Carrie Foster
Imagine if you will, a large table surrounded by people with their hands full of playing cards.All of theses people are obviously related.Each family member has a tough, very concentrated, but also amused look upon his or her face.The table is covered in several piles of cards, organized in a very certain manner.There are also several different conversations taking place at once as this game of Canasta is being played during one of the few large family get-togethers.These conversations also serve as a strategy to winning, as the Bordashes are very competitive when it comes to Canasta.The strategy lies in the fact that a player can make one wrong move, throwing the win of that hand to an opponent if they had not been paying well enough attention. The conversations are used very precisely and can often prove to be a great tactic to win the game.Now, picture this family about thirty years earlier.You will see the exact same scene, except for one difference: everyone is speaking Czech. If one child were to speak in English, the Mother would undoubtedly scold him or her for disrespecting their heritage...
I am of
Italian, Irish, German, and Czechoslovakian descent. I have chosen to explore
my Czech background because I, as well as most of my family, know the least
about our Czechoslovakian side.This
part, however, is probably the most interesting of the four.My
Czech nationality comes from my Mother ’s side. Her father’s parents both
came from Czechoslovakia. Julia Bordash (Stegun was her maiden name) came
over from Czechoslovakia when she was only fifteen years old.She
made the journey alone and left her immediate family in Czechoslovakia
in 1913. Julia left Czechoslovakia for two reasons:the
political unrest that the country was experiencing at that time, and because
she did not want her father to marry her off.Her
uncle, Mike Stegun, living comfortably in the United States at the
time “told Julia about the good life in America”, which was another factor
that contributed to her wanting to leave for America (Bordash 49).
When Julia came to America, she settled in Yonkers, NY. Mike had a job
waiting for her; she was to be a maid for a rich family.Julia
spent her one free day a week with her Uncle Mike and his roommate, Vincent
Bordash. Vincent Bordash was the second oldest of five children in his
family. He came to America ten years earlier than Julia, in 1903. Vincent
left Czechoslovakia because “an easy life with more money than he would
ever see working on Slovakian farms was the greatest temptation” (Bordash
46).This temptation was too great to resist, so Vincent came to America
as quickly as possible.He first lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with
part of his family where he worked in coalmines. Once he repaid his debt
to the family for the immigration, he moved to Yonkers in 1910 to start
a business with his good friend from Czechoslovakia, Mike Stegun.
Vincent
and Julia met in 1913, when she came to America.It
turns out that they were both from Seredne, Czechoslovakia, which is currently
part of Russia. Oddly enough, the Bordash’s and the Stegun’s were the two
prominent farming families in that town.Vincent was twelve years older
than Julia. They got married in 1916, three years after they met.They
soon bought a house and started a family. The Bordash’s spent the rest
of their lives in Yonkers.
Moving
to America was a very difficult adjustment for my great grandmother until
she got married. She had never gone to school, so she was forced to work
as a maid when she came America; cleaning was all she knew. Even though
in 1914 the United States had been the world's leading economic power,
Julia struggled more in America than she did in Czechoslovakia.She
was only making ten dollars a week, and had just one day off each week.The
language barrier was a major strain on Julia.Communication
was very difficult and left her feeling isolated (Bordash 49).She
had to live life the hard way until she found Vincent.By
the time Julia and Vincent married, Vincent had already broken away from
the partnership with Mike Stegun, and become a very successful business
owner on his own.They became part
of the upper-middle class, bought their home in Yonkers (still predominately
Slovak), and raised a family. My great grandparents had six children (in
order of birth):Julia, Vincent,
Elizabeth (Terry), Andrew, John (my grandfather), Michael (Mickey), and
Marian.
My
great Aunt Marian, who currently lives in Dobbs Ferry, and my great Aunt
Terry, who resides in California, are the only children currently alive.When
Aunt Marian’s husband was thirty-two years old, he unexpectedly died of
a heart attack, leaving Aunt Marian with three children to raise.As
a result of this hardship, she spent a great deal of time with her Mother(Julia),
who moved in with her to assist in the struggle of being a single parent.
Oddly enough, Terry experienced a similar tragedy; her husband also passed
away at an early age.This misfortune
left Terry with six children to raise, so my great grandmother also spent
a lot of time helping out Terry.Julia
kind of bounced back and forth between her two daughters, but spent more
time with Terry because she had a larger family to contend with.Great
grandma Julia lived with both Aunt Marian and Aunt Terry right up until
she died. She left behind many family traditions.
My great
grandmother handed down many long-lived family traditions that are still
in place today. One of the most fun, and perhaps most memorable, is the
card game Canasta.Julia used this
game as a means to preserve her Czechoslovakian heritage by having her
family speak Czech during the game, English was not allowed.This
tradition of only speaking Czech during Canasta did eventually fade after
great grandma Julia passed away, and we do speak English while we play
now.The game of Canasta has since
been played during every family get together. It is a much-honored Bordash
tradition.The cycle starts when
Bordash children watch their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents playing
together. The elders seem to be having so much fun that the children get
really interested and want to learn how to play.It
is only through watching the elders play and annoyingly asking question
after question that the children learn the game.I
remember watching my relatives sit around the dining room table playing
for hours and having such a good time.I
wanted so badly to get involved in the game.A
single game of Canasta could last hours, and was usually played until all
hours of the night.It seemed like
you weren’t a true Bordash until you were playing Canasta.
Julia
Bordash was a woman who was adored for her many skills and talents. She
had an astounding green thumb, and was an amazing baker. Supposedly, she
made these beautiful gardens at my grandmother’s house, which my poor grandmother
could not keep.According to my Mother, when great grandma Julia’s would
visit, she would always bake.Her
baking could be smelled a block away from the house.My
Mother said that she would be walking home from grade school, smell her
grandmother’s baking, and run the rest of the way.Julia
made all different kinds delectable of breads and deserts.There
are two recipes that are still made on a regular basis: Hungarian Delights
and Brown-eyed Susans.These are
the two that my Mother bakes most.Hungarian
Delights are very difficult to make well, but they are so delicious that
a day spent in the kitchen is well worth it.This
desert is made with many different ingredients in layers.They
include lacvar (prune butter), apricot, and sour dough.Brown-eyed
Susans are a small plain white cookie in the form of a ball, with a delicious
chocolate frosting and almond slice on top.Most
of my great grandmother’s recipes could not be replicated because she measured
in handfuls and pinches; she never used measuring cups or spoons.These
desserts have become one of the few aspects of family tradition that are
still alive today. My Mother makes them just like her Mother does, and
the recipes have been passed down to me. I have yet to attempt to make
either on my own, but I have the recipes nonetheless.
Originally,
I was told that my great grandmother also preserved her link with her family
in Czechoslovakia by going to visit as often as possible, at least once
every year.I later found out, however, that she only made the trip back
to Czechoslovakia once, in 1965.She
spent two weeks there.Her hometown
had since been turned into an industrial center; the agriculture that the
town once thrived on had long since disappeared (Bordash 50).The
conditions were so terrible for her family that she could not bear to ever
go back.Supposedly, things were
so bad in Czechoslovakia at the time she visited, that she left everything
she had with her there with her family; returning back to America like
a carpet-bagger, with no possessions.The
only thing she brought back with her was a goose down pillow. Some members
of the family ended up becoming communist so that they could feed their
families.This caused distrust amongst
the family; nobody knew whom they could actually trust.
To
somewhat maintain a part of her heritage, my Aunt Marian subscribes to
a Slovak newspaper that is based out of Chicago, Illinois. The newspaper
contains only church or religiously related articles. This shows how large
a part religion still plays in the lives of Czech Americans. The name of
the newspaper is Jednota, which means “The Union.” It is a Catholic
fraternal bi-weekly newspaper, and is the “official publication of the
first Catholic Slovak union of the United States and Canada” (Jednota,
1).Approximately one third of the
newspaper is actually written in Czech. t is amazing how a culture that
has been through so much political turmoil in history can still maintain
such a strong religious faith.
Julia and Vincent
were very deeply involved with Catholicism.They
raised their children in an extremely strict household.It
was important to Vincent that Julia stay home with their children and raise
them properly.All of his daughters
must be the ideal “Catholic girl.”It
was a hard task to keep up, having six children to contend with.My
great grandmother deserves a great deal of respect and admiration for being
able to raise her children so strictly.Julia
almost had to raise her family single handedly.Vincent
needed to spend a lot of time with his business because he was the only
owner, he no longer had a partner to help him, and so he was not home very
often.These strong religious beliefs
carried through with their children.My
grandparents had eleven children because birth control was not allowed
if you were a good Catholic; God will determine how many children you will
have, not you.My grandfather had
to build a gigantic picnic table to go in the kitchen so that the whole
family would be able to eat dinner together.The
table took up the entire kitchen.In
my grandparents’ house, one thing that was a “must” was church on Sunday.It
did not matter how old you were, if you were living under my grandfather’s
roof, you went to church every Sunday morning, no matter what.I
can’t even imagine having to get eleven children up and ready for church
on a Sunday morning. It must have been such a fiasco.
At the end of WWI,
in 1918, Austria-Hungary fell and the nation Czechoslovakia was created
(Czechoslovakia). This new country, for the first time in history, brought
Czechs and Slovaks together.By the
1930’s, however, the country was facing difficult political and economic
times due to the Great Depression, which led many Slovaks to leave Czechoslovakia.The
Slovaks were very frustrated by the Czechs being the main leaders of the
country.Other contributing factors
to the massive amount of emigrants were the poverty and unemployment levels.The
problems within the country eventually caused a division into two separate
countries:The Czech Republic, and
Slovakia.Both new countries were
very weak and susceptible to invasion, corruption, and economic hardships.
Prior to WWII,
Czechoslovakia had a large Jewish population (1939-1945).In
September 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed, which turned Czechoslovakia
over to Germany.Two weeks after
the signing, Germany appointed a Reich Protector to rule Czechoslovakia:Konstantin
von Neurath. On June 21, 1939, von Neurath issued a long list of anti-Jewish
decrees.This essentially was designed
to destroy the economic viability of the Jewish population, just like the
decree set in Germany.In October
1939, the first Jews were deported to concentration camps in Poland.And
by October 1942, seventy five percent of Czechoslovakian Jews had been
deported, and most killed at Auschwitz.Only
twenty thousand survived once the German power ended, when Russian soldiers
liberated Prague (Conditions…).
Currently, the
Slovaks are attempting to catch up with the Czech Republic, Hungary, and
Poland in the EU accession process.When
meeting with Prince Charles of Britain, Parliament Speaker Jozef Migas
of Slovakia focused on the trade and economic cooperation between their
countries.Prince Charles is trying
to help Slovakia settle their problem with high unemployment.Prince
Charles says that the country has made many positive changes since his
last visit in 1991. (Jednota 2).
In recent years,
The Czech Republic has transformed from a “bleak Communist state to a reasonably
functioning democracy” (Europe…) under the rule of Vaclav Havel.Under
Havel, the country has made some drastic and extremely beneficial changes.He
has the country as a full member of NATO.Many
Czechs hold ill feelings toward their former president, Valav Klaus.He
is seen as the man who single handedly brought hardships to the citizens
and let corruption take over the Czech Republic.The
economy is now on its way up with Havel running the country.People
are buying cars, home furnishings, and vacations.Although
this is a slow growth process, it is happening.The
Czech Republic will some day be a well oiled machine, running smoothly
on the path to a good economy.
Both of my great
grandparents were originally Czechs, not Slovaks.They
came to America to begin a new life.In
Yonkers, Julia and Vincent lived in a sort of ghetto.The
entire neighborhood they lived in consisted of people of Czechoslovakian
descent.When the Czechs immigrated,
they ended up all living in the same area.It
was a way for them to feel safe, and a way for them to preserve their heritage.The
Czechs occupied the Holy Trinity Church area. As a matter of fact, this
Roman Catholic Church is still used, and masses were said in Czech through
the late seventies.Now that the country is more stable politically and
economically, I would like to visit The Czech Republic at some point in
my life, although it would probably be difficult to get in contact with
my relatives there.The language
barrier would also be a major problem for me.
Writing this paper has made me several times more knowledgeable about myself.I discovered many things that I had not known prior to doing the research for this paper.In fact, I learned that I am part German.I always thought that my grandmother was Irish and Czech, and my grandfather the same.I soon found out that my grandfather is one hundred percent Czech, and my grandmother is half Irish and half German.I am very happy that I chose to research my Czechoslovakian heritage.I have learned a great deal, and I think I may even go deeper and start inquiring about my family history of my Irish and Italian elements.
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“Czechoslovakia.”Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000.
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