A Wedding Feast

As you read in an earlier post, Peter and Anna's young life and their arrival from Lithuania is a mystery. I never met them which is all the more reason to get to know their story. I met their children, my great aunts and uncles, at an early age and can recall specific events in Schuylkill County we were all together.

Since I lived in Reading, these occasions were mostly weddings and funerals.  As a young girl, I was in awe of the elaborate feasts presented to attendees. I was equally naive about the person feted at these "up home" events since my place in the family was a granddaughter or great niece of the extended family we were visiting. So, after introductions to my elders and being compared to myself in size from the last time they saw me, my attention turned to the abundance of food tabled for the occasion.

Specifically, weddings. My brother and I never saw anything like it. A fire company hall or church social hall held long tables, end to end, filling the space to capacity less the obligatory dance floor.  Each table was served home-style with bottomless dishes of the most delicious food we ever had in our short lives. But, wait there's more.

The caterers cleared the tables, the guests mingled with the bride and groom and the band began to play.  And as if by magic, there appeared on each table various homemade cakes.  Not just one cake, several cakes per table...chocolate, spice, applesauce and carrot are the ones that caught my attention.  And eat we did.

These memories are so embedded in my mind because our family meals rarely included seconds or desserts. It's not to say we starved or felt deprived. My mother just followed the way she learned growing up in a German heritage home. Frugal covers it for the most part. And as I reflect now, the events were mainly on my father's side. The Lithuanians.  Add dancing the polka to this mix and this seven year old had the time of her life.