Email samples from the Banat mailing list discussing Banat

seasons and customs.

These samples were compiled and Submitted by Angie Geml

From: <[email protected]>

Good Morning Group:

I have been trying to recompile the yearly history or the events that would

take place during a typical year in a Banat village. Am I missing anything.

The month of May was a nice time of year for the young men. On the first

Sunday of May, they decorated a MAY tree, at the end of the month, dance

would be held. A big Rosemary tree was decorated with colorful streamers and

attached to the top of a tall pole. The young men wore hats also decorated

with streamers and chose one of the young ladies as their escort. They had

all the privileges during this time since everybody knew they would soon have

to enlist Children were always born at home, with the help of a midwife. Usually, the

child was baptized the first Sunday after its birth. A baby was never taken

out of the home before its baptism because if anything happened and it died,

it would have to be buried as a heathen. Parents ensured that this did not

happen.

A godmother and a godfather were chosen and this was a great honor. These

two and the midwife carried the baby to the church on Sunday afternoon. A

band accompanied them to and from the church, and the children in the village

ran behind, chanting: "Sweet godmother, sour godfather" Naturally, the

godfather had to throw candy as he walked and the children gathered this up.

For six weeks, the babies were wrapped tightly in a feather pillow with hands

and feet securely inside in order for them to grow straight.

If a child died, young men and girls, who were close friends of the family,

carried it to the cemetery. The boys wore a wide White sash from their

shoulders to the hip, and the girls wore a white bow in their hair. The

adults rode in a black carriage that was used only for this occasion. It was

decorated with either silver or gold on the ends. Two black horses pulled

the carriage from the deceased house to the cemetery, followed by the people

of the village, would be praying and singing.

On January 1st New Years Day, The men and the children would make the rounds

of our Lansleid neighbor's homes sampling the strudels and cookies, the men a

schnapps and everyone wishing a "Happy New Year (in German of course) and the

children recited poems they had learned and were awarded with gifts of money.

Each child wanted to do his /her best. (Some time the children would recite

a verse like "I wish, I wish, I know not what, but reach in your pocket and

give me something!" -In German of course) By the time they got back home

that day, they men were usually somewhat inebriated. While the men and

children were out doing this, a Pork Roast and Onions would be in the oven

back home, sauerkraut on the stove and the Dumplings ready to cook when the

callers came back home. The men and the children would have been dressed in

there Sunday Clothes for the trip around the village

January 6th was a church holiday- Three Kings. These where Kaspar, Mechior,

Baltazar. Three young men dressed as these ancient kings and went from house

to house, looking for the baby Jesus. After they performed their songs and

poems, they were presented with gift from each household.

During the winter months, in the villages as well as in the towns, there were

all kinds of activities. When the livestock and other business had to be

attended to, there were happy times. The young people learned new songs,

national dances and theater. Everybody, especially the parents, enjoyed the

results of this. There were festivals then came carnival, which was the last

festival before Easter. This lasted for three days, but came the very solemn

season of lent.

The weeks before lent were very church-oriented and the churches were very

busy preparing for Easter. On Holy Thursday, the church bells were silenced.

Schoolboys were delegated to each street and, with noisemakers in their

hands, ran from house to house, announcing the time. They also recited the

following: "people, People, its time to Pray." This went on continuously

until Holy Saturday, when, for their efforts they received Easter eggs and

some money or gift from each household.

On Good Friday at 3:00 p.m., everything in the church was put away, and the

people of the villages marched to the graves to pray. On Holy Saturday

evening, Instead of a Sunday morning, Jesus ascension was celebrated. At

8:00 p.m., a procession wind its way through the village, accompanied by

prayer, songs, and music. The church bells were rung again and the church

was lit up, much to the relief of all the People.

In the fall (Herbst), during the second weekend in November, "kirchwieh" was

celebrated. This began on Saturday night, and continued until Tuesday night.

However, church was not to be forgotten or ignored, so the festivities were

interrupted to attend mass. Again it was time for the young boys up to age

20 to be dressed up in highly decorated hats and chose their partners, but

now unlike at other times everybody who chose could participate. Theis was a

time where the young people as well as their parents were involved in fun and

relaxation.

Actually the whole village was involved. Everybody was dressed in their best

clothes and they were dancing in the afternoon and evening. The

mothers/women sat around the dance floor and the fathers/men were next door

playing cars, drinking, dancing, etc. Usually, pork was prepared for this

festival. The bouquet was made of rosemary, decorated with colorful

streamers and then raffled or auctioned off for a sizable sum that went to

the church.

November 25th was designated St. Catherine's Day and signaled the beginning

of Advent. All music was silenced and preparations for Christmas were made.

This was always a nice time for the villagers and their families not because

of the coming of the holiday and presents but rather the festive atmosphere.

If presents were received they were small and homemade and usually from the

Godparents.

The Christchild came on the day before Christmas Eve. There would be five

girls and one boy dressed in white. One represented the Christchild who

carried a small crib with a baby boy inside. The others were the angels.

The boy would represent Joseph. As they went from house to house, they would

ask: "Will you let the Christchild in?" The small children in the houses

were excited by this and watched in awe or wonderment. The Christchild then

proceeded to take the little children into another room in the house where

the decorated tree stood. There were always some naughty children who the

parents who were receive a switch instead of a gift. The presents consisted

of figs, apples, nuts, candy, and gingerbread dolls. The girls received

cookies in the shape of a doll and the boys got one in the shape of a horse.

They were white or a dark color decorated with colored sugar. Sometimes,

there were other presents; however, these were always of a practical nature.

The godparents played a big role during the holidays since they always

arrived with presents. Every godchild looked forward to this and was

genuinely appreciative. (What a difference between the image of a godparent

and Now!) Do you know your Godparents and do you interact with them or if

you are a Godparent do you see or talk or associate with your Godchildren

more than usual?

MARRIAGES

When the time came for marriage. The parents made the decisions. Often, two

young people were in love; however, the parents would not allow the union.

Material possessions meant a great deal, and sometimes, the parents had been

at odds since their own youth. This resulted in arranged marriages and love

had no part. The parents were always the decision-makers. Of course, there

were also marriages were loved ruled. If the family had a great deal of

material worth, land, animals, harvest then an arrange marriage would take

place but if the family was poor, peasants or working for others love always

came first. Divorce was very rare. If both sets of parents agreed, the

fathers, Godfathers and the bride and groom went to the town hall to

register. The wedding usually took place about three weeks later with the

most immediate family present. One way around the wedding ceremony was to

sneak around and have the girl become pregnant and to have the child

delivered and then either gets married after the parents would give their

permission. Sometimes it would take a second child to be born for this to

happen.

First, the couple would be married in a church, and then a civil ceremony.

If there were only 25-30 guests, then the wedding took place in a home, where

the food was also prepared. One room would be emptied of furniture and

someone would play the accordion or a string instrument. The witnesses to

the ceremony were always the godparents who took their responsibilities very

seriously. The bride was dressed in black. After the ceremony, the young

wife had to wear a kerchief around her neck and across her head to signify

her marital status. In the 1930s, the brides began coming into the 20th

century and began wearing more colorful dresses. In the country area away

from towns like Gross-Beterserek, the girls and women wore long skirts but in

the larger towns like GB or Novi Sad, Knician, the women wore shorter

dresses, then they also began wearing more white wedding dresses bought by

out of town stores. Even though the stores in the villages or Sartcha,

Ernsthausen, Klek, Johannisfeld, Kathreinfeld, Neusin, Sigmundfeld, Botos,

Modosch, has clothing stores that sold.

From: <[email protected]>

Hi all,

Like so many others have said, my grandmother too had her ears pierced as a

baby and like Shirley Gibbard wrote, my grandmother pierced ears by using a

potatoe and needle. Sometime instead of gold buttons they would use string

in place of earings.

I just finished readying a wonderful book, "Back to the Banat" by Victor

Wendl, and it reminded me of so many customs and traditions observed by my

grandparents and family members. For instance, my grandmother never sliced a

loaf of her wonderful homemade bread without first making the sign of the

cross on the bottom (mentioned in the book too).

Most of our family traditions seemed to center around food, good old German

cooking.....speaking of which I found a wonderful Hungarian cookbook at:

homepage.interaccess.com/~june4/ that I've ordered. The recipies took me

right back to my grandmother's kitchen with all those wonderful foods!

Enjoy....

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 15:13:38 -0400

From: MaryAnn Unger <[email protected]>

Steve, et al,

Yes, poppy-seed pacifiers were used frequently -- for cholic, when

mothers worked in the fields, etc. If too much poppy seed were used,

problems did arise, however. My great aunt recalled having one of her

children "overdose" and having difficulty awakening the child.

As to malnutrition -- I'm no expert, but there were years of bad

harvests, field crops were ruined during wars (e.g., Hungarian

Revolution), and if parents were ill because of an epidemic -- then

naturally the children would not receive enough food. Remember that not

all villages were created equal -- some had better cropland and better

water supplies, or were more prosperous, hence, lower infant mortality

rates.

I had been doing a study of infant death rates in Engelsbrunn (near

Arad) from 1760 to 1945 and there was definite correlation between high

infant mortality rates years in which there were epidemics of "swamp

fever" (Typhus), Cholera, Diptheria, etc.

Mary Ann Unger