VISITING
AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE
JULY
2009
To
Be A Mother in Neudorf
By
George Taubel
Forwarded
From German Cultural Society, St. Louis
Women in our village had a hard life. From spring until fall,
they worked from early morning to late evening. The men worked in the
fields and because the work was done manually, it was very time
consuming. The women had to take care of the household with all its work
such as cooking, milking, feeding the animals, tending vegetable
gardens, laundry, taking care of the children and a lot more.
Girls attended grade school until they were about 12 years old,
then they were confirmed in the church, and started helping with
household work. They married quite young, many had children long before
they were 20 years old. As long as the girls were unmarried they wore
light colored clothing and elaborate hair-do’s on Sundays and
holidays. But as soon as they were married, they wore dark clothing,
braided hair covered with a cap, and a dark kerchief when they left the
house.
The woman’s daily chores started with the preparation of
breakfast, making up lunch for the men to take with them to work. When
the men worked around the house, she prepared a hot lunch, then had to
milk the cows, feed the animals, gather eggs, take care of the children,
and much more. In the afternoon she had to make preparations for the
evening meal, get vegetables from the garden, and also clean and peel
them.
When poultry was served, she killed, gutted, cleaned and prepared
the meat for cooking. Firewood for the kitchen was cut, split and
stacked by the men once a year. She had to carry as much as she needed
to the kitchen every day. In our family, there were usually five to
seven adults at a meal, so there had to be ample food. For holidays and
other festivities, when a lot of people were gathered, more elaborate
meals were prepared by the housewife a few days in advance, and
relatives helped with the preparations.
Bread was baked once each week. The day before baking, dough was
prepared in a wooden trough and kept warm overnight. An outdoor oven was
maintained in every household, built as a vaulted brick structure. The
bread was not baked over an open flame, but a hot fire was built up in
the oven and maintained until the bricks were very hot, then the fire
was pulled out and the dough, shaped into round loaves, was placed in
the oven. The loaves weighed anywhere from 4 to 6 pounds. When the dough
was ready for baking, a fist-sized portion was put aside. When the bread
was baked and taken out of the oven, the reserved portion of dough was
rolled out until it was flat and round, then baked in the oven until it
had a crisp crust which was then rubbed with garlic and bacon, and given
to the children.
One of the weekly chores for the housewife was doing the laundry,
which was done by hand. Women in our area wore skirts with many pleats,
and ironing them after they were laundered and starched was very time
consuming. Laundry soap was homemade from discarded fats. The fat was
heated in a vat, lye was added and the mixture was boiled and then
poured into moulds. When it had cooled down and solidified, it was cut
into convenient pieces.
In the spring, women started vegetable gardens by turning over
the soil, then planting, weeding and watering. Enough vegetables had to
be planted to last the whole year. During the summer and fall months,
fruit preserves, marmalade, pickles, tomato juice and dried fruit was
prepared. Fresh vegetables were stored in the wine cellar where carrots,
parsley, and potatoes were partially buried in the ground.
People in our area were, to a great extent, self-sufficient. They
raised their own vegetables, and animals for meat. They processed the
meat by turning it into hams and sausages which they smoked to preserve
them. The only ingredients bought at the stores were salt, sugar and
coffee. Tea, which was mostly for medicinal purposes, was made from
herbs growing in our area.
When a woman was expecting a baby, she did not leave the house
during her pregnancy. Wife and husband did not sleep in the same room
while she was expecting, so that any discomfort she might experience
would not disturb his sleep.
When a mother had a daughter, she would start to gather things
for her dowry early in the girl’s teen years. The mother raised geese
for feathers and collected enough for a feather bed and several pillows.
Bed linens and curtains were embroidered. A wardrobe was filled with
embroidered tablecloths, napkins and towels.
Grandmothers sometimes helped with household work, but mostly
they watched the children while the parents were at work. The
grandfathers performed productive activities in the village if they were
able. Since the children spent a lot of time with grandmothers who
indulged them in ways that their parents did not, there was a close bond
between grandchild and grandmother.
The
name is derived from the local region of
= Banater Neudorf
(Banatsko), while Novo Selo
literally means "New Village" in , hence the full meaning of the
name would be "a new village of Banat".
The current official Serbian name of the
village (confirmed as official in 1922) is Banatsko Novo Selo, but
it has previously also been known by different names throughout
its history. Older Serbian name of the village (confirmed as
official in 1854) was simply Novo Selo . it
has been known as Neudorf, Banater Neudorf, and Pfefferthal. it
has been known as Ujfalu (also as Réva-Ujfalu and Bánát-Ujfalu) it has
been known as Satu Nou.
Geography
Banatsko
Novo Selo is located on flat and fertile plains at (45.0554,
20.8858), approximately 15 km NW of Pancevo and 28 km NW of It is located within the in the Province of which is in the northern
part of
The largest neighbouring settlement is Pancevo, but the region is
also scattered with other smaller inhabited places, similar in
size with Banatsko Novo Selo, such as and The village is also on the main thoroughfare between
the capital city Belgrade, and
The altitude above sea level is roughly about 105 meters, or 347
feet.
History
The
village was founded in 1765. It was settled by German settlers,
but also by and .
(*)
Before the foundation of the village, two older settlement known
as Zeldoš and Velika Dolina existed at this location. These
settlements were populated by Serbs and Romanians.
(*) In
1767, 43 Romanian families from were settled in Novo Selo. In 1918, about 80 percent
of the population of the village were ethnic Until 1959, Banatsko Novo Selo had a status of separate
municipality.
(Source
of information: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Banatsko_Novo_Selo
)
Kurze
Geschichte Neudorfs
Novoselo is mentioned for the first time in the year 1554 with
three (3) taxpaying households. In the year 1570 there are eleven
(11) and in 1590 nine taxpaying households (in the Turkish
taxlists). After the wars with the Turkish armies in
1699, Novoselo was called Puszta. In 1701 through 1709 in the area
"west of Lorenze" it was still Puszta. There were
however, seven (7) taxpaying households in the year 1715. The name
of the place St. Lorenz is now called "Lorenzi"
In 1731 Novoselo and the Puszta St. Lorenz (Lovrenz) belonged to
the court chamberlain of Baron Johann Markus of Zuano or Zuana (Joana).
He was also Kameral commissioner of Upper Hungary
and had the task to settle the uninhabited areas of Hungary.
Baron Johann Markus von Zuana allowed Swabian farmers to enlist,
and settled them on his private property. He provided Novoselo
with four (4) fairs every year and was landlord from 1731
until 1746.
Novoselo later came into the possession of the count Palffy.
Palffy sold St. Lorenz and Novoselo to the royal advice Csepeni
Johann Adamovics. Adamovics sold the property to the royal advice
Cseh. This family was owner until the 19 century.
An emergency due to the epidemic in the year 1738 (the pestilence)
was probably what caused occasional many
inhabitants of Novoselo to move away. Also, a flood made the
initial years more difficult for the settlers.
A quotation from the church book:
"In the year 1751 there was an inundation/overflow of the
Danube river which increased up to the large pear tree against a
place which was destined for the church, where the chapel stood.
On the 3rd, 4th and the 5th of April the water level was on/at its
highest stand. The whole village was underwater.
April 4th was "Palm Sunday". The settlement
became stabilized by the further influx from colonists, into the
reign of Joseph II.
The " flowering village", known/called by the elder
generation, required the structure work of generations of its
people/Inhabitants.
Neudorf/Novoselo
Website at:
http://www.feldenzer.com/neudorf%20History.htm
|
|