, 18:30. Where? House of Histories (T. Kosciuškos g. 3, Vilnius) The creative team of the documentary essay Consultants: Danguolė Mikulėnienė, NIjolė Tuomenė, daiva Vaitkevičienė, Kristina Rutkovska, Violeta Švaikovskaja Screenwriter and director Antoni Radčenko Cinematographers: Raimundas Razvadauskas, Mykolas Alekna Editor: Eva Stankevičienė Producers: Božena Miežonis, Teresa Rožanovska @Ketvirta versija, 2025

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