.fi' From the Honsel intoTihe World^^ The Life of Wooden-ware Making and Peddling Families in the Ribnica Valley in the 20th Century. HJ From the House into the World The Life of Wooden-ware Making and Peddling Families in the Ribnica Valley in the 20th Century. И: f ш. У Introduction Polona Rigler Grm, curator The project The Life of Wooden-ware Making and Peddling Families in the Ribnica Valley in the 20th Century, which took place between 2004 and 2010, combines research, an exhibition, parlour games, workshops, digital content and a catalogue. With this, we aimed to highlight primarily the social culture, which had often been neglected in the past. In 2004, we invited Dr Irena Rozman, a researcher and ethnologist, to take part in the project and conduct a research, which served as the foundation for the content of the project. The catalogue From the House into the World features the man from Ribnica - a peasant, worker, wooden-ware maker and peddler - and his family. Both the exhibition and the catalogue present the social culture of handcrafted wooden ware from Ribnica. Individuals as supporters of this living heritage are pointed up. The core is made up of the family, which is based on reproduction, social strata, survival and economy, as well as mutual help. The entire story is supplemented by survival strategies of families, presented through photographs, postcards and archival materials. The content gains an added value through extracts from stories told in the local dialect. Audio recordings in the local dialect, which had been recorded as part of the research, were available throughout the exhibition, along with a workshop about the dialect and some parlour games. The entire content of the exhibition stimulates the appreciation of cultural heritage. Between June 2006 and October 2009, the exhibition was on view at the Ribnica Castle. In 2008, the exhibition, the audio recordings and the memory game were digitized and entire multimedia content can now be viewed on the museum's website (www.miklovahisa.si/muzej). The catalogue, as the final stage of the project, reflects the family life as well as the culture and the lifestyle of people from Ribnica in the 20th century. Without altruistic cooperation of people working in our profession, the library and the museum, and of people who have either born witness to the stories from the past or donated objects or photographs, the house would be desolate, empty and without any stories to tell. The juice of every single individual has borne fruit, which will feed the soul of the Ribnica man and will present his image to the world. A Foreword Dr Irena Rozman, ethnologist I remember very well how I left my home in Novo mesto on 17 October 2005 to move to Ribnica for eight months. I would talk to the local people in the villages around Ribnica to collect information about the different means of how wooden-ware making and peddling families made a living. At a later time, when I was transcribing audio recording of the conversations I had had, I was suddenly surprised to realize that ethnologists' fieldwork could in many ways be equated with the work of peddlers. We leave from the house into the world poor, but we come home richer - with new knowledge and acquaintances, experiences and adventures, and, kruota1, if luck is on our side, with some leftover money. Both an ethnologist and a peddler can call themselves successful if they have got: firstly, a tongue (which they can use well when speaking), secondly, excuse my expression, a pig-like stomach, so they can eat everything they get either in inns or from farmers, and thirdly, dog-like legs so they can, like dogs, make it to just about every house even if it is a bit off the beaten track. I was invited to the Ribnica Valley to conduct the research by Vesna Horzen, the manager of the Miklova Hisa Museum, and Polona Rigler Grm2, the museum curator. It was early, during our first conversation when we realized that not enough was known about the social background of the everyday life of wooden-ware makers and hawkers or peddlers. Researchers had previously only conducted systematic studies of certain areas of the material and spiritual existence world of people from Ribnica. The following topics and aspects in particular have been documented well: wooden ware (technical processes of wooden-ware making, wooden ware itself, the geographical extent of wooden-ware making), folk songs (Zmaga Kumer, Folk Music amongRim-makers and Potters in the Ribnica Valley. Maribor: Obzorja Publishing House, 1968; Zmaga Kumer, Drago Kunej, Mirko Ramovs, From Ribnica to Rakitnica [Audio recording]: Folk Songs and Music in the Ribnica Valley. Ljubljana: The Institute of Ethnomusicology of the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts, Hrovaca: Skrabceva hisa, Ribnica: Miklova hisa, 2003), and even storytelling (Fran MiliCinski, ed., and Hinko Smrekar, illustrations, Wooden Ware. Ljubljana: ZaloZba umetniske propagande / Art Propaganda Publishing House, 1919). However, not everything has been told about the everyday life, in particular about the different ways of how families and individuals 1 In the past, krouta (from the Slovene word krota, which means a toad) was every second word one could hear in Ribnica. 2 Financial support was provided by the Municipality of Ribnica; the organization requesting financial support was the Miklova Hisa Museum. in the Ribnica Valley made a living. The exception to this is a scientific research work by Dr Polona Sega, who devoted her attention to a systematic and in-depth study of the way of life of hot chestnut sellers and hawkers or peddlers from Ribnica (Slovene Hot Chestnut Sellers in Vienna: Inhabitants of the Former District of Velike Lasce as Hot Chestnut Sellers in the Imperial City. Novo mesto, Dolenjska Zalozba Publishing House, 1997; The Way of Life of Hawkers from the Ribnica Valley in the 19th and 20th Centuries: Doctoral Dissertation. Ljubljana, 1999). Within the ethnological context of the concept of the way of life (making a living and thinking) one can also read about the life stories of some individuals, members of various generations, social groups and professions (Majda Slabe, ed. - collector, Mojca Ramsak, the author of the additional text, and Vesna HorZen, ed., Life Stories from the Ribnica Valley. Ribnica: Obcina / Municipality, 2003). To sum up: the works mentioned above deal either with individual cultural components (wooden ware, folk poetry, etc.), or the way of life of hot chestnut sellers and hawkers, the so-called primary occupational groups, who are creators of the cultural identity of the Ribnica Valley both in Slovenia and abroad. My task was to conduct a study on the »social culture«, which would shed light on the life of wooden-ware makers and peddlers; there had namely been sufficient information available about what kind of ware was made, how and what the ware was made from, how and where it was sold and what the way of life of peddlers was like. I decided to research the entire way of life of wooden-ware making and peddling families throughout history in connection with the social changes, of course within the context of objective possibilities. »Social culture« is a complex concept, which is in ethnology used to describe various components of everyday life; according to the ethnological system, »social culture« consists of neighbourly relations, family life, customs and traditions, mutual help and much more. The task I had been given was thus anything but simple, as I had to define the object of my study in such a manner that I would be able to study all those aspects of everyday life that are defined by the concept of »social culture« through the selected phenomenon. After careful consideration and a survry interview with Mr Lovsin, a rake maker from Hrovaca, I made a decision - I knew I would get the most meaningful information about the social background of the daily life if I studied it through the perspective of family economy, which is after all what wooden-ware making and peddling were in the first place. This called for a methodological definition of the study; the aim was to deal with cultural forms and cultural components in connection with survival strategies of wooden-ware making and peddling families. Here is an example to give you a better idea: I was not interested in studying the national costumes as such, but only in connection with the family income and expenditure; likewise I was not interested in holidays as such, but in connection with social differences which were manifested in festive food, clothing, etc. Such a starting point of the study, which was mainly dictated by the requirements of the Miklova Hisa Museum, where a new permanent exhibition is planned for the future, resulted in moving away from studying the cultural elements (the techniques of wooden-ware making, for example) and focusing more on connecting them with their holders (what did the division of labour among family members depend on, for example). A decision was made and in early November 2005 the study finally got its name: Family Economy of Wooden-ware Making and Peddling Families in the Ribnica Valley in the 20th Century. After I had started to study the family economy of wooden-ware making and peddling families on the basis of available literature, two different sources of possible information unfolded: fieldwork on the one hand and various archives on the other hand. In the end, I nevertheless opted for fieldwork only, among other things because my work was limited by both time and of course also money. It was by no means realizable for me to work on both the archive and oral materials in an equal manner. At this point it also needs to be mentioned that the archive material (status animarum, civil registers, cadastres, population censuses and household records) would be a significant addition to the collected oral material, even more so if the decision was made to write a scientific monograph, which is a medium-term goal. The fieldwork started as early as October 2005. I was assisted by part-time students of ethnology Vasja Pavlin, a local of Ribnica, and Sandra Jazbec. To begin with, I did interviews with the people, whose addresses I had been provided by the museum; not long after the list of people started to grow, which was a kind of a snowball effect. I talked to seventeen people who provided me with information, both men and women; I did twenty-four interviews and recorded thirty-one sixty-minute cassettes. As part of my fieldwork I also gained some photo material and together with the museum curator Polona Rigler Grm we also collected a number of objects and documents for the exhibition, such as: a marriage contract, a peddling licence, property sheets, wedding, children's and working clothing, farming tools, souvenirs brought home by peddlers, and many other things. All the collected items (many more exist out there, owned by the people) make for excellent material, which is partly presented in the catalogue as a pictorial supplement to the emerging monograph about the family lives of wooden-ware making and peddling families. Basic study results are connected with different aspects of the family economy, with the management - as the people I have talked to would put it. Wooden-ware making and peddling were predominantly subsidiary economic activities; the foundation of the family economy however was farming, in particular livestock breeding and forestry. The entire income earned by means of wooden-ware making and peddling was invested in farming, especially in purchasing land and agricultural equipment, whereby some families were able to considerably improve their living standards and climb up the social ladder. The economy of Ribnica was mixed - there were namely only a handful of true, so to say pure, wooden-ware makers, peddlers or farmers. Profitability of all activities depended on the global economic trends, which were dictated by the situation in the society at the time. On account of this, aforementioned economic activities, including emigration (to the USA, Germany), were profitable to varying degrees in different periods of history. Allow me to illustrate this with an example. After World War II, when industrial facilities were started to be set up in the Ribnica Valley, wooden-ware making and peddling were gradually abandoned. Large numbers of people were employed in facilities of the local industry, in particular in the golden era of socialism (the 1970s), and they invested their income in livestock breeding, which was at the time very profitable. However, when Slovenia gained independence, a number of workers - farmers -lost their jobs and livestock breeding thus lost on importance, and as a result it was gradually abandoned. Trade once again gained on significance on the global level and some families managed to take advantage of this niche; they returned to the traditional occupation - wooden-ware making and peddling, which now provides them with a means of making a living. The main study results, which were in a highly generalized form presented as part of the From the House into the World exhibition, are summed up below: - Even as early as the 19th century, there were only a handful of true (»pure«) farmers left - the survival strategies differed with respect to the social origin. - In addition to farming, it was traditional to make a living by carrying out some other commercially attractive activities: wooden-ware making, peddling, gathering, selling the surplus ware to dealers and seasonal work, such as forest work. - There was a co-existence of several different combinations of making a living in all social strata in the Ribnica Valley: farming, the cottage industry, hawking, emigration, and after World War II also work in industrial plants - as can be seen from the graphical presentation. - Economic means changed through time and were adjusted to the national and global economic and ideological changes. For example: on account of the socialist ideology, which glorified the working class and restricted the development possibilities of crafts and trades, the employment within the developing local industry was on the increase after World War II. There were fewer and fewer true wooden-ware makers left - at the time wooden ware was namely only made during after-work time; likewise peddling was also being given up. However, both activities bloomed again after Slovenia had gained its independence. - Natural resources also dictated modes of the economy -limited possibilities for farming and favourable conditions for livestock breeding and forestry. - In spite of other forms of making a living, farming was the primary activity and all the earnings made by wooden-ware making and peddling were invested in it. - In comparison with other towns and villages in the Dolenjska Region, for example the villages of Suha krajina, Podgorje pri Novem mestu, the standard of living of people in Ribnica improved considerably on account of wooden-ware making and, even more so, peddling. - As a result of having contact with foreign worlds, peddling families introduced various kinds of innovations, which improved the economy and the living standard, earlier than other families in Ribnica, and their lives were thus as a rule better than the lives of farmers - wooden-ware makers. - The system of marrying (oral testimonies speak in favour of social and territorial endogamy) and mutual help represented significant forms of survival. - The forms of economy in the valley differed from those in Slemena (Slovene word for 'ridges'), mostly on account of natural resources. Peddling was more common in the valley, whereas in Slemena it was mostly rim-making and livestock breeding. - Even after World War II, emigration remained an extremely popular form of survival. In the 19th century people would mostly emigrate to the USA, whereas after World War II it was to Germany. - Another new form of survival was employment of women, which affected the family relations, the division of labour between sexes, etc. As part of my fieldwork I also came across a rather crude form of female hawking, which was done by women who would buy surplus ware from housewives and sell it at marketplaces in Slovene towns; the distances between the women's places of residence and the towns in question (Kocevje, Ljubljana, etc.) differed. Tradition also has it that there was a real female wooden-ware peddler from Kot, which was actually an exception to the rule - peddling was namely distinctly male work. In view of everything that has been said I have come to the conclusion that the family economy of wooden-ware makers and peddlers depends on the set of possibilities which are defined by the connection between the state and local environments. To give an example: the subject of the ethnological study of families within the Municipality of Ribnica was »ways of family life«, which came to existence as a result of economical and social differences in connection with a broader social-historical context. The aim of the study and the exhibition was thus in particular to present the sources and survival strategies of wooden-ware making and peddling families. We have not shed light solely on the economic means, such as farming, wooden-ware making, peddling and work in the local and foreign industries, but also on those strategies of providing a living which resulted from conditions of mixed economy: marriage relations, inheritance customs and rules of various kinds and forms of mutual help. A lot of emphasis was placed on mutual help provided among relatives, which was most evident in connection with the construction of houses, family crisis situations and other difficult moments in one's life (illness, death, property loss, land purchase, etc.). All of these strategies are clearly historically changeable, partly determined by the authorities and partly regulated collectively through agreements of people who were involved in farming, wooden-ware making and peddling. The contents have been divided in several sections - display panels, which are interwoven and dependant on one another: Family, Making acquaintances and marriage, Social strata and status of families, Survival and family economy and Mutual help. Last but not least I would like to point out that I have been extremely satisfied with the cooperation with the employees of the Miklova Hisa Museum, who at the time restored my faith in good work relations. My sincere thanks go to all the employees of the Miklova Hisa Museum, in particular to my colleague Polona Rigler Grm, the manager of the museum Vesna HorZen and the library employees; you all provided me with invaluable help and showed a lot of understanding for any kind of difficulties. Thank you for the faith you had in me. I would also like to thank the people of Ribnica, who gave me a very warm welcome and a lot of presents, even though I was at times chilled to the bone during visits. This only goes to prove that the people of Ribnica are set in their own ways and will go to great lengths to save a bit of money. Thank you all. The Life of Wooden-ware Making and Peddling Families in the Ribnica Valley in the 20th Century A family is a fundamental social community, which meets the biological, social, economic and psychological needs of its members. In the 20th-century Ribnica Valley, extended families, which consisted of grandparents, children, aunts, uncles and orphans, as well as hired hands, were still quite common. Altogether they formed a family-farming economy of peddling and wooden-ware making families. They would not have been able to survive, had relatives, neighbours, acquaintances and friends not helped one another. ч > 1 l 1 t 1 employ- ч money provisions _ work people 1 / ( 1 ment at home \ 1 \ / and abroad wooden- peddling ware farming making making acquain-tances social marriage strata of families Making acquaintances Young people used to make acquaintances at Church holidays, on pilgrimages, on their way to the church and back home, at fairs and dances, in the village, at village festivities, and of course during collective peasant labour (e.g. threshing, corn husking etc.). At that time physical contact between the sexes was permitted, both girls and boys took pleasure in singing, dancing, flirting, and touching each other. The society conceded such behaviour, as long as it respected the old ways and customs which protected the female honour. There was a linden tree in the middle of almost every village. Boys would often go there together with the village girls. They would hang out under the tree, chat away and make jokes. Under the village linden tree Fantje pa punce so hodild ne srajdd vasi, pot lipo so se zbrald, pa so kasno rjakld. Hecald so se, ne. Hanging out with the girls Al pa recimo u nedajlo popoudne, pa so pdr hisd ble take kluopce zunaj, pa so hodile punce polej ne tisto kluopco sajst. Fantje so pa polej zdravdn prsld. There were benches outside the village houses. On Sunday afternoons girls would often come to sit there, while the boys would come and join them to hang out. Dancing in the village inn Ne Stiefan dan smo zecield pliesat; je bla gostilna, pa smo se fantje pa punce zbrald. Pa sma ucasdh se taku tjakle, smo rjakle: »Skuoda je usake mdnute zemeddt, pajmo hitru! On Boxing Day, there was a dance in the village inn, where the boys and the girls would get together. We, the girls, would hurry up getting there thinking: »Not a minute is to be wasted, let's make haste!« During threshing Se bdl smo se pa spoznavald, ku so majld prosuo. Smo tut fantje pomagald; vecina je bla pa nevada, de so fantje pa puncam nagajald. Saj tu je punca usaka rada vidla, ne. We got to know one another even better during threshing. We, the boys, also gave a hand with it, but mostly we were just teasing the girls, who loved it. J At village festivities Po vojnd smo hodild ne tie razlicne proslave, polej ne veselice, u gostilno ne pliese. After the war, we would often go to village festivities and dances in the village inn. They loved going to Lasce to the Lencek's Inn. On one occasion, they first went to see a performance and then to the inn to do some singing and to have good time. My mother was waiting on tables at the time and fell in love with my father. During performances So hodild u Lasce h Lajnckd u gostilno, polej so imajld pa eno igro. Po t9 igrd so sld u gostilno, so pajld, pa ldpu se imajld. Savajde, mama je pa strajgla in savajde ocieta gliedala -mujga ata, ne. Marriage The self-dependence of an individual living within the rural economy, with the constant renewal through the transfer of the property from one generation to the next one, dictated a reasonable marriage from the inheritor of the farm. His choice had to satisfy economic and family needs. Only in the second half of the 19th century the economic and society changes brought more liberal cultural background, and especially those children of farmers who had not inherited the family farm were allowed to marry for love. But it should be kept in mind that young people rarely married only for love; on the contrary: they were brought up with the idea that »birds of feather fly together«. ■Ј"» it '»-r. r^xiijviu r m, 11. itn'ipi «TU • tinbll ^ IJIt, l.*, t,f. tsqit l.p. r^lrmt itwll.i 1П t 1191 1 ; I ^ ] r . 1- ■ blfl", Ln^A^SlLt , tjrtlj«! - tt rl»? lita.l^k* , bkilri - itrsli hla tfl. f^Hihbtar t IlhlLl. tf>1>>J'iJ>4llUlu rwu ^IjUT putlnl»^ HI . I^^TII lltnhi ■»'tu.thtaji ■ M;.!, Ffrti pHiWki , IwlMi Ittiiltx l, ■UMIi ---. .. ________ --liillH iiliuit I, jtillij T^isril lU JntHi krn «rtld» » nMtia n^larlHtTilil lilin Krtlli rrrli^l MllL Ii»:,!. Ij,ii 111,^ htrtiAia ^JMIIII Ipj llHd tnib tu iTt Ii tiijHtT Marriage contract An arranged marriage »Fant, u sobuoto se malu postimaj, malu se preoblajcd, pa obrij se,« pravd, »buoma sla najkam uprasat. Midva griema u Zagorico. Tam je gostilna, tam je fina punca -bo velika duota - in tam se bos ti ozjanu! Ce tdje prou, ce ne bo pa Juoze doma!« Pol se je pa pismu dajlalu, poruocla sta se, oce mdje izruocu kmetijo. My father said: »Boy, do yourself up on Saturday, put on some nice clothes, shave yourself and then we'll go to Zagorica. There's an inn down there and they've got a daughter who's going to have a large dowry. And that's where you'll get married. If that's ok with you; if not, Joze will stay at home .« After that, a sort of a marriage contract was put together, we got married and my father handed over the farm to me. Social strata and social position of the family As a rule only one of the children inherited the farm; thus in the new age the number of small farmers, cottagers and tenants kept growing. Simultaneously a stratum of medium and small farmers formed within the rural population and they differed from the small number of large farmers both in the manner of managing their farms and in their way of life. Young people used to marry within their own stratum: those who inherited farms married adequately, those who didn't turned into cottagers ^ They rarely succeeded in keeping or even improving their social position given by birth. The marriage strategies resulted in family relations between different social strata. These were important as they, apart from farming, wooden-ware making and peddling, aided the survival of a number of families Ribnica. Cottager's and woodworker's family They got married, but they had no possessions. They each got something from their homes. The wife's unmarried brother also came to live with the family. While they were building a house, they were put up by the neighbours. They had five children: Janez, Joze, Lojz, my father and a daughter - Marija. Janez and Joze left for America and stayed there. My father also spent some time there, but he came back in 1923. In 1924 he got married, in 1925 he got a son and so on. The family structure Ne ruoke sta se vziela. Ndc najsta imajla. Najkaj ot duma je usak dubu, ne. Z zenuo je pdrsu se en brat, kd naj biu ndcporocen. Ku so gradild, so pdr sosajddh spald. Pol sta imajla piet otruk: Janes, JuoZe, Luojs, muj oca, pa ena sjastra, Marija. Dva brata: JuoZe in Janes sta u Amerikd ostala; muj oca je u Amerikd biu in polej je pdrsu triindvajsetga lajta damu. Stdrindvajsetga lajta se je poruocu, petindvajsetga se je sin rodiu in pol pa taku nepraj. Family tree of development of cottager's and woodworker's family from 1872 until 1968. Iii /\ - narrator ^ - emale ^ -male I im I - wedding i - place of emigration + - died as a child ----the family around 1890 ----the family around 1940 - the family around 1970 Farmer's and peddler's family My father's brother Joze never left home and also died there. My father was a peddler. Other people living in our house were: my grandmother, my grandfather, my father and mother and two sisters. I married a man from Praproce, one of my sisters a man from Vinice and the other one a man from Ljubljana. We'd always have a maidservant in our house. One of them was from Loski Potok, while others were from Jurjevica, Retje and Mali Log. The family structure Atou brat Juoze naj su ndkamsr, je biu dama - je umsru dama - je tut zdumou. Polej smo pa pdr hisd bld se: stara mat9, star oca, oca, mama, pa dvaj sestrie. Jds sdm se porocila ne Praproce, ena je sla ne Vince, ena je sla pa u dlbljano. Smo pa imajld zmieraj dajklo - z Loskdga Potuoka, pol je bla ena z Jurjeuce, pa z Rajtij, pa z Malga luoga. /\ - narrator ^^ - emale ^ -male I i>n I - wedding I - place of emigration I unclc fflthcr mother maid sistcr sistcr i i i FrapnA «jite [Jubtojia Family tree of development of farmer's and peddler's extended family in the 1950s. Cottager's and woodworker's family ir □ house □ manureheap □ pigsty □ bom □ hayloft Ground plan of cottager's and woodworker's family outbuilding around 1950. The economy Ja, zemluo je kupu; pa usak ruot je mau psrkupu zemlie, ne. Tut stric, mamsn brat, kd je z nuo pdrsu, je najlajpsd kuos kupu. Otruk naj imu, porocen naj biu, pa obudce je dajlou. Imajla smo en hektar niu, kosenice, pa najkaj guozda. Pardajlala smo petnajst, sestnajst mierndku usnice; jecmiena endh desiet mierndku; prosa pa ene tri. Predalu se je sosajdd mlajku, pa jurcke - ona pa nepraj u dlbljano. Obude smo dajlald, je bla slaba placa, pa otrocd so bld. Zemlie naj blu tulku pdr nas - je blu ze hrano. Pol smo zecield mlajku odajat, prasica smo enga ne lajtu prodaldpa tut kasno telico, de se je prezdvajlu. My father bought some land and every generation after that bought some more of it. My uncle, my mother's brother, who came to live with the family, bought the nicest piece of land. He had no children, wasn't married and made a living making rims. We had a hectare of land, some meadows and a bit of woods. We would grow fifteen or sixteen bushels of wheat, about ten bushels of barley and three bushels of millet. We would sell milk and porcini to a neighbour of ours, and she would then sell them on in Ljubljana. The pay wasn't particularly good and there were children to support, so we were making rims. We didn't have enough land to be able to make a living of it, but we grew food for ourselves on it. Later we started selling milk and sold one pig and a heifer or two every year to make ends meet. Farmer's and peddler's family Ground plan of farmer's and peddler's family outbuilding around 1950. □ house □ woodshed □ manureheap □ pigsty □ Stahle □ shed for leaves □ storeroom □ bam □ hayloft The economy Use skdp je blu dvanajst hektarju z guozdam uret; srajdna kmetija ze nas, takrat. Smo imajld: krave, kasdnga bika; psrdajlald smo jecmiena po desiet mierndku, usnice dvanajst, koruze petdeset mierndku, kdmpirja pa razlicnu pa pajse zmieraj po deviet aru; smo imajld stird prasice. Smo imajld krasdn sadounak; devetinpesetga lajta smo prodald siest tauzdnt jabuk pdrve klase, druge klase pa stird tuone u internat, kdje biu takat u Ribdncd. Ata je hodu pa se resieta prodajat u Austrijo. Ce njabd blu tdga, bd blu bdl skromnu, samu ot kmetije, kdje premajhna - tu je biu glavnd vir dnarja. Pridnd so mogld bdt. Including the forest we had twelve hectares of land altogether. At the time this was considered a mid-sized farm. We had cows and a bull or two; we would produce ten bushels of barley, twelve bushels of wheat, fifty bushels of maize and different amounts of potatoes. We had nine ares of beet, as we had four pigs to feed. We also had a wonderful orchard. In 1959, we sold six tons of first-class apples and four tons of second-class apples. We sold most of them to a boarding school which was in Ribnica at the time. My father would also travel to Austria to sell sieves. This was our main source of income. Our farm was too small to make a living out of it. We had to work hard. г^ > f • .1 'J The family survival and economy ^ In the 20th century only a few of the families dealt exclusively with farming. Most often farming was a basic economic activity, which provided basic sources for survival. Wooden-ware making and peddling presented additional sources of money and goods. Small farmers, cottagers and tenants aided their survival by gathering, reselling, and after World War II also by getting employment in the local industry and permanent or temporary work abroad (emigration to America). T H E FAMILY S U R V I V A L E C O N O M Y Sale of wood - forestry Ddrgacd je oca hodu tokulelej pozimd huoje sajkat ze luon. Dokler najsmo imajld kojna, je sam sajkou, polej, kd sdje pa kojna kupu, ne, je pa tut furou. In winter, my father would usually earn some money by cutting down fir trees. Before he bought a horse, he had only been doing the cutting down part and afterwards he was also the one to transport the trees. When I was going to school, it was after the war, some apartment buildings were built for army officers to live in. Me and my brother would take milk to these buildings. Each of us carried four milk cans - two in each hand. We would also sell some potatoes, apples and beans, which earned our parents the money to buy school shoes and clothes, and some other things. If it was a rich harvest, we earned good money, if not, the year was not so good. Sale of produce Kd s9m jds u sulo hodila -tu je blu zie po vojnd - so pa tle neriedld ofcierske bloke in so se neselild ti ofcierjd in sma mlajku nosila z bratam. Vsak po stier kangle: dvaj kangle u eno rokuo, dvaj kangle u drugo, pa sma sla. Kdmpirja so mau prodald, jabuka, fdrZuola. In so nas ze sulo obuldpa oblajkld, pa Zdvajld smo. Ce je blu dobru lajtu, se je dalu dostd dobdt, ce ne je blu skromnu. A N D T H E FAMILY S U R V I V A L E C O N O M Y Our godfather, who would come over every now and then, had a horse. I had a ride with the horse and the chaise. Can you imagine what a big deal a horse was in those days? The importance of horses in rural economy Biermanskd buotdr je sdm gor hodu, pa kojne je imu. Pa sd suparjam sdm se pjalou, s kojnam, pa vajs, kaj je tu takat blu, kojn, ne?! Kojn se je u smrajko zedu z uzdamd in se je noga do kraja zlomila. Ubdt smo ga moglein glih otava je bla. In ku so ga peljald msmu duma, je toku rezgetou, kd je vajdu, de je tle dama. Mi smo pa vsdjokald. In the forest, the horse's reins got entangled around a spruce and the horse broke its leg, so we had to kill it. It was at the time when we were drying hay. When they were taking the horse past the house, it was neighing very loudly, as if it knew this was its home. We all cried. A N D T H E F A M I L Y S U R V I V A L E C O N O M Y We used to look for porcini and one year also for acorns. In autumn, when fields were being ploughed, we would also gather comfrey. We then gave it a wash, lit the furnace and dried it on a rack. We sold it to the cooperative, where medicinal herbs were purchased from people. Gathering economy Smo jurcke nebrald, enu lajtu smo Zelot nebirald. Pa kd se je jesend oralu, se je pa tut gabes pobiralu in smo ga oprald, pa piec zekurild in ne lajsd posusld. Pa smo gabes prodajald u zadrugo - tle je biu prou otkup tdh zdravilndh zelisc. Employment at home and abroad Sdm sla u Nemcijo, de sdm najkaj zesldzila; najsdm sla, de bd sddajla po gostilnah - najsdm sla ndkuld - najsdm imajla drobiZa, tut kruha najsdm kdpila. Sdm sla pa jds u sluZbo konc maja, petinsesetga lajta, u Riko. I went to Germany to earn some money and not to waste my time in inns. I never did go to any inns. I didn't even have money to buy bread... I got a job in Rika in late May 1965. A N D T H E F A M I L Y S U R V I V A L E C O N O M Y wooden ware Jesiend, od male mase pa do oktobra, smo muogld nesajkat palce ze grable. Med tdm cajtam smo se zmieraj kmetovald: usnico smo vsjald; pa tretje smo kosild; gnuj se je mogu razpjalat; koruza se je Ziela; rajpa se je ribala ^ tu je moglu bdt use nerjanu. Dnievd so se drZald ku rak, ampdk usak dan je blu dajlu resporejanu. In autumn, from Assumption of Mary until October, we had to chop up sticks to make wooden rakes. During that time there was a lot of farm work to do. We had to sow wheat, do the third hay cutting, spread manure, harvest the maize, grate the turnip, etc. All of this had to be done. There was a lot of work to do every single day. Adolf, who purchased wooden rims from rim-makers, would always come on Sundays. He arrived by carts and horses, so he could take it all with him. When he came, he had a look at the ware and asked: »Who made this?«. My father pointed at me. He was looking at me and said: »Well, you'll have to work on it a bit and then it's going to be just fine«. And he gave me five dinars as a present. Je prsu Adolf- ta, kdje otkdpavou - je ob nedajlah hodu okuld. Je pdrsu pa z vozmi, s kojnd, de je obude otpjalou. Pa je pdrsu, pa je gledou. »Kdu pa tu dajla,« je rieku. »Pa talej,« me je oce pokazou. Pa me je gliedou. »No,« je rieku, »se malu se muorss popravdt, pa bo u riedd«. Pa maje pet dinarju sienkou. A N D Peddling Ce ce Ribdncan dobru predat, muore imdt: prvdc jazdk, svinjskd Zeluoddc, de muore use pojejst kar dobi, pa pasje nogie, de muore it ku pds. For a person from Ribnica to be successful he has to have: a tongue to start with, a pig-like stomach so he can eat everything he gets and dog-like legs so he can run as fast as a dog. Mutual help i". Mutual help between relatives and neighbours was vital for survival of the families. It was indispensable during extensive rural labour, when buying agricultural machines or automobiles, when building houses and farm buildings, and for overcoming all kinds of family problems, caused mostly by illness or death of the master or the mistress of the house, dissent among the family members, alcoholism, natural disasters, war, etc. It should be mentioned that the future of children who had to leave home depended greatly on relatives: both in terms of financial and moral support. j ■rof--. My father, his brother, brother-in-law and father-in-law got along so well that they would buy the ware together, put all the money together as well and divide it into equal parts, regardless of how much each of them sold. They were friends and relatives at the same time. Mutual help among peddlers Oce je biu z bratam skdp, pa se svogdr, pa tast. So bld trije, pdrjatld, pa Zlahta obendm. Oni so bld toku sloZnd, de so ruobo skdp kdpvald in dnar skdp dald in rezdajld ne enake dele ne glede, kulku je kier prometa ustvaru. Help with building a new house Mjand so mujd bratje zelu dostd pomagald, smo bld aden do druzga. Samu z dajlam, ndcz dnarjem. My brothers helped me a lot - work-wise, not money-wise. We gave one another a hand a lot. Help with educating and raising children MuoZeva necakinja -stdrinstdrsetga lajta je rojana - je bla eist skuzd tukaj, pdr nas; se pol, kdje u dlubljand stddirala. My husband's niece, who was born in 1944, lived with us all the time, even while she was studying in Ljubljana. i- jami v ljl'iüjani It was in 1948 - our house had been renovated partly, only the planking had been laid. It was then that Kragel, a priest from Ljubljana, came to ask if we'd be willing to put him up in our house. My mother said: »Jesus, what if we really put him up and give him a room, and Zinka could have a flat in Ljubljana.« Help during studies Je blu lajtu uosdminstdrde-set. Pdr nas je blu delnu obnouljanu - so ble samu dile poloZjane. Pride duhovndk Kragdl z 9lbjlane in uprasa, ee bd ga uzield pot strajho. »Jdzds,« je rjakla mama, »kaj pa, ee bd ga rajs uziela? Pa bd ga dald u eno sobo, Zinka bd imajla pa stanovajne tam u dlbjland.« Help with some major farm work Smo hodild snope rezvezavat, pa u masino podajat. Pa tistd gepl so krave vdrtile - je blu trajba krave gondt. Pa smo hodild pomagat sosajdam, ankrat addn, ankrat addn. We would often give a hand to our neighbours. We helped them undo sheaves and handed them over to the thresher. We were also driving cows while they were pushing the threshing machine. We all helped one another whenever help was needed. J A, tu smo sd pa met seboj pomagald, pdr kosnd, pa tut op Zietvd, pa op plajtva, pa op mlatvd - takat smo sd pa met seboj sosajdje pomagald. Smo se zmajnild: ddnds mi, jutdr I buoste vi in toku nepraj. Neighbours gave one another a hand with cutting the grass, harvesting, weeding and threshing. We had a deal we'd do the work on a particular day, somebody else the next day and so on. In Germany I did my best to put aside some money. My sister's husband said I should give them some money to buy a car known as »fico«. So I did put some German marks in their account - 8,000 marks to be exact. I bought the car for my sister, who had a heart condition. Help with buying a car Sdm sparala u Nemcijd. Pa je rieku od sestrie muoz: »Daj zdfickota!« Jds sdm marke nekazala - tu je blu uosem tauZdnt mark. Ze sestruo sdm ga kdpila, kdje bla srcnd bounik. r.\ f ■■»^ ■ fv V». ^ Ч 'Mik Vük Тш Survivalstrategies Making acquaintances, weddings, farm work, manufacture and sale of wooden ware and employment at home and abroad enabled material, social and spiritual survival of individuals and the society. The man from Ribnica has been shaped by love of land and nature, which is reflected also in the customs and traditions. Productiveness and their hard-working nature lead people from warm farmhouse stoves to work in America, peddling in Germany and employment in domestic companies. Accounts and photos of the five fundamental survival strategies describe the culture and way of life of the farming, wooden-ware making,peddling and working man from Ribnica. Smo se zacield pogovarjat o poruokd, punce sploh poznou najsm. The wedding was arranged and I didn't even know the girl. A group of girls in the square in Ribnica, among them Karolina Kovacic, who, in her youth, enjoyed beauties of nature as well as spending time in the company of people eager for knowledge. The photo shows Marica from Kot. Her father was a constable and therefore the family had to move frequently. She spent her early childhood in Kot. Her grandmother, who was known by the name of »the old Grajna«, was a wooden-ware peddler. The photo was taken around 1950. Not much was needed, only a bit of good will, for people to startplaying instruments, singing and dancing. From time to time Nada and Ivan Mohar danced in their home courtyard in Loski Potok. The photo was taken around 1959. Girlsfrom Praproce on a Sunday trip. Photo: the priest Novak. The photo was taken in the 1950s. Members of the Susje Cultural Society going off by bicycle to see the play Veriga (Chain) in Velike Lasce. Some time prior to that, they had performed the play themselves. The photo was taken around 1950. A trip by horse and a cart to Nova Stiifta, which took place while relatives from the USA, the Silc family, were visiting. The photo was taken in 1962. A photo session of actors of the Susje Cultural Society who performed in the play Matija Matajev. The director of the play was Joze Grebenc, a teacher and headmaster of the school in Susje. The photo was taken around 1950. A firebrigade flag being unfurled in Zlebic. The first person on the horse is Nande Silc and behind him is Ludvik Peterlinfrom Zlebic, locally known by the name of Kramarcen. The photo was taken in 1960. A parade during a fire brigade festivity in Zlebic in 1960. The flag bearer is Nande Silc. On the left there is Ludvik Peterlin. A wedding at the Induk family in Hrib which took place in their house. The musician was Stefanov France from Dolenja vas. A celebration of the 60th birthday ofJanez Rigler, locally known as Matevzev from Praproce. Celebrations of anniversaries, weddings, confirmations and other major festivities usually took place in their house. The photo was taken in 1952. A wedding photo of Tone and Ancka Petek taken at Cene's during 'sranga', a Slovene folk wedding custom. Standing to the right of Tone is his best man Janezev Andrej. The photo was taken in 1959. A postcard from the maternity hospital sent by a new mom in 1959 to her husband and the rest of her family in 1959. Praj se je use obdajlalu, samu snozietd smo kosild. The entire land used to be cultivated and grass was cut only in meadows. Grass cutting with a scythe and an Agria mower. The photo shows the transition from manual farm work to farm mechanization. Introducing Introduction offarm mechanization was made possible also by means of the money earned by from working in Germany. The photo shows the period during which a living was earned by means of farming, working abroad and mutual aid. It The photo was taken around 1960. A scrap of hay in front of the stable. Also shown in the photo there is the hay blower, used to get hay into the stable or onto the hayloft. The photo was taken in 1966. A part of the outbuilding of the rake-maker Franc Lovsin in Otavice. The photo shows Franc with his son, carrying a basket with litter for the pigs. Also shown in the photo there are the house, thea manure heap, thea courtyard, thea stable, thea pigsty and thea chicken ladder leading to thea henhouse. The photo was taken in 1966. Rakers from Susje. The first one on the left is Ivana; her maiden name was Ambrozic. Rakers had an important role in major farm works and this is reflected also by their clothes. Photo: Divjak. Ploughing a field with a cow and a plough. Before mechanical equipment was introduced in the early 1960s, the land had mostly been cultivated manually. Anton Petek's sister Micika and his mother are reaping barley at Novo Brezje. The photo was taken by Anton's brother Joze Petek around 1938. Hay-turning with a tractor and a tedder, done by Ludvik Ambrozic from Dane. He was a peddler and peddled also in Germany. Farm mechanization in the Ribnica Valley often improved as a result of money earned in Germany. Accordingly, it was mostly German brands offarm machinery that was used. The photo was taken around 1975. Manual pearpressing done by the Martin family in Hrovaca. As not everyone could afford to buy a press, there used to be shared presses for fruit pressing in villages. The photo was taken prior to World War II by Joze Petek. Hfevska knjiga Herd books being introduced at farms, which was done by livestock societies. Zvajstu ku lastovka pride Nace usako pomlat. Dependably like a swallow Nace arrives every spring Tlcicur 0(1 Sv, l^TDjUia * Slor. ^ЏГ- t1B0 pre* jfÜ; Kdo ne pomn. плЈг^ N'qcel« ix nibni^X. 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