The festival organizers say that in order to find mushrooms that are beneficial to health, you don't have to wait for the usual mushroom picking season - autumn. Mushrooms surround us all year round and are often invisible to the naked eye. You will see this at the first Mushroom Festival in Lithuania "Pjaunu grybā", which will take place on May 16-18 in the Trakai district, "Gervių lizdė".
"A common Lithuanian knows only three mushrooms well: boletus, white mushroom and red fly agaric, the collection of which is prohibited in Lithuania. There are also progressive Lithuanians who have heard of psychedelic mushrooms and consider themselves very knowledgeable about them. This is where all our knowledge about mushrooms ends. When you are interested in mushrooms and read scientific literature, you very quickly understand the importance and size of the all-encompassing world of mushrooms, how it affects the lives of humans, all flora and fauna, and that we know almost nothing about it."
For two autumns we organized the project “Mushroom Park”, which was visited by more than one thousand Lithuanians, and there we tried to spread wider knowledge about mushrooms, but people are only happy with the white mushroom and the boletus, that is enough for them. We want to destroy established attitudes and myths, we want to lead people to the mystical world of mushrooms and learn to make friends with it. Together with the festival partners, who have been growing mushrooms in Lithuania for many years and selling mushroom food supplements “I Cut a Mushroom”, we decided to invite Lithuanians to an educational festival, one of the main parts of which will be a scientific conference about mushrooms,” says one of the festival organizers, the founder of “Gervių lizdas”, writer Birutė Jakučionytė.
"The goal of the festival is to educate and introduce the public to the least studied and, most likely, the most mystified kingdom of living organisms - mushrooms. As is known, many Lithuanians have deep traditions and a special connection with the latter."
Scientists from various Lithuanian universities and institutions: VU, LSMU, Nature Research Center, Santara Clinics, Lithuanian Sports University – will share the latest scientific research. Specialists in their fields will share knowledge about phytotherapy, healthy nutrition, longevity, forests and mushroom picking traditions. There will be many educational events and unique experiences, for example, we will not only see, but also hear how mushrooms grow,” says Tomas Varnas, another organizer, the head of the company “Pjaunu grybą” about the festival.
The festival will combine knowledge, education, entertainment, music, and experiences. Many well-known professionals in their field will give presentations on the topic of mushrooms: Sandrija Čapkauskienė (LSU Associate Professor, Doctor of Biomedical Sciences, Nutritionist) will talk about the effect of mushrooms on the immune system, hormone balance, and slower aging; Lina Raudonė (LSMU Professor, Chief Researcher at the Biopharmaceutical Research Laboratory) and her colleagues will talk about mushrooms of the Amanita (folklore – fly agaric) genus – from the mystery of nature to their application; Jurga Motiejūnaitė (mycologist, Doctor of Biomedical Sciences, Ambassador of the Sengirė Foundation and Chief Researcher) will tell how mushrooms shape the lives of humanity; Vaidas Dirsė (geneticist, Chairman of the Santara Clinics Trade Unions) will give a presentation on the effect of mushrooms on longevity.
The planned Mushroom Festival is a synthesis of science and entertainment, various therapies and education, so it will also include a fun, musical part: an evening of sung poetry with Aurimas Liudvinovičius, an acoustic concert by Andrius Kaniava concert, guests from Estonia will entertain - "Kangelased", Aleksandras Makejevas will play, there will be a performance "Mushroom War", a carnival procession with mushroom costumes - festival visitors are invited to relax, have fun and experience a slow presence, taste dishes with mushrooms, which will be prepared on site by "Gervės virtuvė" and "Mona Ližė".
The Mushroom Festival will take place at the campsite "Gervių lizdas" (Crane's Nest), which was created based on the principles of sustainable consumption, so alcohol consumption or other intoxication is strictly prohibited in the territory. When creating "Gervių lizdas", many used and donated items, old windows and doors, and buildings are made of clay and straw. In the territory you will find hundreds of creative solutions for how to use, recycle, and bring back to life what seemed unnecessary.
