Victoria Decalo

This is Victoria Decalo, tia [?aunt? in Ladino] Buhuru Decalo's daughter. The photo was taken in Karnobat in the 1930s. Tia Buhuru was our relative and neighbor on the square where we lived in Karnobat. Tia Buhuru used to cook corn traditionally in a large pot every Friday evening, and used to invite us to 'piniunikus' [a meal, Judezmo], on the occasion of Sabbath. She shelled the corn, then boiled it and it was very delicious. She was very old, almost blind, she used a cane and couldn't go to the synagogue. She had lived during the Turkish [Ottoman] empire and therefore she was very scared of strangers. She also got frightened when kukers passed by. She usually locked the door with an axle and pulled the curtains so that no one could get inside. She spoke only Judezmo-Espaniol and Turkish. She spoke with her children in Judezmo.