Punta_Kriza_story

Part III

The Figs, the Grapes and the Wine

To my recollection, rainy afternoons in the Fall were use to work on dry figs. This was the last stage in the drying and preservation of this fruit.

At Puntacroce, the only fruit tree ever present and flourishing was the fig tree. There were many species: the Belize, which when ripe were yellow outside and inside; the Carchigne, with a green outside and fire red inside; the Zemize, a beautiful green outside and a lively red inside. The Zemize matured later than the other species. Also, there were savory black figs, so called because of the brown color of their rind. The best among these were the Crivuie.

The abundant summer production of the Belize was preceded by the Fior de Fighi.
This kind of fig matured by late Spring and very few were produced, but they were much larger then normal and very savory—a real delicate treat.

My grandparents had many fig plants that produced abundantly. It was impossible to consume all the fruits while fresh even when a substantial quota was given to the pigs.
It was therefore customary to conserve the figs by drying them and consuming them during the lean winter time. They could also be preserved but, in my family this was not the custom, perhaps because sugar was costly.

In order to expose the fruit to the sun, my grandparents had a permanent structure with a wide table placed on top of two trestles. It was protected from the rain by a tent made from an old sail. In addition to it, there were what looked like round trays little more than a meter in diameter. My grandfather constructed these by bending thin and flexible branches of a plant. In order to render the structure more solid, he fixed a skeleton of small sticks around the diameter. He then filled it up with thin canes or with branches of wild fennel. All the fastenings were made with branches of a plant similar to what is used in a broom, which grew in the swampy terrain near the cemetery.

Only the figs with the green ride that were perfectly healthy and ripe were chosen to be dried. The so called Fichi Neri, black figs, were never dried. In particular, the Carchigne were always dried whole and were stocked in baskets with the stem up. The Belize, instead, were carefully opened by hand without separating the two parts and put to dry with the inside exposed to the sun. After the fruits were dried on one side, they were turned on the other side. The figs were placed in baskets and left exposed to the sun during the day and carried into the house at night in case of rain. After the fruits were completely dry, they were put temporarily in special baskets or in large bags made of Indian grass.

Once the maturation season of the fruits was ended and the drying operation was concluded, the whole figs were put in cases, pressed and stocked in alternating layers of figs and bay leaves.

Next came the selection of the best Belize, the fruit that was cut in half. Only the best ones were use to make a special bread called Pan de Fighi. The recipe called for whole fruits only. With the not so perfect figs, after being grounded, another product was prepared which was also called Pan de Fighi.
From what I still remember, the operation was carried out in the following manner. For the preparation of the Pan de Fighi with the whole fruit, a wooden bowl, large as a dessert plate was used. The figs were arranged on the bottom in ray formation with the external part touching the bowl. After compressing the fruits with your fingertips, another layer of figs was arranged in the same manner. This process was repeated until you got the edge of the bowl. Since this operation was done with your fingers, after a short time they became very sticky, due to the sweetness of the figs. In order to continue, you were forced to occasionally clean your fingers in vinegar. When the edge of the container was reached, the last layer of fruits was arranged in a way that one half of the fig was in the container and the other half was dangling outside. Once this was done, another layer was added with the figs inverted right side down to form the top layer of the Pan de Fighi. Once finished, only the external part of the fruit could be seen. The dangling halves of the fruit were then folded on top of the preparation giving it a convex shape. Once the Pan de Fighi was finished, it took the shape of a large round walnut. Its weight was about 2 kilos.

After the perfect figs were used, they started using the secondary quality of figs. These fruits were grounded with a hand machine that is still used today. The pulp extracted had a brown color and it was scented with fennel seeds. It was then molded by hands kept wet in vinegar and given a shape of a cone with a rounded tip. Its base had a diameter of about 14-15 centimeters and a height of 20 centimeters. When the operation was completed, all the Pan de Fico were placed on a leaf from the mother tree and left in the open air for few days. At the end of this time, both types of Pan de Fico were separately placed in large cases, always covered and separated by bay leaves that gave them an optimal fragrance. At least forty days had to pass before you could eat them. During this time, a thin, white powder appeared on the surface created by the sugar seeping out from the fruit. Now they were ready to be eaten either sliced or with bread or, why not, accompanied with a drink of grappa. They were all very sweet and scented, almost like a nougat bread of grounded fruits and very soft. They were an excellent snack. They were served at lunchtime or taken by the people working in the fields and in the forest. However, they were also offered to guests.

The Vintage and the Preparation of the Wine

I do not remember the vintage at my grandfather’s vineyard, since he died of a heart attack while cutting firewood in the forest when I was only six years old. But, I do remember my uncle Romano’s vintage, my mother’s brother. His wife is my aunt Gasparova, whom I mentioned many times in my memoir.

The grape vintage was done on a beautiful day in September and it was a great feast for us kids. We would depart early in the morning for uncle Romano’s vineyard. My aunt supplied us with baskets to collect the grapes. At the start of the day, we were more interested in eating the sweet and juicy grape-stones than picking the grape.
I remember the wasps, we were not afraid of them like the city folks were. And, if by chance someone was stung, it wasn’t a big deal. The part that was stung (usually the hand), swelled and for a few days was red and then everything passed without any further annoyance.

At noontime, we took a break and sat under a shadow of a tree, usually a fig tree, and ate a meal prepared by my aunt. This meal, without fail, was comprised of bread, salted anchovies and wine, children instead got a mixture of wine and water. In the evening, the grape vintage was concluded with a dinner offered by the master of the vineyard to all the grape-gatherers, usually relatives and friends. They were never paid with money.

My dear mother, who beside having a great memory, was also an attentive observer. Still today remembers how the vintage was performed and how the wine was made in her house at the time of her youth.

My grandparents owned a vineyard in the town at Sovragnes, and two in the outskirts, at Fontana, near the cemetery. Their grapes were nearly all black and the few that were white were mixed in with the black ones.

The grapes of the town’s vineyard was collected by the family members, put in baskets and taken immediately to the house. The grapes of the vineyard at Fontana instead, were picked with the help of relatives and friends. They tried to get everything done on the same day. If something remained to be collected, the family members would complete the job the next day.

Contrary to the town’s grapes, the grapes on the outskirts of town were pressed on location immediately after they were picked. Needed tools were brought on site including a large container with a round base made of wood. Here the grapes were pressed. Sometimes when the harvest was abundant, instead of squeezing the grapes in the barrel, another type of container was used. It was smaller and square, made with separated stripes of wood. With the help of two pieces of wood, the square case was inserted in the larger container. The grapes were poured in and stomped on by people’s bare feet, carefully washed. Usually, the youngsters of the family enjoyed doing this job. If the youngsters were not available , the task was assumed by the man of the house or a friend. As the grapes were stomped on, the juice filtered through the spaced pieces of wood and flowed into the bottom container leaving most of the peel in the upper square container. When both containers were full, the must and the peel were put in a skin-sac made from goat’s skin. The sacs were loaded on the back of a donkey, three at the time, one on each side and one on the center to be transported to the house’s wine cellar. Here, the sacs were emptied into the wine casks. These containers were tall barrels made of wood with a removable cover and a tap stopper in order to tap the wine. They rested on beams or other supports in order to keep them raised from the ground and to allow for containers to easily fit under the tap when tapping the wine. The must and the peel were left to ferment. After the necessary time passed, a small tub made exclusively for the purpose of collecting new wine, was place under the tap.

The tap stopper was opened and the new wine started to flow. To avoid the peels , grape-stalks, and raisins pips from flowing out with the wine, my grandfather prepared a filter made with a branch of a wild asparagus. He rolled it up tightly and inserted it in the inferior opening of the vat, before the stopper. As soon as the wine was tapped, it was poured through a big funnel into the barrels and left there to rest for a period of time. According to my grandfather, it would become a wine worthy to celebrate holy mass.

In order to increase the amount of wine produced, my grandfather poured sweetened water on the peels, not having lost all their pulp. My mother doesn’t remember the correct dose of sugar used to sweeten the water. By doing so, he forced the peels through a renewed fermentation. The result of this procedure was a light wine with a pleasant taste that anyone could drink, because the percentage of the alcohol was very low. On the peel remains, water was added to make vinegar. In this case the fermentation had a longer duration.

I do not know how good my grandfather’s wine was. However, I remember drinking a glass of wine at a house in Puntacroce a few years ago called Malvasia. It was worthy to be served to the most discerning persons. It was definitely the most superior wine I ever drank anywhere on the island or in Istria, where wine always had some acidity. The quality of the wine depends on different factors: quality of the grapes, maturation, care of the barrels. Every part of the long process to fabricate the wine has to be accurately taken care of. Great attention was given by my grandfather to the cleanliness and disinfection of the barrels after they were emptied.

Before anything else, the containers were carefully washed in order to eliminate every residue that could spoil the taste of the wine. Then they were left to dry. Before being reused, the barrels were bathed in water to allow the wood to swell and prevent any leak. The last operation before reusing them was the zolfatara, a method to completely disinfect the barrels by means of sulfur vapors . To my mother’s recollection, her mom proceeded as follows. She took a small tin can that was discarded after use, put a pinch of sulfur in it and melted it in a very low fire. She then took a small string of wool, wet it in the sulfur and let it air dry. When the string was dried, she lit one extremity, slipped it into the barrel through the upper hole and anchored the other end with the stopper. The string burned in the barrel until all the oxygen was used up and then sulfur vapors would emanate, disinfecting the container. It was a delicate operation, because if too much sulfur was produced, more than what was needed, the wine acquired the smell and the taste of the sulfur. If a correct quantity of sulfur was produced, the mineral smell would dissipate immediately.

Part IV

A Little Town School

The elementary school of Puntacroce that I attended in the years 1940-45 is still there. It is a beautiful white stone building built during the fascist era named after Vittorio Emanuele III.

I remember a huge classroom in the ground floor with many large windows. In this room the pupils of all five grades were receiving their scholastic education. Bathrooms were located on both sides of the room; on one side, the Girl’s Room, on the other, the Boy’s Room. The teacher’s apartment was located on the first floor and had two large terraces.

The school was in the center of a gravelly space. On one side of the building, lush Acacia trees grew and on the other side, there was a piece of land partly uncultivated. One or two turtles lived on this land and the school janitor planted some vegetables. In this area, the students practiced cultivation of different types of vegetables during World War II. This program was instituted due to an order given by Mussolini to promote agriculture. Next to the vegetable garden was a small paved space and in the center was a well. At my time, this space and the one in front of the church, which also had a well in the center, were the only two places that were paved. These two places were very important to us as children, because we could play without the risk of getting dirty after a fall. We could also skate if someone was lucky enough to find a pair of roller skates.

Before the construction of my school, when my mother was still a child, the children’s lessons were given in a room on the first floor of the rectory by Monsignor don Nicola Depiccolosvane. My mother was born in the year 1913, attended the five grades of the elementary school in the years 1921-26 on these premises. The school of the parish became the first Italian school of the town after the First World War when our land passed from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Italy. Together with my mother, my aunt Mica, three years older than her, attended this Italian school for the first time. My mother still remembers the first day of school when the teacher was writing on the board a series of aste and filetti to be copied in her note pad. She was very preoccupied thinking how she will write those difficult lines. Different from today’s children, she was not used to having a pencil in her hand until the first day of school. Only ten children out of 250 persons living at Puntacroce, attended classes. There were two books for each grade: one for reading and one for arithmetic. She remembered only two titles of the books she used: Il mio sapere and Di tutto un po’. The latter was used in the fifth grade to review everything that was learned during the five years of school in order to be ready for the final test.

Aunt Atonia, born in 1917, studied instead under the Austrian government. At her time, only three years of school were required. Two sisters from Neresine were the teachers. They taught reading, writing and arithmatic. Additionally, the girls were offered a little of home economics and woman’s work. There were only two books with heavy covers for all three years: one for the Italian and one for Arithmetic. There were no note pads, only small black boards and chalk.

My recollection of elementary school days is very poor and fragmented. I remember that since the town didn’t have a kindergarten, my mother took advantage of the teacher’s availability and sent me to school a year before to audit class. And as a listener my scholastic attendence went on peacefully until one day, as I remember well, my teacher esclaimed during dictation: “You wrote correctly”. In some way, listening also taught me to write. The fact is that the teacher could not dedicate any attention to me, as it was a multi-grade class of about twenty students. My only remembrance of elementary school was the image of my first grade teacher. She was a beautiful dark haired woman. Her name was Antonietta Villio from Muggia (Trieste). She deserves to be noted, because she remained at Puntacroce for three years. She integrated herself in the life of the town, instituted evening classes for adults, and organized recitals. She was a true promoter of culture for the town. Her long stay in Puntacroce was the only positive exception that I can remember, because in that lost corner of world, the teacher did not remain more than one year.

In second grade I had another teacher, Maria Scrivani from Neresine. Since we were at war and no teacher was coming to our town, for the third and fourth grades the whole group of students was entrusted to the parish priest, don Matteo Purich from Cherso. Finally, in the scholastic year 1944-45, while I was in the fifth grade, a young teacher who was a refuge from Zara, Fedora Gaspar, and an undergraduate from the Nautical Institute of Lussinpiccolo, Antonio Piccinich were assigned to my school. They remained in the town until Tito’s Partigiani occupied our land. After this, the elementary school was closed for good and with it my scholastic career ended without having had the chance to take my final exam and graduate from elementary school. Furthermore, I had not taken an admissions test needed to begin Junior High School.

Aside from the general description of my school years, I can still remember the efforts made by the good don Matteo. I still envision him with a pointer in his hand, in front of a globe trying to enrich our minds with some sense of geography. Also, I remember doing my homework at my friend’s house. I was only in the second grade and at the astonishment and disapproval of her mother; I developed a peculiar strategy to solve arithmetic calculations. Another recollection is how the two fifth grade teachers were stunned at how frightfully ignorant the students were, at least in their opinion. Everything else is a complete blank. Sometimes I try to remember if I planted something in that little war garden adjacent to the school. But, what did I plant? One friend of mine recalls a child’s prank she pulled on a little boy. One day on the way to school, she noticed that his pea plants were growing better than hers. She got annoyed, because she realized that his mother, who loved to see her sons be the first at everything, was wetting them daily. In anger she tore them all. Another prank done to the more gullible was to offer a sip of red wine that was substituted with ink. Other friends recall the laughter from the senior students when the juniors were not able to answer some questions. I do not remember any particular of my scholastic life in those years, as if a gust of bora (wind) blew it from my mind.

Part V
Easter Customs
Easter Customs Religious and Not Religious

Life many years ago, especially in small towns, was very different than today’s life. Religious holidays were considered very important and the whole population was involved. The Easter celebration started fifteen days before Easter Sunday. Passion Sunday, with the absence of flowers on the altars, the use of violet vestments and the covering of statues with the same color meant to indicate the church’s mourning for the passion and death of Jesus.

The mourning ended seven days after on Palm Sunday with a solemn procession and a blessing of olive branches. Every family brought home a blessed branch and kept it hung on a wall until the next year at which time it was replaced. During a time of sickness, thunderstorms or other calamities, a ritual was used, perhaps a bit pagan, to exorcise evil by burning the blessed leaves in a metal container.

The commemorative ceremonies were intensified during the holy week before Easter Sunday. On Wednesday, the Madonna’s altar on the left side of the main altar was prepared for the Holy Sepulcher. The altar was hidden and adorned with white and sky-blue burlap. A loose translation of the prayer in front of the Sepulcher was as follows: to the Holy Sepulcher goes the penitent, crying and praying. What the penitent asks, Jesus on the cross will grant. Who will fifty times say a prayer in honor of my suffering, everything I will pardon as long it is asked. During the Holy Thursday mass, the officiating priest washed the feet of twelve children to recall Jesus’ washing the feet of the twelve Apostles at the last supper. At the same mass the priest blessed the water, the fire and the oil.

The women of the town used to bring home some blessed water to put in a special container that was kept over the bed. The holy water was also used to sprinkle the house and the sick. In some families, it was customary to bless the food that was eaten on Easter day with incense and holy water.

On Holy Thursday after the last mass, the bells were locked in mourning of the death of Christ. Instead of using bells, the faithful were called to church by a group of youngsters who went around town three times in a day churning the screbetuie and screaming at the crossings in the local Croatian dialect, “Come on people come to the religious ceremonies, this is the first notice”. The second round ended with the words,” this is the second notice”. The third round with, “this is the third and last notice”.

On Holy Friday, a Jesus nailed to a big wooden cross was laid out on the steps of the main altar. During the day a procession of people went to honor Him. According to custom, every one at the door had to take off their shoes and go to the Crucifix on one’s knees. This ritual could be repeated several times. A special prayer was recited fifty times in the same Croatian dialect. Once the Crucifix was reached, the person kissed Jesus, placed a coin near by, got up, and went back.

The rituals of the day started in the early afternoon with the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) in the church, usually followed by the children. They ended with a Via Crucis through the streets of the town. Heading the procession was a sturdy man carrying a big cross. The parishioners, guided by the Monsignor sang psalms passing through the town’s roads in an unimaginable darkness. Some people held lit candles but this did not succeed in breaking the darkness. Therefore, balls made from ash and kerosene were laid on window sills and stone walls (masiere) and were lit when the procession passed to help light the way. During the procession, the Miserere was sung between stations.

Very impressive were the evening ceremonies on Holy Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The church was illuminated only by 13 candles lit on a big chandelier with a triangle shaped pedestal. These candles were situated on the two sides of the triangle, six on each side to represent the twelve Apostles. An additional candle was placed in the middle or apex to symbolize Jesus. Psalms were recited and at the end of each stanza one candle was extinguished until the only remaining candle was the one on the apex. This candle was taken and carried to the sacristy by an altar boy, leaving all the faithful in complete darkness and silence. Shortly after, a frightful noise began, seemingly emanating from everywhere shaking the church benches that people sat on. The children were drawing close to their mothers, shaking with fear and excitement with dilated pupils. Then, after a frightful crescendo the silence was back and everyone returned home.

On Holy Saturday, around 10 o’clock a.m., a solemn mass was celebrated. At the Gloria, all the chimes and bells rang to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. At the sound of the bells mothers washed their children’s faces to defend them from skin diseases. Contemporaneously with the religious ceremonies, the characteristic regional paschal cakes (pinze) were prepared in all the homes. Every year, the women’s biggest concern was how the cakes would turn out. Their efforts were not always rewarded by great results. The pinze almost always were too sweet or not sweet enough, too dry or not leavened enough etc, etc, etc. I rarely heard the woman of a family or a woman of the town express satisfaction for the achieved result.

Beside the sweets, the women of the town were busy doing special cleaning in their houses. Every knick-knack was dusted and washed. The rooms were re-painted. By doing so, the houses had the chance to be aerated and cleaned after the long period of winter, when doors and windows were kept closed to prevent the icey air of the bora from entering the house and dispersing the warmth of the fire burning in the fogolar ( fire place). The houses were now ready to receive the benediction from the parish priest accompanied by an altar boy who visited the homes on the afternoon of Holy Saturday.
They passed from room to room where all the family’s most precious objects were displayed and blessed each room with holy water using the aspersorio. They also used incense in the turibolo to emanate its perfume throughout the rooms. At the end of this ceremony every family gave an offering according to their means.

The paschal ceremonies were concluded with a solemn mass on Easter day. At the end of mass it was customary to put at the feet of the altar a white table napkin with food to be blessed: eggs, pinze, etc. In front of the church, another stop was taken to exchange wishes and then everybody went home to eat carpize, lamb’s sauce and the pinze.

Part VI
Games, Toys and Pastimes for Adults and Children

My mother recalls having only one doll when she was a little girl. This doll was a gift from her brother’s girlfriend, aunt Gasparova , of whom I have spoken many times.
The body of this doll was stuffed with straw. The face was made of porcelain with painted features and tow hair. She had a beautiful dress. For my mom she was as beautiful as an angel. These types of dolls are now reproduced and sold at a very high price to collectors as Epoch Dolls. My mother’s recollection of this doll aside from her aspect, was her own desperation when she broke it. She doesn’t remember how it happened, but she does remember how much she cried when it happened.

Usually children’s dolls were made at home from rags. A piece of material was taken, folded in half and stuffed with other rags to form the head. Once the head was formed, thread was wrapped around the rag to form a neck. Below the neck, a small roll of material was used to form the arms. Thread was again wrapped around this small roll of material to secure the arms and to form the bust. The remaining material was left loose to give the suggestion of a skirt. The eyes, nose and mouth were either painted or embroidered. At the end, threads of wool were sown to the head to form the hair. Sometimes, as an exception, a real dress was made for the doll to be worn. I remember having more than one doll. Among them even one made of celluloid with movable head and arms.

As far as games go, regardless if playing with dolls or other toys, most of them were played outside during the warmest time of the year. There were games played in groups such as: Hide and Seek, Run After, The Gate, The Handcuffs, The Button game, Thread game and See-Saw game. Also, there were games played with a ball, which was made of rags because at that time very few had a ball like you have today. Regarding outside games, those games that I played with my friends were the same my mother played, but I remember playing Make-Believe as well. This is how we played at school, with family, and at home.

The boys played the same games outside as the girls did with some additional ones such as running with a hoop and jetting stones with sling shots. Their games were filled with more energetic activites than the girls’ such as jumping, climing trees, and other types of trickery like searching for bird’s nests (to destroy them or remove the eggs) or freeing domesticated birds from their cages.

The adult men passed their free time, especially on Sundays, at the bar playing cards or bocce, drinking a glass of wine or singing. Somebody would get drunk.

In Spring, first love would flower and old flames would re-ignite. Courting happened by the olive trees where the youngsters went to seek out the girls who busied themselves with milking the sheep. But the universal entertainment of the young, and even those less young, was the dance. Any occasion was good for a dance. To have one, you got together on a Sunday at someone’s house, but above all in the large hall in Badurina’s bar. Another chance to dance were at weddings where everyone in the town was invited. The wedding was celebrated in the afternoon and at the end of the ceremony you went to the bride’s house, where an abundant and excellent dinner was being prepared. The meal was eaten and there were toasts and various tricks, even dirty tricks. The feasts were concluded invariably with a dance set to music from an accordion that went on the whole night. At the end, the youngsters, still not satisfied and made joyful by the ingested wine, would do one last tour of the town singing in the streets before going home.
Another occasion to dance was the reoccurrence of the first Sunday in May. This feast, which was suspended during WWII, was a celebration of Spring and Nature’s awakening. To celebrate, the youngsters cut a large tree, usually an oak tree, and they planted it in the square in front of the church. It was then adorned with colorful handkerchiefs offered by young women yet to be wed. Furthermore, during the night, the young men would furtively take the best looking vases of flowers, always from the home of yet to be wed girls, and put them under the plant.

In conclusion one danced happily until the end. The day after the feast, mothers went to recuperate the vases and handkerchiefs, because these things were never returned spontaneously by the young men and it was not considered appropriate for the young women to go and get these things in person.

You danced the night of St. Giovanni around the large burning fireplace and as usual in the square. You danced at home even during the time of war with rags on your feet for shoes with rubber soles made from old blankets found who knows where, because there weren’t different types of shoes or because you didn’t want to wear-down your own.

In winter, during the long and dark afternoons of bad weather, the men repaired or constructed gadgets to work the fields, such as handles for the hoe and shovel, baskets to dry the figs and sharpened their tools. . The women dedicated themselves instead to looming wool, and sewing, crocheting, and knitting. The oldest made socks for the family. I remember my grandmother always holding knitting needles with sock in hand, even in the dark.

In the evening, we got together around the fire at someone’s house and we told stories, almost always of ghosts and bogeyman. The children would fall asleep listening to these stories and they would end with seeing gnomes and evil elves ready to capture them from every dark corner. Then when the hour came to go home, the parents would loads their sleeping children on their shoulder and would go toward their own home brandishing a torch to light the street during moonless nights dark as tar.

Carmen Palazzolo Debianchi

Translated by Laura Cellani Fermeglia and her daughter Loredana