8

A. Varesano interviewing Mary Washko -4- 7/19/72
Tape 23
AV: My goodness!
MW: Yes! But, you know, the year would pass and nothing would happen,
so you figured it was only, you know, it wasn't true. But people come up
with them things.
AV: That's interesting.
MW: Yes. And then, after that, when we got done eating, my daddy always
played with us, this-here, like, a nut game, you know? He'd always take
a couple nuts in the hand, and he would say--in our way it would be
cumpara, nidpara--that means, is it odd or even. You know? And if you
would say odd, and if he had four in his hand, and odd should have
been three or five, you know, so then he kept the nuts. And if we
guessed it, we'd take the nuts! We'd be playing all night, you know!
Checking up on that! Why then, if you got, like, we'd fill stockings. My
daddy always was, ah, he'd play a joke on us. He'd take and fill about so,
the whole bottom of the stocking with coal. And then my mother would
fill it up with an orange and an apple and popcorn, you know, to get it
to the top. That's about all you got. And an orange in them days meant
a lot.
AV: Where did you hang your stocking?
MW: Behind the stove on a nail. Behind the stove.
AV: And who did you thinnk, the kids....
MW: Well, we know the parents filled them, because in them days there was
no, really even if you wnet like, for our gits, what, like in Drifton there
was a cross creek hall?, they call it, we went there. Well, we all gathered
there and they'd sing, you know, and the minister would be there from
that church, and well then Santa Claus would appear but just you know
to say a few words. But then when the gifts were given out, it was
ordinarily helpers. So we didn't believe that much in Santa Claus. We
didn't get that much. So that's how that was.
AV: This Holy Supper, does it mean something to have six or seven different
foods?
MW: Yes, it really does, but I had a paper on that, what every meal
represents, but now I don't have anything. I know, you know, that
they'd say you eat garlic, well they'd say garlic was to keep the spirits
away.
AV: What kind of spirits?
MW: Well, evil spirits! And then they'd have mushroom soup. Well they'd
say when you ate mushroom soup there was no worries, or worries, or
no worries. There was a little story to every one, which, I had it on
paper somewhere, but really I never put them things away, and they are
nice to have.
AV: Did your family follow this idea, that each food meant a different thing?
MW: Well, ah, it was the custom already that you just went ahead and
done it every year. And you just kept up the tradition, you know, and
I guess it was one of them things, you believed in it and you just done it.
AV: When did you hang up the stockings?
MW: Before we went to bed Christimas Eve. We'd get down at four or five in
the morning to see what we got!
AV: Did you eat the stuff right away?
MW: No, you figured you wouldn't get them, and you was trying to hold on to
them as long as it would last! Yeah, so. Washing clothes was tough,
though. On a washboard, boy, it would take you half a day, you'd be
rubbing. Boy, your pour back really had it, til they invented them
washers. Wash the clothes once and carry your water, boil the clothes,
then wash them again, then rinse them, and no wringer or nothin'.
Boy, your wrists, it was tough.
AV: Oh, my goodness! Well, when did you start, the day you would wash?
MW: In the morning, and you kept goin', whether it was one, two, three, in
the afternoon. You know, you wanted to do your wash that day.