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And one more thing – all the Polish, i.e. Catholic, holidays were always celebrated at our home. Yes, she always organized them. There was always a Christmas tree. The tree, the Christmas Eve dinner [the high point of the Polish Christmas], the sharing of the wafer [a thin, communion-style wafer, shared with family before eating Christmas Eve dinner to accompany the giving of Christmas wishes]. She’d share the wafer with us. Yes, and the gifts… we never had gifts under the tree. Gifts were given on 6th December, St. Nicholas day. That was the gift-giving day. You had to place all your shoes and slippers in front of your bed, and, in the morning, there’d be gifts there. I was given gifts on my birthday and on St. Nicholas day.
At the Dominican church, I knew all the altars, which one was for which saint. Nanny took first me to church, and then my brother, as there was six years’ age difference between us and, at some point, I stopped going. With Nanny I went to the Catholic church, and with our maid to the Uniate one. That Uniate church [the Greek Catholic Church of the Transubstantiation, originally the Trinitarian church] on Krakowska Street… well, I know every little stone there. They [the nanny and the maid] went there every Sunday, so they’d take us with them. And my parents wouldn’t say anything – no, no! People didn’t devote as much time to children then as they do today. My parents led a very intense social life. And the children brought themselves up at home. There was a nanny, there was a maid, so the kids were virtually on their own.
At the Dominican church, I knew all the altars, which one was for which saint. Nanny took first me to church, and then my brother, as there was six years’ age difference between us and, at some point, I stopped going. With Nanny I went to the Catholic church, and with our maid to the Uniate one. That Uniate church [the Greek Catholic Church of the Transubstantiation, originally the Trinitarian church] on Krakowska Street… well, I know every little stone there. They [the nanny and the maid] went there every Sunday, so they’d take us with them. And my parents wouldn’t say anything – no, no! People didn’t devote as much time to children then as they do today. My parents led a very intense social life. And the children brought themselves up at home. There was a nanny, there was a maid, so the kids were virtually on their own.
Period
Interview
Janina Wiener