Toloka and Cob House Building 

One of the community members, Locan, makes carved wood altars as his livelihood. He has been working inside his house for years, but recently decided to construct a workshop for himself out of "saman", that’s the Russian word for what is known as "cob" in America. Saman or cob is a mixture of clay and straw. He constructed the frame using wood purchased from the local sawmill, and held a Toloka, a work party.

Toloka is an ancient tradition in the villages of the Slavic countries. In a subsistence economy there are many kinds of work that can, or needs to be, done by many people together making it a social affair. Clearing the barn after winter, replacing a roof, and putting up a building are the kinds of activities that would be done jointly. Typically the men carry out the work while the women make a great feast. After the work is completed the meal is taken, followed by singing and dancing. This is all something like a Sunday feast at the Hare Krishna temple, except for the work.

On the appointed weekend about 30 people from all over Lithuania showed up to participate and get experience in such housing construction. We turned it into a party by having kirtan and singing while we worked. And as you will see, people of all ages helped, from infants to seniors (represented by yours truly). The women were happily involved in the house building too, and as you will see it is not a strenuous nor skilled affair. For the weekend’s work almost one meter of the exterior wall was completed, so it looks like another two toloka’s will finish the job. Here are the pics and videos: 

The frame with first tier of cob that was constructed on the first day

The men dug the clay very near the house
and Petras with his oxen brought it to the site

The mixing pit and sand nearby. The cob mixture should
be approximately  20% clay the rest sand and straw.
It is not a science however and there is room
for almost every variation.

The Mashpit
The first day the oxen were used for mashing the clay/sand/straw
mixture, but that was too slow. The next day the humans
took over and made a dance of it. The mixture should not
be too wet, otherwise the wall will slump.