Award for an Outstanding Personality
The “Honorable Amber Fisher Award” this year was presented to an outstanding personality – Mikelis Balčius from Šventoji. M. Balčius spent a long part of his life searching for and collecting archaeological and historical finds from Šventoji in his private collection: brooches, pendants, belt fittings, buttons, rings, aurochs horns, and stone axes. The first finds were discovered by the archaeologist back in 1965, when the fields near Šventoji began to be drained. Thanks to the finds discovered by M. Balčius, a Neolithic settlement was found on his grandfather’s land in Šventoji.
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M. Balčius also collects books, photographs, household items, and coins. In his parents’ house, the well-known historian and archaeologist has established a museum furnished with antique furniture purchased from the old residents of Klaipėda – Šventoji surroundings. Flint, amber, and ceramic artifacts in M. Balčius’s collection came from his parents’ and grandfather’s homesteads and the surrounding lands.
The famous local historian still pays great attention to numismatics, researching and publishing its sources.
For founding the Lithuanian Curonian Society in 1996, its activities, and the preservation of traditions, in 2001 the then President of Latvia, Vaira Vykė Freiberga, awarded M. Balčius the Order of the Three Stars.
“Such personalities must be highly valued and respected. This person is an excellent example of how great desire and respect for one’s homeland can achieve very significant work in nurturing and preserving its history. So it is very pleasing that this year we were able to honor this personality with the ‘Honorable Amber Fisher’ medal,” says Darius Nicius, Director of the Protected Areas Directorate of Lithuania Minor.
M. Balčius was presented with the “Honorable Amber Fisher” medal, made based on a genuine late 19th-century amber fisher’s token found in Karklė with the German inscription “Königliche Bernsteinwerke / Karkelbeck.” Such tokens were required in the past to be held by every amber fisher.
The “Honorable Amber Fisher Awards” is a tradition born in 2020 in the Coastal Regional Park, dedicated to honoring the keepers of this unique craft and personalities of Lithuania Minor who significantly contribute to preserving the ethnographic and historical values of the region.
This year, the “Honorable Amber Fisher” medal was symbolically presented to M. Balčius by the previous two laureates of this award – amber catchers Igoris Osnač and Audrius Lukauskas.
Throughout the history of the awards, 15 personalities have already been honored with the “Honorable Amber Fisher” medals.
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Festivities – Cozy Musical Program and Various Entertainment
This year’s “Menkinė” festival in Karklė was full of other beautiful highlights. During the event, representatives of the Protected Areas product brand treated attendees and presented their products. Participants could enjoy fish soup, traditional waffles and coffee, try hemp tea, various desserts, and even wild boar meat roasted on an open fire.
Musical performances during the event were presented to the audience by the Šilgaliai Folklore Ensemble “Kamana” from the Pagėgiai Municipality Cultural Center and performer Algimantė Kubilinskaitė.
Attendees were invited to participate in an improvised play about amber fishing by guide and amber fisher Igoris Osnač.
The “Ancient Fire Night,” traditionally held immediately after the “Menkinė” festival on Karklė beach, also attracted great interest this year.
The “Ancient Fire Night” initiative was born in 1992 in Finland when the country celebrated its 75th anniversary of independence. The idea of the initiative arose recalling the unique system of coastal protection and warning fires described in historical chronicles along the Baltic Sea coast, dating back to Viking times. Historical sources testify that each coastal community was obliged to contribute to the protection system and, if necessary, light warning fires to alert neighbors of impending danger. Gradually, other Baltic countries joined this project.
The thousand-strong crowd gathered on Karklė beach this year had the opportunity to enjoy a cozy festive program. Musical performances delighted the audience by Ukrainian performer Jekaterina Bondarenko, the Šilgaliai Folklore Ensemble “Kamana” from the Pagėgiai Municipality Cultural Center, and the evening’s musical program was crowned by an acoustic concert by Andrius Zalieska-Zala, leader of the legendary rock band “Arbata.” During the event, writer Daiva Molytė-Lukauskienė read excerpts from her works, and the audience was greeted by Miglė Urbonaitė-Ubė, a famous archaeologist and laureate of the “Honorable Amber Fisher” award.
Both this year’s events were dedicated to the international Interreg South Baltic program project “Aquagood,” whose main goal is to develop innovative blue economy strategies and create new marine food and thalassotherapy products in the region.
