History. Antaliepė elderate is situated in the western part of Zarasai district with the town of Antalieptė — the centre of the elderate — established along the right shore of Šventoji river, near the confluence of Šventoji and Šavaša rivers. The centre of the elderate is about 11 km away from Dusetos, 39 km away from Zarasai and 26 km away from Utena. Antalieptė region is as rich with relics as a dowry of a bride. Šventoji river, resting against the hill of the students’ dreams, has been flowing here since the ancient days. The abundance of cultural monuments and mounds around Antalieptė shows that this place has been inhabited for centuries, while the name of the location comes from a legend. In the ancient days, when the entire region of Zarasai was overgrown by forests, a group of soldiers travelled through the place, known as modern Antalieptė. Being hungry and tired, they stopped for a rest, really liked the place and decided to spend there several days. They had cut down several trees and made a footbridge over Šventoji to go to the other side of the river for fishing. When they returned to the others, their mates would ask them, where they were. “On that footbridge (Lith. Ant to liepto).” would be the reply. And so, that phrase became the origin of the town’s name. According to another theory, the name of the town consists of the prefix “anta-”, quite common to the dialects of Zarasai region, and the root “liept-”, since the settlement was developing near the bank of Šventoji, which most likely already had a footbridge for crossing over. The elderly say that in the past the town was also nicely referred to as Lieptinė.
According to written sources, the name of Antalieptė has been used since 1580: firstly in the Lists of Užantalieptėnai Farmers and later — in the documents of the counts Strutinskiai, Pliateriai and Tiškevičiai. In 1620 Antalieptė and the land south-east of Antalieptė, as well as the lands of Salakas and Smalvos belonged to the counts Berlič-Strutinskiai, originating from Strutynė manor in Poland. In 1790–1810 Antalieptė with Balčiai manor was inherited by the noble family of Korsakai, in 1810–1831 — the count J. Tiškevičius. More information on Antalieptė is available since circa 1700, when the town was inhabited by monks — the Discalded Karmelites, supported by Ukmergė powiat stolnink J. M. Berlič-Strutinskis. The monks founded a monastery and stayed at the town for an entire century.
Porciunkulė Feast in Antalieptė
In the old days the church related confession with an act of repentance, which specifically represents true repentance and willingness to renounce the sins. Such repentance usually meant large-scale pilgrimage to holy places, often located far away, thus being difficult to reach. Francis requested the pope to replace pilgrimage with a feast, i.e. prayer and a visit to Asyžius Porciunkulė Church. Differently from pilgrimage, this offered an opportunity to repent for everyone. Pilgrimage is not available to people of all age groups and social statuses. Eventually these feasts, i.e. this form of repentance, was granted to all Franciscan churches, later followed by all parish churches as well.
Everybody, wishing to repent and spend some good time usually gather for the Porcinkulė Feast in Antalieptė on the first weekend of August.
In order to truly enjoy the grace of Porcinkulė, the church asks that Catholics don’t just mechanically repeat a certain sequence of actions and prayers, but do that with faith and love.
The meetings of the locals and their guests take place for as much as two days — Saturday and Sunday — featuring various events and main figures. However, what is the most important is that the participants of these weekend events feel welcome and among friends. That is an incredibly good feeling.
The Saturday programme usually begins with youth sports events. How could it be different? After active contributions to the organisation of the event, these young people can’t wait to participate at sports competitions on the water and in the stadium since the very morning of the festive day.
After the competitions winners receive gratitude and prizes. These competitions include volleyball, basketball and football matches, as well as a rope pulling competition. Time runs fast with so many activities.
In the evening everybody gathers at Antalieptė Multifunctional Centre, featuring exhibitions, concerts, dances and tours.
On the second day Antalieptė gathers to Porciunkulė Feast. After the mass, everybody is welcome to a concert and agape, featuring Riflemen’s porridge and the local folk ensemble Un ta lieptą (led by Loreta Alaunienė).
The locals are full of good ideas, continue to promote their town and look forward to meeting people returning again and again… Here are some fitting lines of Petras Gruntulis: No rugged mountains here, / Just the silent flow of Šventoji. / This is the land that we love, / Antalieptė — our home. In order to be able to feel that and call Antalieptė your home, first you should visit the Porciunkulė Feast in Antalieptė.
