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House: Inside detail
Cloth ceilings
Cloth ceilings: Mrs. Zahay's father used to put them up, even for other people. He did it just to be neighborly--did it for nothing.
He used printed cloth or white cloth.
Afterwards, beaverboard--like a stiff pressed paper-- began to be used for ceilings.
[This section has a bracket in the left margin with the word "omit": People started to tack "the goods" up. After a while, whitewash kept falling down on floor. Used to take it down & wash & put back up. 1 Ceiling lasted "couple years." Men & women used to help father. Some men were handy, some weren't.]
People started to tack up cloth ceilings ("tack the goods up") when the many layers of whitewash applied to the bare ceiling beams began to crumble & fall on the floor.
People used to take down these cloth ceilings & wash them, then tack it up again. 1 ceiling used to last "a couple of years."
Both men & women used to help her father put up ceiling. Some women did it, some were not handy enough to do it.
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Angela Varesano 7/23/72
Mrs. Zahay
Holy Supper--Christmas Eve
Holy Supper foods included:
Pirohi
Bobalkis (with poppy seeds)
Mushroom soup
Kolachi, with grated American cheese or prunes or potatoes or cabbage
fish (baked, with a bit of oil)
apples (raw)
Oplatki: served with honey. This is eaten before the meal.
cf* We used to eat garlic with these (oplatkis).
[There are brackets around the following with "omit" written in the left margin: "(Zahay: in case bitten by a dog that had rabies, it wouldn't affect you. Eaten on Christmas Eve.) Honey had a meaning, too.]
We ate the soup with kolachi
Poppy seed & nut roll made for Christmas also.
To serve oplatki: put on a plate, each takes a piece & puts honey on it & eats it.
* Frank Zahay commented that they used to say if in case you got bitten by a dog that had rabies in the coming year, it wouldn't affect you, because you ate garlic on Christmas Eve. Honey had a meaning, too.