Krikstai

Krikstai - wooden grave markers made of one board. They appeared in the historical sources beginning in the 16th century. Until the 17th century, this kind of grave markers spread not only in Small Lithuania but in the western Samogithia also. Later the area of this tradition decreased and by the beginning of the 20th century it was used only near the coast, in the Nemunas delta, Tilze vicinity and the Curonian Spit.

The shape and ornaments of krikstai vary depending on the region. But tradition itself in the Curonian Spit didn't change until the middle of the 20th century. Unlike the Catholic tradition, krikstai were planted at the feet. The stick had to reach the grave bed. It was believed that this construction would help for deceased to stand up when the time will come according to their religion.

Different kinds of wood were used for male and female. For men, the male tree species (oak, ash, birch etc.) were used, and female (linden, poplar, spruce) for women. The paint colour and ornament depended on sex also. In the 17th century, men's grave markers were decorated with carved horse heads and women's with birds. By the end of the 17th century, male decorations were mixed with female (plants and birds), and heart and flower motives appeared on the female krikstai.

Kurenai

Boats were the most important assets for the Curonian fishermen in their daily life. It was the only means, which connected them to the continent. Besides fishing, Curonians used them for hay and animal transportation from the meadows in the Nemunas delta. Flat-bottomed boats, whose draught and shape were the most suitable according to sailing conditions, prevailed in the lagoon. Curonian fishermen sailed four different kinds of boats: dragnet boat, sailing boat, fish-trap boat, and kurenai (korno valte); they had the name given according to the net they were drawing. Depending on purpose, boats were of different size. For instance, Kurenas was eight to ten meters in length and 3 meters in width. Four or five fishermen could fit in it.
An interesting fact is that fishermen from Juodkrante didn't use bimasted sailboats for dragnets, sealing-nets or kurenai.
The prerogative of constructing sail boats belonged to masters from Gilija, Labguva and Dreverna. Nobody from the Curonian Spit had such skills. The great boats were constructed on the southwestern side of the lagoon and smaller, fish-trap boats and keelboats came from the northeastern side. Experienced masters were able to build a traditional boat in one month. Such a boat would cost as much as a fisherman's house. The fisherman described the type, shape and size to the constructor, and it was custom built.
The first picture of the flat-bottomed boats was found on the map from the 16th century. Such boats were used until 1956. Now there are only three kurenas and one fish-trap boat which sail the Curonian Lagoon.

Weathervanes

Weathervanes were attached to the mast tops of kurenai, dragnet and sealing-net boats. In 1844 they were introduced together with other recognition signs by the fishery inspectors seeking to prevent fishermen from breaking into someone's else fishing areas.
At the beginning, weathervanes were made of tin and painted with black and white ornaments, as defined by the rules and with little red or white flags at the end. Later, fishermen started to decorate the front and upper parts of the weathervanes with carvings. It was mostly stylised state or religious attributes and elements of nature. It was possible to learn from them about the owner's family and his wealth. Weathervanes had a fixed size: 114-116 centimetres in length (218-220 cm with a flag) and 40-45 centimetres in height. After World War I, the size of recognition signs decreased. At the end of the 19th century Curonians started making coloured weathervanes and selling them as souvenirs for tourists.
Scientists had been looking for analogy to weathervanes, but they couldn't find anything either in the Baltics, nor in North Sea and Atlantics. The symbolic weathervane of the Northern Curonian Spit became the emblem of the Neringa City.

Traditional Fishermen Farmsteads

The style of fishermen farmsteads in the Northern Curonian Spit developed in the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. Different from farmers in the continent, fishermen had fewer buildings, but more rooms under the same roof. The different way of life and lack of building material - timber, influenced this.
Fishermen had mostly long and narrow farm plots. Usually they were trying to get better access to the water or harbours. Farm buildings like smokehouses, animal-houses and barns stood closer to the lagoon. Next to them were drying rooms for fishing nets. Dwelling houses stood perpendicular to the street with one end oriented to the lagoon. Some later built houses were oriented along the street. Houses had large porches, which were used for drying fishing nets, storing food and making flour with stone hand-mill. Poorer fishermen had dwellings, animal houses and barns standing in one long line under the same roof.
The traditional fishermen's dwelling consist of two parts - one on each end - divided by two entrances from both sides in the middle and a large underroof, which was used for drying and smoking fishing nets. In the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when ovens replaced open fireplaces and the sharpened ridge of the roof disappeared, fishing nets were smoked in other buildings. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the tradition to cover living houses with boards appeared. Dark brown and dark blue colours were the most common. Fishermen decorated their houses with wooden carvings; for instance two crossed stylised horse heads were used to decorate the roof. Most ornaments had a mythological meaning - they had to protect the house from fire, thunder or storms. In the end of the 19th and 20th centuries, these elements lost their meaning and served only as decoration. Since then, most fishermen houses were rebuilt to serve holidaymakers

Crow hunting

In the 17th - 19th centuries the travelling sand covered most of the arable land and meadows in the spit. Due to this people suffered from the lack of food and needed new food sources. Fishermen were eating seagull eggs and smoked or salted crow meat. These food sources were known in another seaside areas too: for Leevians at the Riga bay and Kashubians from Pomerania. In the 18th -19th centuries only poor Lithuanians used crow meet for food. The classical writer of Lithuanian literature K. Donelaitis wrote about crow hunting in his famous poem "Metai". Crow meat as food was forgotten after the improvement of living conditions and the decline of Prussian Government Regulation about the extermination of crows (in 1721 and 1724). During World War I citizens of Neringa were selling plucked and footless crows next to the fish in the markets of Karaliaucius (Konighsberg) and Klaipeda. The city public was eagerly buying so-called "pigeons". Both fishermen from the Curonian Spit and from other side of lagoon were used to hunt crows until the middle of the 20th century. Eating habits of Neringa citizens became widely known because of holidaymakers.
Fishermen hunted not local, but migrating crows. Every spring and autumn these birds stayed in flocks in Vente and the Curonian Spit. They traveled from southwestern Europe to Finland in spring and back in autumn. Local authorities used to let areas for crow hunting through auctions until 1943. Fishermen attracted crows with fish, soaked grain in alcohol and other means. For catching crows they used nets. It was mostly old men's and children's business. They were able to catch from 150 to 200 crows a day.
Park visitors can learn about crow hunting traditions in the exhibit about Occupations of the Curonian Spit
Citizens in Nida (G.D.Kuverto str. 2).

Curonians

Curonians are the western tribe of Balts. The height of their strength was reached in the 10th and 11th centuries. The total area of their lands was changing all the time. In the 13th century they ruled western Samogithia, Latvian Curonia and surroundings of present Klaipeda City. It is difficult to say exactly when the Curonians settled in the Curonian Spit, but from the 11th until the 12th century they already lived there. Archaeologists found solitary graves of Curonian soldiers and women in the burial places of southwestern Sambia and southern spit. They suggest that Curonian soldiers served in the Sambian armies. Female graves show the family customs and relations between Sambians and Curonians. Data about the ethnic composition in the Curonian Spit in the 13th century is very poor.
During Theutons' ruling Curonians were occupied with fishing, as dispatch riders and scouts. Wars and plague epidemics swept the Curonian Spit. Families from the northern Curonia settled in the deserted lands of the Spit. Many such facts were described in 14th-17th centuries. Newcomers found communities with a similar language and culture, so they easily adapted to the new place, which wasn't much different from their native lands.
In Northern Curonia, Lyvian and Latvian languages influenced Curonian. The Samogithian seaside and Prussia's Curonian language were influenced by Lithuanian and German. The new Curonian language developed at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries. It had several dialects, which during continuous migrations to Prussia spread among local Curonians. In spite of the fact that in the middle of the 19th century Curonians from the southern and northern parts of the Spit spoke different dialects, they had same way of life and culture.
In the 18th- mid 19th centuries most Prussian Curonians in the continent became Lithuanians or Germans. Local German dialects inherited many elements from Baltic (Curonian, Prussian, and Lithuanian) languages. Very few Curonian fishermen in the Nemunas Delta and small fishermen communities in Klaipeda (Bomelsvite) and at the seacoast (Melnrage - Nemerseta) survived until the beginning of the 20th century. In the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the Curonian language became the fishermen's working language.
Isolated from the continental dialects, the Curonian language in the spit developed into totally different one. In the beginning of the 20th century citizens of the southern part of the Spit started using German. The Curonian language was used until the middle of the 20th century and finally disappeared in early sixties. Many elder Curonians immigrated to Germany and The Curonian language in Lithuania was forgotten. Two devotees of the Curonian language, P. Kwauka and R. Pietch, recorded it in Germany. At present this language draws the attention of Lithuanian and Latvian linguists