This house could have been built around 1932-1937, when the young, newly married family of Benjamin Gudaitis and Magdelena \u0160trimaityt\u0117-Gudaitien\u0117 moved here from Agurki\u0161k\u0117. Benjamin worked as a forester in Kazl\u0173 R\u016bda. Magdelena was disabled from childhood, thus, was a housewife. The family never had children of their own. Therefore, throughout their lives, they were very attentive to and took care of the children of their brothers and sisters, constantly helping them.<\/p>\n
Magdelena, or Magdel\u0117 as she was called not only by the residents of Kazlu R\u016bda but also by town\u2019s visitors, was a herbalist. She specialized in and sold only one medical plant \u2013 wild silverwort and she herself called this plant \u201ccrabs\u201d. Magdelena had heard from her mother that before the World War I and later, when typhus and dysentery were raging, the only hope for survival not only for the family members, but also for the people of the village, the surrounding villages and those who lived much further away, was Magdelena\u2019s great-grandmother\u2019s knowledge of how to cure these contagious, then very life-threatening diseases with \u201ccrabs\u201d. Even in winter, knowing where this plant grows, the wisewoman would go to the forest, dig snow and ground, look for the root of this plant, dig it up and make medicine. Magdalena\u2019s grandmother took over her mother\u2019s knowledge, and later did her mother and Magdel\u0117 herself. It was meant to be because since childhood, Magdel\u0117 was surrounded by stories about the healing properties of this plant, methods of treating diseases with the roots of this herb. She had always been a helper in picking plants and preparing them, without realizing it, she naturally took over the knowledge passed down from generation to generation. Magdelena shared this knowledge with people visiting her. Maybe because of the positive effect of the medicinal herb, or maybe because of the exceptional charisma of the herbalist herself, people would gather here from all over Lithuania, and sometimes from neighboring countries. <\/p>\n
People say that Magdel\u0117\u2019s appearance was really \u201cwitchy\u201d in the best sense of this word. At an older age, Magdel\u0117 no longer walked on her own, she moved in a wheelchair. Small in stature, huddled in a hump, with cramped legs that have been unhealthy since childhood (probably the result of poliomyelitis), with dislocated joints of her hands, Magdel\u0117 never complained, she always radiated light and kindness. She had a very calm, knew how to listen, talked for hours to everyone who came to her, enquiring about all their problems and sincerely tried to help. As a result, long-term relationships were established with most of the clients, they regularly came, not only for medicines, but simply to visit and bring gifts. <\/p>\n
Magdel\u0117\u2019s face also was \u201cwitchy\u201d: a large, slightly crooked nose with a prominent mole or wart on one side, gray, sparse hair twisted into a small bun on the top of her head. The whole appearance represented the wisdom of centuries, but in reality Magdel\u0117 was as naive as a child, very gullible, so there were those who took advantage of her kindness. But she always found an excuse for everyone sayging \u201cThere must be something wrong with that person if he\/she does that\u201d. <\/p>\n
Magdel\u0117\u2019s husband died around 1996 at a very respectable age. Left alone, Magdel\u0117 handled herself well, her \u201cCrabs Pharmacy\u201d continued to work because Magdel\u0117\u2019s generosity always attracted a lot of helpers. Some would find and carefully dig up the roots of silverwort. Others cleaned and prepared them. Then either Magdel\u0117 herself or her helpers used to finely chop the roots. It was painstaking manual work as the roots were extremely hard. After that, the cut chips were dried and packed in bags. It is said that there was always a specific sweet smell in Magdel\u0117\u2019s house. <\/p>\n
Magdelena\u2019s house always looked special. The front door was located in the centre of the house, accessible from the backyard. After entering through them, one would reach a corridor that divided the house into two parts. At the end of the corridor were the stairs to the upper floor. There were doors to the left and right at the front of the corridor that led to the living spaces. Magdel\u0117\u2019s living rooms were on the right. As soon as you entered, you could find a small kitchen with an old stove. A door from the kitchen led to two more rooms. One of them was very large, Magdel\u0117 used to receive people in it, the other smaller one was a bedroom. There was a similar arrangement on the other side of the house, which was not so often visited and this side of the house served as a storage area. The house had large rooms, fairly high ceilings and windows, unusual for that era. On the upper floor, there were two small rooms with low ceilings and a small kitchen. For some time, Magdel\u0117 rented this space to young families. <\/p>\n
The house is currently owned by other owners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This house could have been built around 1932-1937, when the young, newly married family of Benjamin Gudaitis and Magdelena \u0160trimaityt\u0117-Gudaitien\u0117 moved here from Agurki\u0161k\u0117.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13573,"menu_order":0,"template":"","objekto_tipas":[157],"objekto_zyma":[164],"class_list":["post-27491","objektas","type-objektas","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","objekto_tipas-ka-pamatyti","objekto_zyma-istorija"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/objektas\/27491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/objektas"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/objektas"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/objektas\/27491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29198,"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/objektas\/27491\/revisions\/29198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"objekto_tipas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/objekto_tipas?post=27491"},{"taxonomy":"objekto_zyma","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitkazluruda.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/objekto_zyma?post=27491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}