[Cz-L] Bukovina food stories - Pesach in 1930s Cz

Merle,

You might like my mother Erica's account of Pesach in Czernowitz in her
childhood in the 1930s for your collection. (I will send you a photo
separately.)

"For us the highlight of the year was Pesach, which we celebrated in a grand
manner. The whole family, including my mother's sisters and their husbands
and children spent all eight days at our small apartment. Cousins of
different generations and friends would visit at Pesach, so there was a
never-ending stream of people, lemon tea, hot egg Kaislechs soaked in wine.
I would go with Zazia to get the Matzos from the Kosher baker, make sure
they were all perfectly baked, then trundle them home in a giant wicker
basket, crammed to the brim with enough for all eight days. At home, the
Matzos were stored away next to neatly stacked baskets of eggs, three
hundred eggs or more. In another corner, Mama's specially fermented
Passover borsht glowed bright pink, alongside deeper-tinted home brewed
Morello cherry brandy. On a high shelf were almonds, walnuts, sugar,
preserves for baking and piles of finished biscuits. Throughout Pesach
family and friends were crammed together, chatting, cooking, eating, or -
adults only - having an after-lunch siesta, herring-bone fashion across the
beds.

On Seder nights, one of my uncles always took out glasses of red wine to the
maids. This was to demonstrate that it was wine, not the blood of Christian
children. In the Bucovina, the Blood Libel myth which had led to so much
suffering for Jews through the centuries, was still not dead - at any rate
among some of the peasants."

David

----- Original Message -----
From: "Merle Kastner" <merlek_at_videotron.ca>
To: <czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 11:33 AM
Subject: [Cz-L] New collection

>
> Dear Bukoviners,
>
> I would like to begin a collection of stories, anecdotes surrounding
> Bukovina food.
>
> So, please send them to me and we'll soon have a '"Bukovina Food Stories
> Book".
>
> Regards to all,
>
> Merle
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Received on 2010-06-21 19:52:06