Newsletter: Amber Sale Edition

Baltic Imports Newsletter

207 East Hennepin Ave, Mpls. MN 55414 612-331-3296 www.balticimports.com

A Member of the International Amber Association

Celebrating Our 20^th Year in Business

"For the amber master there is a certain truth in amber… even more than beauty. People seeing my work for the first time say I am drawn to beauty… that I create beauty. But it is the truth that claims me.”

A rough transcription of my conversations with Georgs Romulis, 1988 Latvia

Dear Customers and Collectors,

In the winter months I, too, am drawn to truth. I used to think it was the result of the very starkness of the grey-black trees sitting in white snow fields. But as I grow older, I think it is more. I think it is the human need for placement, for an unfolding, for that intuition that means you have touched your soul and brought forth “thoughtfulness.” In the old world this was the season of the story; cold, bare wintertime stretching from the Winter Solstice to the ancient New Year. That was when, after the winter work was done, we filled our need to socialize with a time to tell and teach and to look inward while the world about us was still.

In the store we, too, are heeding Georgs’ words as we get ready for the Amber Sale. Maija says that our new designs for our 20^th Anniversary Year should be simple, elegant, and affordable; pulling those words from the core of her experience, her concept of the truth. What my soul hears in her words is that we should try to touch truthfulness, timelessness, and accessibility… the same intention, different words, for how we see beauty. It took me years to realize that my definition of beauty, like most amber masters, was the unfolding of the truth.

Sincerely, Sean for the Baltic Imports Family

NEWS

Store Hours

The store has returned to its traditional winter hours, with the exception of adding later hours on Fridays:

Monday through Thursday 10:00-6:00

Friday 10:00-8:00

Saturday 10:00-6:00

Sunday 11:00-3:00

20^th Anniversary Year

We are very pleased to announce that Baltic Imports is celebrating its 20^th year as a business with many special sales, events, new products, and lectures that will occur throughout the year starting with our January Amber Pre-Sale. A partial list of Events through June will be included in calendar form at the end of the newsletter in place of an essay. If you miss our regular essays, new essays are being prepared for our Baltic Imports blog.

Balticimports.com, Blog, and Facebook Page

We have continued to update our website, www.balticimports.com, for the winter season and for our new and traditional Easter Products. We are also continuing to post articles on our blog, balticimports.blogspot.com. Our Baltic Imports Facebook page has turned out to be great fun. We have and will be posting a series of “favorites” on our blog and Facebook where Baltic Imports staff shares their ideas about new products or jewelry choices.

Amber Pre-Sale, January 23 - 31

We will be having our traditional Amber Pre-Sale starting on Saturday, January 23rd and continuing through Sunday, January 31st. The Amber Pre-Sale is a time set aside for our mailing list customers and collectors to select amber before the Public Sale which runs February 1-14. Discounts on all amber, be it vintage, religious, or contemporary masterwork, will be for 25% off. If you are ordering online, we strongly recommend that you call the store on our toll free number, 800-680-3380, to check on the availability of the piece before ordering. For online purchases, please be sure to enter the Amber Sale web code AMBER10 in order to receive the discount. The discount is valid for all items listed under the category Baltic Amber. For in-store purchases, instead of our traditional paper coupon, our Pre-Sale customers need only to offer their name to the sales staff at the time of purchase. Happy Shopping!

Baltic Imports’ Support for Our World Community

We continue to support our world community by adding new organizations and associations to our network of artists. Through the years we have, and continue to support Disabled Folk Artist Associations, Women’s Groups, and Sustainable Communities throughout Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation. This Christmas we added our aid to the wonderful Orthodox Sisters of St. Elisabeth in Belarus who work tirelessly with the indigent and with those who are suffering from chemical dependency and abuse (look for the Artist Spotlight on our blog). Presently, Ingrida is exploring ways that we can support the Orthodox carvers, sanctioned by the Patriarch, in the Russian Federation, who are making traditional holy wooden icons for the blind, many of them young children.

This past week Mara and Maija have worked selflessly on support for the people of Haiti. One of the safest and simplest ways that we know of to aid Haitians is to “text” HAITI to 90999, which automatically sends $10.00 dollars to the International Red Cross. If anyone has another “safe” support mechanism they would like to share, please feel free to post a message on our Facebook page. Our world view is a world in community, caring and sharing.

NEW PRODUCTS

There is tremendous excitement among our staff as we ready all of our amber for the Pre-Sale. Sean will be in the store this week organizing our stock and he and Ingrida will be in the store on Saturday and Sunday for your amber questions.

Amber Highlights

There are too many wonderful and unique amber pieces to specifically mention each one in the newsletter. For our 20^th Anniversary Winter Amber Sale we will be highlighting the work of Georgs Romulis, the greatest of the Latvian amber masters who is recognized internationally for his amber work. Georgs is regarded as one of the greatest amber masters in the world.

Niello of the Kievan Rus

The ancient Kievan Rus were among the first and the greatest of the ancient metal smiths to perfect niello, the filling and darkening of an engraved line made in gold and silver. Perfect traditional hearts, diamond shaped pendants, and delicate oval earrings, traditionally made in silver and highlighted with liquid gold then darkened, all from ancient patterns, will be in the store this week. Such simple, elegant, and affordable pieces, made from precious materials, make a perfect Valentine’s Day present. Please come early, our prices are way below market value because we buy at the source, but our supplies are quite limited.

A vintage niello horizontal diamond pin and two archaic Russian village rings will be in the vintage case. Sean loves them… and wonders who will get the old, wide Russian rings blessed with gold.

Russian Vintage Wooden Toys

Four wonderfully painted Russian village market toys, of hand carved wooden forms made to catch an attached wooden ring on a string: a woman or a man with a long nose or an archaic hockey player, will be in the vintage case or about the store. Ingrida and Sean tried to catch the rings themselves and lost constantly with great laughing delight. It’s a perfect inexpensive gift for a cell phone or Facebook addict to remind them of the world of ancient childhood. For the toy collector, it is a vanished world.

New Matryoshkas: Russian Stacking Dolls

New inexpensive Matryoshkas, the traditional Russian stacking doll, and 4 great Masterwork dolls for our 20^th Anniversary year, all selected by Ingrida in her travels, have arrived and should be on the shelves soon. The 4 Masterwork dolls, each one of a kind, are breathtaking. The green-eyed Masterwork doll with the Firebird is among the best that we have ever seen. The inexpensive dolls are all finely made and classic examples of their kind. Ingrida found a simple doll whose inside dolls were pouting. Very rare, an artist’s bad day, but perfect in every way for a child.

Russian Kitchen Blessings

Traditional kitchen blessings of carved little wooden cups and kitchen scenes framed and set against linen or of a brightly painted samovar are whimsical enough to hold a grandmother’s blessing, the power of continuity, for one of the most important rooms of the house.

Polish shot glasses, beer mugs, Pascal Lamb linens, Easter Baking molds, seeds, and Valentine’s Day Card sets have arrived at the store. Expect many more items.

Baltic Imports 20^th Anniversary Year Calendar

With a great deal of pride and a certain sense of vulnerability, we are pleased to announce our 20^th anniversary year in supporting the Folk Arts of the former Soviet Union. We are proud, for we have actually made a difference. We are hesitant, because we have passed through so many worlds: the old Soviet Union, the start of a great decline, revolution, the first steps of Independence… until we have marked so many starts that we could feel old. Old is not what we embrace. Rather, our concern has always been the timeless traditions of the people of the land. Our heart has always been their hearts: a world that comes alive in simple births and christenings, in commonplace confirmations and weddings, in childbearing, growth, and in the very release that death brings. We are blessed enough to remember a time when funeral dolls whose heads were make out of acorns and whose bodies were made out of birch bark were tied to white trees that were planted at the crossroads.

Our world has always been about the “more,” about continuity, and the human spirit and its traditions that give life structure and meaning. That fill one up when one is empty. If we are known for anything, let it be for this: our love for the commonality of the human experience that one can touch when one holds one’s culture in their hands and gives it sweetly, in gentle celebration, to their children. The old world was built upon sorrow and hardship; from that foundation it raised itself to joy. We struggle to offer the same— a way to joy, with the hard work of our family’s four hands, joined together, for a time.

January: Amber

Sales: Amber Pre-Sale 1/23 to 1/31

Products Highlighted: Georgs Romulis: Historic and Contemporary Amber Work

February: Amber

Sales: Amber Sale 2/1 to 2/14

Products Highlighted: Natural Hand Cut Amber Hearts

Lectures: Thursday 2/4 7:00pm Healing Traditions in Amber

Thursday 2/18 7:00pm Amber Open House: Bring Your Own Amber with Questions.

RSVP all lecture discussions to maija@balticimports.com

March: The Symbolism of Easter

Products Highlighted: Icons, Crosses, and Eggs

Icon Show: 3/14 to 4/3. Icon Show Opening: 3/14

Lectures: Thursday 3/18 7:00pm Writing Icons

Thursday 3/25 7:00pm The Symbolism of Eggs

Please RSVP

April: Vintage Folk Art

Products Highlighted: Vintage Amber and Folk Arts

Lectures: Thursday 4/15 7:00pm Contemporary Travels in Eastern Europe and

the Folk Arts. Please RSVP

May: 20^th Anniversary Month

20% off All Products All Month Long

Products Highlighted: Siberian Gems

Open House: Saturday 5/22 and Sunday 5/23. Surprise Specials!

Lecture: Thursday 5/13 7:00 pm The Healing Gems of Siberia Please RSVP

June: Our Mara’s Wedding Store Closed 6/18 through 6/20

Products Highlighted: Traditional Wedding Gifts

Lecture: Thursday 6/3 7:00pm Eastern European Wedding Traditions. Please RSVP

A Polish Recipe to Get Through the Winter

This is a wonderful adaptation of a traditional Polish recipe originally published in the New York Times food blog. A good way to keep warm through the last months of winter!

Artist Spotlight: The Convent of St. Elizabeth

"The Sisterhood of St. Elisabeth was founded in Minsk, Republic of Belarus in 1999. The sisters serve in the National Psychiatric Hospital, boarding homes for mentally challenged adults and children. The mission of the Sisterhood is to provide spiritual and social help to the sick and the suffering. The Sisterhood runs a homestead located 19 miles from Minsk. It helps drug and alcohol addicts as well as socially vulnerable persons tackle their problems and provides the homeless with shelter and care. To support and develop the above ministries numerous workshops and studios operate within the frameworks of the Sisterhood. These include an icon-painting studio, sewing and embroidery shops, candle workshop, wood-carving and blacksmith workshops. The Sisterhood activities also include religious education and publishing."

Baltic Imports carries handmade and hand painted Ceramic Bells, Wooden Angels, and Ceramic and Straw Christmas Ornaments, which are currently 25% off. Also, look for their Traditional House Blessing on the Grandfather Frost shelves and their Nativity Blessing. Their handmade Nativity Mug with Gold, and Guardian Angel Tea Light (Night Light) are some of the sweetest images we've seen in years. 50% of the proceeds from sales go to benefit their work among the poor and chemical dependent in Belarus.

The Number Three and its Critical Importance in Latvian and Lithuanian Cosmology

The cosmology, or world view of a people, is an integrated whole: forged, reformed, and somewhat forgotten over time. It changes as the history of the People change, meeting the needs that arise to mark a particular time.

What I am about to write of, the numerology of a People that expresses their identity, is a story that is set in the center of folklore, and one which is critical to the understanding of any people. Numerology, a culture’s use of numbers and number patterns, is an overwhelming force in the creation of artifacts which express sacredness. To the folk artist, numerology may often be intuitive, but it is almost always a system that is marked by correctness: that which is right/wrong, rather than an aesthetic of good/ bad. To the collector numerology is one of the principal measures of determining authenticity.

“The ancient Balts were a conservative People, the Latgallians the most conservative of all. You can see it in Latgallian burials. They never took jewelry patterns from the tribes that surrounded them. Never took an innovation in an outside form, but adapted it to their numerology and world view. They were buried with the Latgallian shawl, the color of the sky in deep summer’s last light, wrapped about their shoulders, their uncovered faces gazing towards the sky.”

I was pounding bronze into the form of a 3rd century bracelet of the Latgallian People. Daumants Kalnins, the greatest of Latvia’s traditional blacksmiths, was teaching me about cosmology with little stories, as we took small breaks around the forge, and he smoked the terrible old Russian cigarettes as the great forge burned cooler and smoked as well.

“When you’ve filed the head of the grass snake into the great wards of the bracelet, into each end, you cut three lines behind its rectangular head, for the People came to the Grass Snake, the wisest of all things, seeking its help. The world of water, air and sky opposed each other. They pulled away, divided, and the world could not be whole. It was the Grass Snake that agreed to wrap itself around all three great elements and, by the union of its body, make it one.”

It was later in the day, fascinated that the World of the People, the earth, was but two small lines on the great bracelet, a single line for the world of the living and another underneath it for the burial of the dead, that I asked Daumants about the triangle I would strike in small lines and the three suns that would rise above it. Daumants sat for another cigarette and I got Ingrida to come and help translate the complexities I wouldn’t understand.

“The World Mountain, the sand hill, has 3 suns that rise above it, the Sun at morning, at midday and at evening... the lights that encompass the whole of one’s life.”

We talked about the suns, about where the spirits go after death. Later I started to strike the small suns that go down the middle of the bracelet and the suns that would sit inside Mara’s mark, and represent night and water. It occurred to me that I was making Daumants’ story, that here with the work of my hands were the 3 great elements, earth, air, and water, held together by wisdom, cold forged, hot forged, pounded on metal and on wood. It was Daumants who taught me to count, to see meaning in pattern, and most of all to hear the stories as that pattern unfolded.

Three has always been a dominant element in Balt, that is, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Old Prussian, pattern. In many ways it is the transformative number of the Balts. The even numbers hold the solidity of the four seasons and express the world of continuity in reoccurring symmetry. The great female Sun was given the number two for the holy tears she wept. If we strike 3 suns into metal or hang 3 amber tears from a necklace we are “writing” something more. Eight brothers in an ancient prayer poem will become the larger concrete world around us while nine brothers become infinite and magic. 1/3, 3/3, 9/3 are components of every Balt charm I know, from the ancient amber brooches to the consistent use of the triangle. The same numerical progression forms the basis for magic words, whether to protect your field or stop the flow of blood.

I once asked my students to tell me how the “world” of the ancient Egyptians would change if their sacred symbol was a sphere and not a pyramid. The ancient world of the Balts was one of union with their environment, yet all culture must create distinctions within that union, hence the duality and consistency of the even numbers. But the even numbers did not raise the ancient Balts to the sky… that became the function of the triangle. With a single great Sky God and the Dievadeli (the sons of God), Thunder, Sun, the Morning Star, etc, Balt cosmology reached up to the dome of the heavens from the real foundation of the earth. The divine sign of Dievs, God, became the triangle with a circle above it, the mark of Mara, the Earth Mother, made into the sand hill, the mythological world mountain, with the female Sun above. With the understanding that Dievs was beyond the Sun, beyond the symbol, in the empty space, the farther space, in the mystery.

Within most of Balt culture the idea of a priest who would be an intermediary between the People and the sacred was foreign. Holy people, healers, elders, would rise as leaders of song, tenders of groves, diviners, but the ability to join the sacred, participate in it and carry its symbols, was individual and encompassed in the larger whole of the tribe.

Thus we have the triangle that represents birth, prime, and death (the 3 of beginning, middle, and end) as a symbol for the individual as well. To the foot of the world mountain one is born, through strength, energy, and work one ascends to its highest point under the Sun. There one receives knowledge, a dream, a vision, which they will carry in their descent, their eventual decline to death, and where, with their burial, they will again join the foundation of the People.

The triangle thrusts one out from the mundane world of time, and 3 transforms it, making it more. Out of 2, in a union of opposites, comes 3. Out of the union of the male horse and female horse, comes the foal. Out of the rooster and the hen, out of the man and the woman, comes abundance and the life of the tribe.

3 elements: earth, air, water

3 times: past, present, and future

3 processes: beginning, middle, and end

These attempt to express in language that which is not really orderable and definitely not simple. Daylight waking dreams, the dew which rises from the earth as silver tears, knowing the end in the beginning…those liminal shifts in individual experience bring the wonderful human soul to a place where it must create a construct for the mysterious. In ancient times it may have taken one to magic, to blessing, to faith and union, but always, even now, three takes one into the “other.”

Copyright, Baltic Imports, 2008.