Christmas in Vor Pommern

Late in November the mother of the household gathered greens for the Advent Wreath. She placed four tall candles on a red and white tablecloth and greens around the window frames that gave a fragrance of pine throughout the house. The advent wreath was hung from the ceiling or placed on the table. One candle was lit on the first Sunday of December and one every Sunday until all were ready to glow together on Christmas Eve.

Der Weihnachtsmann, the "Christmas Man" would come knocking on the doors the first Sunday of Advent. He was usually a tall thin man with brown hair and a short beard, wearing a long tan coat with big bulging pockets. One of the pockets was filled with sweets, the other with note pads and pencils for the children to write on. He also wore a huntsman's hat with a sprig of green around the crown. He asked if the children wanted anything special for Christmas. They would hand him little notes with their requests. In some of the households the children would invite the Christmas man in and sing their wishes to him. They believed that he would deliver the gifts himself, to save the Christ Child work and they included all of the family in the last verse.

The families sang Christmas songs such as "Away in the Manger " or "Joy to the World" every evening. At dusk on Christmas Eve the family would sit down for a candlelight meal. They would have hot spiced cider, appetizers such as Kock Käse mit Schwartzbrot (cooked cheese spread with dark bread), Heringe Nach Hausfrauenart (pickled creamed herring) and Rugenwald tea sausage. After they ate the mother of the family would herd all the children into one area of the house and told them to close their eyes. The parents would sing "O Come Little Children." When the children turned around they were told to open their eyes to see the firtree on the table with candles glowing on it. The tips of each branch had a small cross ornament, gilded nuts and colored glass ornaments. Everyone sang "O Tannenbaum" and the father would sing "From Heaven High" (Martin Luther's Children's Hymn).  The mother many times would play the harpsichord.

On Christmas morning there were crocheted and knitted gifts under the tree. They consisted of mittens or socks and fruit. Choirboys from the church were caroling in the streets. Bells rang from the church. The family then attended church services and after arriving home ate a Christmas dinner. The meal consisted of Kirschsuppe (warm cherry soup with dumplings), Pommerscher Gansebraten with stuffing (roast goose), Rotkohl mit Apfeln (red cabbage with apples) and Sulz were Christmas Specialties. Sulz was made from diced veal, carrots, celery, root and onion seasoned to taste and molded in its own liquid, sometimes thick enough to slice and always-served cold. There was dark rye bread filled with caraway seed, an assortment of smoked fish and meat sliced thin and various kinds of sausages. Dinner ended with sweets such as Kuchen, Schokolade pudding (steamed chocolate pudding with hard sauce), Klötternüsse cookies and candy.

SOURCES

      

Martha and Les Riggle, Witchita, Kansas

Elaine Kraft, Cedarburg Wisconsin

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper December 11, 2002

The Christmas Keeping Germans by Neita Oviatt Friend, Eagles Nest Publications Hartland Wisconsin 53029

Hank Jones will be Guest Speaker at July 14, 2013 Meeting

The Pommern Special Interest Group is pleased to announce that Hank Jones will be the guest speaker for the July 14, 2013 meeting at 2 p.m. at the Immigrant Genealogy Library located at 1310 Magnolia Avenue, Burbank, CA.  The topic is How 'Psychic Roots' Became An 'Unsolved Mystery.  All are welcome.

Hank Jones Biography:
Henry Z ("Hank") Jones, Jr. has been actively climbing family trees since the age of eig...ht, and, since his graduation from Stanford, has specialized in tracing 18th century German emigrants. His books on the subject include The Palatine Families of Ireland, the two-volume The Palatine Families of New York - 1710 (winner of the Donald Lines Jacobus Award as "Best Genealogical Work of the Year"), More Palatine Families, Westerwald To America, and his brand new three volume set Even More Palatine Families. Hank has written many articles over the years that have appeared in The American Genealogist, The National Genealogical Society Quarterly, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, The New York Genealogical & Biographical Record and other major publications. He recently received the NGS Award of Merit for "Distinguished Work in Genealogy" and has been elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, of whom there are only fifty in the world. Hank has served on the national board of the Genealogical Speaker's Guild, as a Trustee of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and as a consultant on the popular NBC-TV program Who Do You Think You Are?

As to his "other life" apart from genealogical research (and being a 3-day JEOPARDY! champion), Hank Jones was a film actor for twenty-five years. He appeared in many movies, among them eight films for Walt Disney studios (such as "Blackbeard's Ghost," costarring with Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, & Suzanne Pleshette) and the Academy Award winning “Tora-Tora-Tora.” He was a familiar face on nearly 500 national tv commercials and has been featured on over 300 network tv shows such as "My Three Sons," "Family Affair," "Petticoat Junction, " "Mod Squad," "The Patty Duke Show," "Mork & Mindy," "The Jeffersons," and "Love Boat" which still come back to haunt him on cable tv today. His new book Memories – The Show-Biz Part Of My Life tells of some of his off-the-wall experiences working with major stars such as Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurray, Ron Howard, Robin Williams, Patsy Cline, Bob Hope, Minnie Pearl, Ringo Starr, and Elvis Presley. Hank also was active as a singer and songwriter, co-starring on ABC-TV's Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, writing Mel Tormé’s hit song “Midnight Swinger,” and recording albums and singles on RCA and Capitol Records. In Fred Astaire’s biography Puttin’ On The Ritz, Hank was named as one of Mr. Astaire’s very favorite recording artists. Hank’s newest CDs are currently released on Epitomé Records.

Hank's bestseller, Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy and its sequel More Psychic Roots, studies of how intuitive nudges and serendipitous events sometimes influence our genealogical searches, are now in their 9th printings. They were dramatized on NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" program to good response from inside and outside the genealogical community.

TIME Magazine recently had a cover story devoted to genealogy and chose to close the article and tie things together with a quote from - Hank Jones.

Easter in Vor Pommern

Easter celebrations were started with "Gruendonnerstag" on Holy Thursday when the people would eat something green. The old farmers put fresh eggs in the attic for good luck and good health for all those that lived in the house. Good Friday was called "Stillfreitag" when everything was to be quiet and calm, even in church, the organ was not played.

On Palm Sunday the families would gather willow branches and put them in a warm place in the house to make them green calling them "Osterstiepen." The church bells would ring and after that the young boys would collect wood for the "Osterfeuer" - Easter fire. The wood was placed on a hill and set ablaze. Everyone wanted the biggest "Osterfeuer." The charcoal was taken home where many believed it had some salutary force.

On Easter Sunday, the farmhand did not work. The estate owners did not want conflict with the church. On Easter morning the children would wake their parents with a light stroke they called "Stueben." They said a rhyme asking that their parents would give them "Eier Kuchen, or Groschen" (eggs, cake, or a dime). The children would then proceed to visit godparents and other family members with the same procedure.

The Baptism Traditions and Customs in Vor - Pommern

It was important that the child be baptized as quickly as possible after his birth, especially when a baby was born at the same time and in the same village where there had been a death and the body was not yet buried. The baptism had to take place before the burial because it was feared that the spirit of the dead who had not been buried could cause the child to grow up to be an evil person, or even to die. The people connected this belief to certain Bible passages in which the spirits are mentioned.

There was another totally different custom in some homes where twins were born. The pastor would only see one child when he arrived at the family's home. The other child had disappeared. Someone had hidden it under the baptismal table. When the mother was asked for the reason for this, she said that in her family it was the custom to baptize one child at a time. She could not give any other explanation. Obviously she confused baptismal customs with certain superstitions.

It was believed that when a child was born between eleven and twelve o'clock in the morning, that child would be able to predict the future.

In still another house the father of the newborn would go into the garden and plant a tree. He believed the child would grow up to be strong and good. For a boy he would choose an apple tree. A pear tree was chosen for a girl. For twins he would plant a cherry tree.

Water plays an important role in baptism. It was supposed to have healing powers. One woman told of how she had saved the baptismal water and used it to make milksop, using it as a medicine to make her sick children well. Another funny story about baptismal water was that if two children of different sexes are baptized with the same water, the boy would never grow a beard, but the girl would.

The godparents played an important baptismal role. It was believed that their behavior could influence the life of the child. Often the father and mother did not go to the church with the godparents to baptize their child. Usually aunts and uncles were chosen. In the case of a boy there would be two males and one female.  In the case of a girl there would be two females and one male. The father of a boy could select two relatives from his family to act as godparents while his wife could only choose one of her relatives. If the child was a girl the mother could select two relatives from her family to act as godparents while her husband could only choose one of his relatives. Among the godparents there had to be a young woman chosen, so that this honor could be bestowed upon her for the first time. She was then known as the "Jungfer Paten." She was the one selected to carry the child to the church and to the baptismal font, if she walked quickly it was believed that the child would walk early.

The normal christening was usually held on a Sunday right after church services. The entire congregation would stay to witness it.  Immediately after the baptism the godparents would slip their "Patengeschenk" under the pillow of the child. This was usually two Taler. The taler was placed in a small envelope with a pious saying written on the outside.

The hand used in the giving of the baptismal present was also important. If the present were given with the left hand, the child would be would be left-handed. For that reason it was important that the present be given with the right hand. The godparents also would never touch the child with gloves on because this might make the child weak with tiny hands.

It was the custom for the parents to give a letter to the godparents at the same time the baptismal present was given. The godparent dared not leave the room before it was opened. He or she could do something impure, and that would make the child impure.

The godparents recited an old verse when the child was returned to

his mother. "Einen Heiden hab ich rausgetragen, einen Christen bring ich wieder. Dies nun wuensch ich meinem Paten, dass er moege wohlgeraten. Lasst ihn in die Schule gehn, lehrt den Katechismus fein. Wo ihr eltern nicht koennt sein, da will ich zur Hilfe stehn." (Rough English translation: I bring a Christian back to you. I now wish that he would like his godparents. Now I leave it to the school that will teach the catechism to him. When the parents are not available I want to be of assistance in his care.) There are many examples of the close relationship between godparents and their godchildren.

SOURCES

      

Martha and Les Riggle, Witchita, Kansas

Elaine Kraft, Cedarburg Wisconsin

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper December 11, 2002

The Christmas Keeping Germans by Neita Oviatt Friend, Eagles Nest Publications Hartland Wisconsin 53029

Photo: Used via Creative Commons License from Flickr user Stuart Williams

Welcome!

Welcome to the Pommern Special Interest Group Blog!

For those of you who don't know, the Pommern Special Interest Group is a group sponsored by the Immigrant Genealogy Society in Burbank, California.  The group specializes in Pomeranian genealogy, culture, and history.

Never heard of Pomerania?  Pomerania is a historical region bordered on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in what is now north eastern Germany (Mecklenberg Vor Pommern) and most of Western Poland  Below is a map that shows The German Empire from 1871 - 1918, a time period where many Pomeranians were immigrating to America.


The Pommern Special Interest Group publishes Die Pommerschen Leute (The Pommern People), a quarterly newsletter.  The newsletter features articles with tips for researching Pomeranian ancestors, as well as genealogical information submitted by subscribers.  You can subscribe to the Die Pommerschen Leute here.

This blog will feature research success stories, research hints and tips for Pommern research, and group announcements.

You can visit the Pommern Special Interest Group at the Immigrant Genealogy Society Library:

1310-B W. Magnolia Blvd.

Burbank, California 91506

Office hours for the library are: 
Wednesday 12 - 5 p.m.
1st and 3rd Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
2nd and 4th Sunday 12 - 5 p.m.

Meeting This Sunday, January 13, 2013 at 2 p.m.  All are welcome to attend!