A woman from the village full of love and skills that she was happy to share with others.

Ljubica

Marta

Great-grandmother's life and mother's memories of how they did greens and sniffed feathers together. How her great-grandmother taught her to crochet and how carpets used to be made.

My great-grandmother, Ljubica Pisk, born Oreški, was born on January 27, 1918 in Zetkan, a village near Vrbovac where her parents moved from Međimurje. She grew up with four sisters and three brothers, and got married at the age of 22. Although she had a happy childhood, shortly after her wedding she faced three deaths. Unfortunately, the first two children did not survive long after birth, only my grandmother survived. Then her first husband was killed in the war, after which she remarried and had three more children. She left us shortly after I was born, so most of the memories I have of my great-grandmother were told to me by my mother. She told how every fall when the greens were prepared, after the greens were cut, they were put in a big barrel. My mother and the other kids in the neighborhood would wear special boots that they keep all year long just for that. Then they would enter a large vat and jump and stomp on the greens to soften them and release the liquid, thus preparing them for pickling. And in the winter, mother would sniff feathers at night with her grandmother and other neighbors from the village. Goose feathers were collected throughout the year and the fine feathers were then used to fill duvets and pillows. When the sneezing was over at one, they all went to the other neighbor's and at the same time they would bring cakes and have fun. Along with preparing vegetables and sneezing, my mother told me how they used to make carpets. Old rags and clothes would be put in a loom, a weaving machine, and a carpet would be created from it, which would be placed in the living room or bedroom. Great-grandmother taught her grandchildren to crochet, and she left behind hundreds of tablecloths of various shapes and designs that we keep in our homes. For a college seminar, my mother decided to write about life in my great-grandmother's village, when she was little and growing up. She told her how the children worked with their parents in the fields and took care of all the animals they had, such as cows, pigs and chickens. She got her first job at the age of 12 and worked as a housewife for a family from the village. Then, she talked about the subjects they studied at school and said that the first four grades were compulsory for all children, and parents were fined if their children were not present. She also explained what games the children played and how boys met at dance parties, while girls had to wait for a boy to ask them to dance. That conversation with the great-grandmother is a valuable document for us because it gives us an insight into the life of people in the 1920s and 1930s in the Croatian countryside, but also that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren learn something more about her and her life.

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