Tyrų Duktė (Daughter of Tyrų) was the pseudonym chosen for her creative debut by Bronė Buivydaitė-Mičiulienė (1895–1984), a singer from the Anykščiai region. A writer and teacher, she was a member of the Ateitininkai youth organization, loved her work as a teacher, was loved by her students, and gave priority to her creative work. The fruits of her writing – poems, short stories, plays, fairy tales, and novellas – were eagerly read by readers and young artists in interwar Lithuania. The stage play Mėlynas drugelis (The Blue Butterfly) was performed on almost every elementary school stage, surpassing in popularity even the dramatic plots for school theater written by Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė (1886–1958), B. Buivydaitė’s great teacher during her studies in Kaunas and Voronezh. B. Buivydaitė worked as a Lithuanian language and literature teacher in schools in Skuodas, Veiveriai, Panevėžys, and Alytus, immersed in the whirlwind of school life. This allowed the writer to offer a wide range of works reflecting the realities of children’s and young people’s lives, the struggle between good and evil, and moralizing works. The novella “Auksinis batelis” (The Golden Shoe) about the everyday life of children and adults in a small town, the hardships and dreams of the main character Petriukas, and his transformation into a responsible and serious pillar of support for his mother, was awarded third place by the Sakalas publishing house in 1936.
Masterfully illustrated by artist Domicelė Tarabildaitė (Tarabildienė), this novella continues to captivate readers today with its perfectly lyrical depiction of a Lithuania that no longer exists. The Golden Shoe has been republished several times (in 1954 and 1984) and is included in the list of the 100 best Lithuanian children’s books of all time. The writer’s creative flow did not stop even when darkness fell over her eyes. Bronė Buivydaitė dictated her literary visions, which, thanks to her assistants, were put into text and reached readers, both young and old.
Buivydaitė’s poems, short stories, and excerpts from her stories were published in Pavasaris, Ateitis, Naujoji vaidilutė, Naujoji Romuva, and other periodicals. The Lithuanian Education Museum’s collections include the writer’s plays and fairy tales for children’s theater – Mėlynas drugelis (The Blue Butterfly, 1927), Stebuklingoji radasta (The Magic Radish, 1934), the novella Auksinis batelis (The Golden Shoe, 1937), and the poetry collection Po žilvičiais (Under the Hazel Trees, 1939). To mark the 130th anniversary of the birth of writer and teacher Bronė Buivydaitė, we present photographs of young artists from Rokiškis 1st and Kaunas 19th elementary schools performing the play Mėlynas drugelis (The Blue Butterfly) and digital images of several of the writer’s famous works.
Information prepared by Gabija Mackevičiūtė, curator of the Lithuanian Education Museum collection
