above photograph by Alter Kacyzne. "girls and women wade in the river in Ryki (Poland)' https://archives.cjh.org/repositories/7/archival_objects/1364235
Throughout its existence, up until the holocaust, the shtetl was intimately intertwined with the natural world. Daily activities called for close relationship with plants and nature in general, especially with regard to women's work. An incredible amount of domestic labor and know-how was needed to keep a home in compliance with cultural and religious expectations.
Aside from food preparation, responsibilities included regular koshering of pots and pans and laundering of clothing and linens. When these tasks are described in the yizkor memory books, memoirists often recall groups of women in warm weather standing on the banks of local waterways, scrubbing and catching up on village news.
It's difficult to find documentation on women's daily activities in the shtetl, so these scenes and descriptions feel quite poignant.
Women and girls wash pots and dishes at the Bug River women in Wyszkow Poland in the 1920s-30s. Photograph by Alter Kacyzne https://archives.cjh.org/repositories/7/archival_objects/1364652
a few excerpts from the yizkor memory books:
"From Thursday until the start of Shabbat the river was bustling with woman and children who were busy with the cleaning and polishing of copper utensils, samovars (tea-urns), candlesticks, plates, and pots. And it was a kind of competition to see whose vessels were brighter. And of course, in meetings like this, it was impossible not to have gossip: who was getting married, who got married, who was getting divorced, who died, and who was dying, who was born, who was going to give birth, etc. And on Sunday it was possible to again see the convoy going to the river with the empty utensils from the cholent in order to wash them in the waters of the river."
from: https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/stepan/stee028.html
By the stream 1920s-30s unknown town. Photograph by Alter Kacyzne https://archives.cjh.org/repositories/7/archival_objects/1364760
This following excerpt is from the Trashkunai, Lithuania yizkor memory book where, in good weather, freshly laundered items were set out upon the meadow which must have lent the homespun fabrics a fresh scent. While the clothes dried, it was only natural to gather a few medicinal herbs growing nearby for a later time when they might be needed to help with digestion or a tea to soothe a sore throat:
"The stream, known as Yoste, was where the laundry was washed. The wet clothing was spread out in the meadow to dry. While we waited for it to dry, we gathered fallen goose feathers and various plants—one called bronelkes (self-heal or Prunella vulgaris) for making tea, and one with three little leaves known as bobovnik (bogbean or Menyanthes trifoliata) that was a stomach ache remedy. Many other healing grasses grew in the meadow among the yellow flowers. Sunrise and sunset could be seen above the high treetops as if over broad seas."
from: https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/troskunai/memories-shtetele-1.ht
Jewish women do laundry near a bridge. Photograph by Alter Kacyzne https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/wyszkow/Launderers.html
"I recall how the entire neighborhood went every day with their kitchen utensils and pots in their hands to wash and clean the dishes. They also went to the river with their laundry. Everyone would choose a stone for themselves to beat the laundry with a wooden handle."
https://jewishgen.org/yizkor/Czyzew/czy0833.html
"This road passed over a stream on a wooden bridge next to which there were usually many women, up to their knees in water, washing clothes."
https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/radzyn/rad131.html
"Also we went to the river to wash clothes during the warmer months. We used a board and hammer to pound the clothes clean."
https://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/newsletters/belarus/Wolozyn/index.html
In colder seasons, the washing was done inside. In one shtetl, "brown soap" was the detergent of choice and may have been made with Saponaria or scented with other herbs since soap-making was a common craft produced with simple materials found locally:
"For washing clothes, we would boil water in a couple pots with brown soap; there were clothes lines outside. In the winter, we dried clothes outside to kill lice and to keep the clothes sanitary."
https://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/newsletters/belarus/Wolozyn/index.html
"Running a household was once not a simple thing. Just to make a fire in the kitchen was difficult, particularly in the winter, when the wood was damp and no matter how much you blew, the fire did not want to ignite. For that, instead of coal, they used to use peat. There certainly was a real smell from this that was felt in the small, narrow houses, but this was cheap. Today, it is carrying the water and boiling it, and especially, cooking the laundry when it had to be washed, and mending stockings at a gas light. For all these tasks, often the day was too short."
https://www.jewishgen.org/blog/?p=yizkor-book-spotlight-women-of-zloczew
