Tag #135146 - Interview #78011 (Evgenia Galina)

The family started preparations for Pesach in advance. The house was thoroughly cleaned. It was a lot of fun. Grandmother's children brought flour into the house. We made matzah for four families: for David and my grandmother, for Leibl's family, for Mirra and her husband and for us, and after Freida got married also for her family. We baked matzah in our Russian stove. The women kneaded the dough, my father made holes and Leibl watched the oven. Everybody was busy. We made matzah for one family, then another. My grandmother sent me to the shochet to have him slaughter the chickens. There was a long line at his slaughterhouse before the holidays. The shochet slaughtered the chickens and my grandmother cut them into pieces at home. All everyday utensils and crockery were taken to the attic and fancy crockery and utensils that were only used at Pesach were taken down. We had chicken broth, boiled chicken and gefilte fish made. My grandmother had a copper mortar where we crushed matzah to add it to the chicken broth. We also ate matzah with milk. My grandmother made matzah meal - matzah flour - to bake strudels and cookies. There were two poor Jewish families living in our neighborhood. After the cooking for Pesach was done my grandmother always sent me to bring them fish, chicken, strudels - a little of everything that we had - for a meal. I also brought them some matzah. My grandmother did this on all holidays. She couldn't stand the thought that there was somebody who couldn't afford a decent meal.