BUSY HANDS BEAUTIFY HOLIDAY; WOMEN CREATE ORNAMENTS FROM OLD LITHUANIA.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

Dressed in traditional Lithuanian folk costumes, four women carefully threaded together small pieces of plastic drinking straws as visitors to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum watched.

With painstaking precision, the bits of plastic and thread were slowly transformed into delicate, beautiful Christmas decorations.

Although the traditional straw from wheat and rye stalks has given way to more durable drinking straws, Saturday's crafts demonstration symbolized the perseverance of Lithuanian immigrants in preserving their heritage.

``This is something to keep the culture alive,'' said Dalile Polikaitis, a Westlake Village resident born in Lithuania. ``We here in the United States adapted this idea because the ornaments show up better and are sturdier'' than those made of straw.

The decorations, known as siaudinukai, can take hours to create. Some look like intricate snowflakes or stars. Others, known as icosahedrons or ``bird cages,'' have a distinct geometric design.

Two hundred of the delicate creations now adorn a traditional Lithuanian Christmas tree, one of 21 trees at the library showcasing ornaments from around the world.

Many were made by Alfonsa Paziura, who remembers threading together the traditional decorations while growing up in the Baltic nation, which was invaded by Germany during World War II and later fell into the grip of the Soviet Union.

``Since we had long evenings, ladies would sit by the fire and make these ornaments,'' Paziura said. ``It becomes so easy to me. It's natural. . . . It comes 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and I'm still working.''

In the Lithuanian tradition, family members fast as they prepare kucia, the Christmas Eve feast. The table is covered with fresh hay and then a tablecloth. When the evening star appears, the head of the house calls the family together to say a prayer of thanksgiving and shares a holy wafer with the family, which then partakes in the 12-course meal.

Afterward, hay from under the tablecloth and scraps of food are fed to livestock in symbolic thanks for the beasts that guarded the Christ child.

For Sadie Beckley of Simi Valley, the crafts demonstration was a chance to get in touch with the roots she has scarcely known.

``It's wonderful,'' Beckley said. ``I'd like to get more into it. This is actually the first interest I've taken in it. It's neat to see they're out here.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Wearing Lithuanian folk attire, Grazina Raibys, left, and Aldona Svarcas chat with visitors at the Reagan Library.

(2--Color) Aldona Svarcas skillfully threads together plastic drinking straws in intricate patterns to create a variety of Lithuanian Christmas decorations.

Phil McCarten/Daily News