85

Angela Varesano
7/23/72
Mrs. Zahay
1

Holy Supper foods included pirohi; bobalkic with poppy seeds;
mushroom soup; kolacki served with grated American cheese,
prunes, potatoes, or ca[???]; fish baked with a bit of oil; raw
apples; cooked prunes.

Oplatkis is a thin, flat unleavened bread that was bought from
the church. It was served before the meal. These were eaten
with garlic. To serve oplatkis they were ut on a plate, and
each member of the family takes a piece, puts honey on it, and
eats it.
Frank Zahay commented that they used to say the garlic
eaten on Christmas Eve had a meaning--in case you were bitten
by a dog that had rabies, it wouldn't affect you. Honey had
a meaning too, he said.
When it was dark, he lighted at least one candle on the
table. It was a custom to wait "until the stars are out" to
light them and start supper. Mrs. Zahay says this was done
to keep the children from continuously asking when supper would
be ready.

For mushroom soup wash mushrooms, cut them up, put in a pan,
and boil with salt, onions, and pepper. Cover with water.
Some add celery.
To make zaprachen[?] take flour, a couple spoons and margarine.
Brown it. Add some water and thicken. Add more water and
thicken. Pour in the soup and mix up. Some put vinegar of
two or three tablespoons in soup to taste. Some also add
sauerkraut to taste or rice or cubed potatoes cook in with
the mushrooms. She herself made it just as described above.

They used to put on cuts babkoveliski (grandmother's leaves),
also know as pig ears (cf. Ted Shand, 7/26/72). Parents used
to put it on cuts. They say it stops the bleeding. Rabbit's
ear was the term suggested by Mrs. Mike Gera.

Mrs. Zahay's father used to put up cloth ceilings, even for other
people. He did it just to be neighborly; he did it for nothing.
He used printed or white cloth.
People started to tack up cloth ceilings, "tack the goods
up," when the many layers of white-wash applied to the bare
ceiling beams began to crumble and fall on the floor. People
used to take down the cloth, wash them, then tack it up again.
One ceiling would last "a couple of years."
Both men and women used to help her father put up the ceiling.
Some women did it; some were not handy enough.
Afterwards, beaver board, like a stiff, pressed paper, began
to be used for ceilings.