Stanislovas Goštautas

At the table

Grain was the main staple food

Ordinary families relied on grain-based foods like rye bread and porridges as their primary staples, while meat and dairy products were considered luxuries consumed less frequently.

What people wore

Simple Footwear for Everyday Life

Ordinary city dwellers and peasants often wore naginės, which were simple, plain-soled shoes made from a single piece of animal skin, and they frequently wrapped cloth around their shins and feet for protection.

Getting around

Common transport and horse traction methods

Transport relied on wooden four-wheel carts and horse-drawn sledges, with sledges sometimes being preferred even in summer in wet regions. Because roads were not stone-paved, horses were not typically shod with iron horseshoes, but instead used iron thorns nailed into hooves for better traction on ice.

What it cost

Hay tax per cartload

Peasants were required to pay 2 groshi per cartload of hay as a traditional due from their households.

Music

Festivals and funeral feasting customs

Folk festivals and life-cycle celebrations like weddings and births were marked by feasting, mead drinking, and merry-making. During funeral rituals, families visited ancestral graves in forests to feast and leave offerings to honor the spirits.

Daily life

Modest wooden peasant homes

Peasant homesteads were modest, typically consisting of a wooden dwelling house, a granary, and a cattle-shed. Some peasants in Samogitia lived in a numas, a structure with a central fireplace rather than a stove.