Later expeditions, 2012–2018 › 2013 Expedition

AHEYM-2013-116 · Baia Mare

Baia Mare (Baia Mare / Siget in the project's index) 2013-05-20 11 min · 5 stretches · 5 questions about words Yiddish 82% Hungarian 18%

Not online: the recording is held by the project and is not on Media Collections Online, YouTube or archive.org. Everything below is a paraphrase of a machine transcript, the weaker of this site's two transcript layers — see how it was made.

Summary

A camera file, the 26th of 31 consecutive files from one session in Baia Mare / Siget (index date 2013-05-20), with no interviewee named in the index. An elderly woman, helped by a second voice, talks with Kerler about women's ritual bath (mikveh) practice and about folk protections against the evil eye. Kerler then asks about Sabbath bread and further folk beliefs, and finally has her go through a Purim-play text again. The file opens and ends mid-conversation.

Stretches

00:00–02:55

The woman recalls the observant old days, including the women's mikveh and the excessive strictness (called fanatical) of some customs. She describes preparing for the mikveh: first bathing at home, then the steps down to the water, and the woman's prayer-book. Large parts of this are in Hungarian. Kerler and the second speaker discuss the word for 'superstitious' and the protection against the evil eye.

02:55–04:42

Kerler and the second speaker ask how coals were used to cure the evil eye. The woman describes the procedure: put coals into a glass of water, count backwards from nine, drink from the glass three times, then throw the coals to the four sides, outside and in the house. Kerler sums it up as giving a 'good eye' against the evil eye.

before the war Folk beliefs and healing

04:42–06:19

Kerler asks what bread was eaten on the Sabbath. The woman says it was challah: every Friday they heated the oven and baked four large loaves, then two challahs and two small ones, since two are needed. A related protection against the evil eye used nine small chips from the Sabbath challah (?), as there was no going with coals on the Sabbath.

06:02–08:48

Kerler asks about further folk beliefs: whether people 'rolled' an egg over a person and said something, and a remedy for a sick child using a white cloth, possibly with vinegar, laid on the belly instead of going to the clinic. He also asks about the dybbuk and the golem, both of which she knows. A Hungarian passage and a remark from another voice say the old people knew these things and the young no longer held to them.

08:48–10:40

Kerler asks the woman to go through the Purim play again. She says the boys, not the girls, went round the Jewish houses with the Purim play. She then says the verse beginning with the eve of Purim and the women's great troubles, and Kerler identifies it as the Purim play text.

Recitation before the war PurimTheaterStories, humor and sayings

Questions about words

  • 03:06
    Did they pour/cast coals (against the evil eye) at your home? Can you explain how it was done? — the procedure of the coal cure for the evil eye
  • 04:48
    What kind of bread was eaten on the Sabbath? — name of the Sabbath bread
  • 05:26
    Was it called challah, not barkhes? Did they do something against the evil eye with pieces of challah? — term for the Sabbath bread and a remedy with it
  • 07:56
    What is a dybbuk? Have you heard the word? — knowledge of the word and concept
  • 08:11
    And a golem? — knowledge of the golem