Women making matzo in Nisim Navon's grandmother Bukica Baruh's yard

Women making matzo in Nisim Navon's grandmother Bukica Baruh's yard

This picture was taken in my grandmother Bukica Baruh's yard in Pristina in the 1930s. From left to right: Binuta Navon, Sara Gidalja Gidic, Miriam Baruh, Baruh Baruh (the boy in the back), my grandmother Bukica (seated in the center with a cup), me (the boy in the back), my mother Ester, Klara Baruh, my sister Rukula (baby on mother's lap), Ester Gidic and Jakov Baruh. Before Pesach the women would buy wheat and take it to a water mill where it would be ground into flour. They would gather in our grandmother's yard and would make both matzot (unleavened breads) and bojas outside in the garden where she had a bread oven. The women also ground some of the matzot to make matzo flour. The Passover Hagaddah (ceremony book) was read by all the family members in Hebrew. We would go around the table taking turns reading. During the reading of the Hagaddah, one child would sling a satchel with the bojas over his shoulder, then all the other children would follow him around the table, recreating the exodus from Egypt. During the week of Passover, we would eat inhaminadus, bemulos de massa, cuftes, sivuikas, pitas from matzo (with spinach, meat, leeks, etc), meat patties with leeks or spinach, sweet matzo pitas, etc. I can still smell those roasted onions stuffed with ground matzo and meat and hamin, cooked wheat and meat, that we ate for Passover.
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