2011 Christmasletter 4
The Danube Swabian Foundation of the U.S.A., Inc.
Die Donauschwaebische Stiftung der USA, Inc.
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Debbie Tullius' Diary continued
Wednesday, June 22nd
Today was an amazing day……a trip to Serbia via Croatia. The TV crew was with us again
today. We spent a long time at the memorial in Gakowo. We had a bit of a history lesson as well
as a few thought provoking words and a moment of prayer and silence. Very tough to see and
think about, very hard to leave. We traveled on to a second memorial site, but didn’t have the
opportunity to get very close due to time constraints. We continued on to a marvelous lunch at a
19th century estate that had been turned into an upscale restaurant. We were given the royal
treatment and it was a delicious meal.
We went on to tour the city of Sombor which was clean and beautiful, however severely
depressed. The town hall and local Catholic church were an amazing treat to see; especially the
oversized painting of Prinz Eugene in battle.
The biggest surprise on the trip was a visit to the Sombor Donauschwaben Haus known as
Deutscher Verein St. Gerhard. The pride Tony Beck had for this place was quite evident and if I
am not mistaken, Ed and I have received an invite from both Stefan and Tony to be the first
American Donauschwaben group to come perform for this club.
Thursday, June 23rd
This morning we were broken into 2 different groups. The group that stayed upstairs worked with
Judit Mausz again. She had just as much energy and a totally new 3 part dance that again involved
3 songs. We all worked hard and laughed a lot to try to learn it. At the end of the morning she
presented all the participants with a notebook that contained CD’s, music, words to all the songs
she had taught us and written out steps for all the choreography. It will be a very useful piece of
information.
The group that went downstairs learned how to braid hair the very traditional way with 5 pieces of
hair. Anna Fernbach taught this. She also showed this group how to do that tatting at the bottom
of shawls. The girls were very excited to show me these things, and were still practicing on the bus
as we went to Grossnarad that afternoon.
Words cannot even express how fascinating the trip to the fabric dyer was. As you walked
through the gate to his yard, it was like being transformed to another place. This elderly gentleman
had transformed his property into a mini factory. Here he created intricate patterns, printed the
fabric, dyed it that deep vivid blue color, dried and stretched it and then sold it. We saw
everything, including some of the machines working. I wish someone in the group had taken the
time to translate some of what he was saying for us. I only caught bits of his story.
We left and traveled a short distance to Boly and were invited into a gentleman’s garden. He was
one of the happiest, friendliest, proudest men I have ever met. The purpose of this stop was to see
what a real Donauschwaben yard/house would be like. We saw his orchards in the back, learned
about his wine and schnapps making and had a nice visual experience of his house (even though we
didn’t really go in.) A few in the group were lucky enough to get to go into the cellar.
The final stop tonight was to the Weinkeller der Familie Roth for a dinner. Again, you could
immediately tell how proud the family was of their vineyards, wine cellar and restaurant by the way
they spoke and showed things off. It was very interesting and the wine cellar itself was huge. The
food was very traditional Donauschwaben with goose liver and bread as an appetizer. We got to
try 6 or 7 different types of wine. The dinner was huge and served family-style. There was plenty
of time for singing and dancing after dinner and everyone was very relaxed.
Friday, June 24th
This is the day many of us were waiting for, although none of us knew quite what to expect. Wow,
what a day it turned out to be.
We started the day with a speaker who was a teacher from Pecs. She presented a lesson on the
superstitions and traditions of the Donauschwaben. It was really amazing to learn much of the old
folklore. She ended by sharing several videos her students had made as class projects. One was
a sad commentary on the old arranged marriages, while the other was a funny one of a young man
who proposes and the girl imagines him at all these jobs and none of them are good enough for her
BUT she marries him anyhow out of love.
This got us in the mood for the trip to Wemender and the wedding we will get to see. This
wedding was so well done and everyone learned so much. I believe it was the highlight of the trip.
We saw how the bride got dressed. We marched with the Blaskapelle from the groom’s house to
the bride’s house and then through the town to the church. We had traditional wedding cake and
did the traditional wedding dances outside the church. We drank homemade schnapps, ate, sang
and danced the night away with the Cleveland group, since they were staying in Saar. It was nice
to see friends from around the area that we had been getting to know during the evening as well.
The preparation this city did was amazing. They left no detail out and spared no energy to make it
a memorable day.
Saturday, June 25th
Luckily we got to sleep in since it was another late night. Today we spent the day in Pecs. It is a
glorious old city. We started at the Lenau Haus and had a tour of the city, led by Zoltan Schmidt.
He was a wealth of knowledge about the history of his city. Pecs was started by the Romans, over
run by Turks, the Hapsburgs sent down Schwowe and the area was renamed Fünfkirchen because
of the number of churches. It was obvious why Pecs was named a world culture center for 2010.
We had a lot of free time after the tour to eat a relaxing lunch and do a lot of power shopping.
That evening we walked about 3 KM to Restaurant Katerina for another very traditional meal.
Our group completely filled the restaurant and we all sat at individual tables. After the meal, Hasi
pulled out his accordion and we did a lot of singing and truly enjoyed our time together. It was our
chance to say good-bye to the ladies from Brazil as they left the group Sunday morning.
Sunday, June 26th
We were on the bus by 8 AM for the adventure of a lifetime. We traveled to Liptod, past scenes
and towns we were now very familiar with. Liptod is truly at the end of the world, as the road
ends at a field that turns into a forest. It was as if time had stopped in the town and everything was
as it was prior to WWII. The townspeople greeted us with schnapps and onion bread and then it
was down to work butchering a pig. Everyone who wanted to could have a part in doing things:
cutting up the pig, making sausage, rolling cabbage rolls, and baking strudel from scratch.
Everything was done on site in their community center.
We had an amazing lunch and then hiked up the hill for a tour of their private wine cellars. It was
an amazing sight and a very peaceful experience. Many of us walked around the town taking it all
in and were overwhelmed with the friendliness of the people. One family invited us into their
barnyard and took us through the barn showing us their animals. Another woman told us to go
pick the fruit in her orchard and enjoy it…….plums and cherries……delicious!! One lady wanted
to kill a chicken and give it to Eddie!! We went to see a learning lager that they have created for
school experiences and day camps for children. We were also taken to a piece of property where
the barn has been turned into an art museum for local artists. They had a lot of amazing original
pieces for sale.
Dinner that evening was the cabbage rolls, sausage and studel. Again there was singing as a way
of relaxing and one final surprise. A group of “friendly monsters” showed up to try to steal the
sausage. They were people from Babarc who were dressed up in fun costumes. Apparently this is
a local tradition between the various Donauschwaben villages in the area. It was quite an
entertaining way to say good-bye to a lot of friends we had made in just a short period of time.
Monday, June 27th
We gathered one last time in the meeting room and had another fantastic poem from Anna. We
were then introduced to another teacher from the area who had brought everything to make corn
husk dolls. This was a fascinating process and everyone was completely engaged and working
hard. Each person went home with a corn husk they had made. What a great activity to use with
the kindergruppes back home.
We had the afternoon to ourselves to shop and pack. We loaded onto the bus and headed to
Fuhle Muhle Csardas which was a beautiful Donauschwaben restaurant for one last evening
together. Again the food was served family style and was more than you could ever imagine
eating, (BUT WE DID). There was a traditional Schwowe band there with some men we
recognized from other activities. We danced the night away and our Jugendgruppe performed a
Schuhplattler or 2 that we do at home in shows. Tonight we had to say good-bye to the girl’s from
Chicago as their plane was leaving very early in the morning. It was a lovely way to spend time
together one last night.