Where traditions meet modern life style
Himmeli straw art
 

Everything has mathematical definition

Everything in Universe happens in cycles. Soon we will start counting down the new twelve months. We follow our intuition and live according nature principles knowing that after the night comes the light. But, have we ever considered that everything is just a mathematical coding. Pyramids in Egypt are considered to be an example how parameters and processes of our planet can be depicted in mathematical codes. 

And to see the pyramid, we do not need to travel to Egypt. We can place it in our homes. Himmeli starts with twelve straws, has four angles as the world has four poles (North, South, East, West) and rotates around its axis taking the energy from the Universe and transferring to those, who live under the two sided pyramid.

 Christmas straw decorations – traditional and ecological choice

Long time ago, when sparkling decorations and tempting window shops did not exist, the main Christmas decoration used to be a straw sheaf or a decorated straw himmeli. The straw always was a symbol of neverending life cycle in Lithuanian cultural perception and its golden colour even nowadays creates a mood of celebration.

These days, when supply exceeds our imagination, let us remember traditions and make environment friendly choices. A Christmas tree with straw ornaments can be waved off  together with the decorations. In this way, there will be no need for sorting the Christmas waste or find a storage for them as suppose next year, we will have some new ideas for our holiday season. 

 Symbols of Himmeli

Himmeli straw ornaments is one of most fascinating type of Lithuanian living folk art. This is a volumetric, strictly geometric forms made from dried rye straws. The most common stuctures are quadrupted pyramids and on this base developed complex himmeli. The himmeli which is the octahedron shape is mostly liked nowadays. They are composed of two pyramids, each of their peak directed to the opposite directions, thus believed taking energy from cosmos and directing to those, who live under them. 

Many special purposes and a complex design make himmeli especially symbolic in cultural meaning and value. Traditional straw himmeli composed of triangle and square carries sacral geometric signs. Dried straws, the himmeli material, are related to life eternity and bonds with the life over the rainbow. The special dedicated place for himmeli is high over the table, it is usually decorated with birds and that also creates patterns for the symbols of heaven. 

In accordance with the Article “Sacral straw himmeli symbols in local and intercultural context” by Vytautas Tumėnas, published in the book “Sodo rėda” 2020.