Oak of Žadeikoniai

Oak of Žadeikoniai In a remote village of Žadeikoniai, Pasvalys district, an old religious monument is still to the present day. On the edge of an old cemetery, called the Oniūnai cemetery, there is an oak. The tree’s diameter is 6.2 m and the legendary oak is still healthy. There is a legend about it: “A long time ago somebody wanted to cut down this oak. Once he tried, the blood started to shed and so much of it ran up that the Stream of Kamatė was full. The both cliff sides of the stream became red. Up to this day there is a mark on his trunk, where the oak was cut, and the ground in this place is very red”. This legend was told by Mr. Petras Efertas and written by Ms O. Vosiulytė in 1935. The oak was respected from the very old times: the small village cemetery enclosed with a wooden fence and a gate in the east gives an impression of an open-air temple. The old oak in the west occupies the central place of the altar. It seems that the burial of the dead people takes into account the position of the tree and the overall composition. Here lie those who want to be buried under the oak, and, therefore, they prefer this cemetery to the Saločiai parish cemetery