Interview with Joan Margel (née Bayers) 2.3

Partial Transcript: 1. Describe the wedding reception. What traditions were followed on the wedding day? When were meals served? When were gifts given?
2. Comments about sharing dishes, utensils for weddings.
3. Was there singing?
4. What was the most popular time of year for weddings? Why?
5. Was there a “master of ceremony” at the wedding?
6. When were the toasts to the newly weds said?

Segment Synopsis: They talk about vitannia (Joan called it vitaty). Joan says that it started after supper, and the mother and father were at the front of the lines. There was red wine and horilka for guests. She says that they were rushed through supper, and that people had to eat in shifts because there was not enough seating. Afterwards the dishes were washed. She says that people shared and borrowed dishes, and labelled their items with coloured threads and nail polish. Joan says that the orchestra greeted people when they were entering. She talks about the wedding gifts and fancy cakes. The noon meal was Borscht. She talks more about food and alcohol. When people went dancing, babies would be put in a special room. People were lined up according to family relationship. Joan tells stories about wedding receptions and practices. She says the women would sing songs, and talks about Mrs. Uhryn and her singing specifically. She says that the last activity was dancing, and that most weddings were in the early spring or fall. Joan talks about her parents' marriage. They talk about the continuity of wedding traditions over time, and the interviewer asks Joan if the weddings she went to had a master of ceremonies, to which she replies "No." She says that her own wedding had a head table and a master of ceremonies, her cousin George Didow. Joan says that toasting was during the reception.

Partial Transcript: 1. At what age was it acceptable for young people to start dating? How did young people start dating?
2. Comments about inter-ethnic marriages in the community.
3. Comments about bachelors in the community.

Segment Synopsis: They talk about dating. Joan says that girls either got married to a neighbouring boy at 15-17, or they would start to work. Her mother was a worker. She talks about interviewing other women who did that, including Dolly Lazoruk, her mother's best friend. They would work in restaurants or in other farm homes. Joan tells a story about George Didow's wife. She says that there was a shortage of women. She talks about how boys could get away with a lot more than the girls, like getting drunk. Girls had to stay virtuous and driven. She says that the community often lost women who went into town to work, because they would marry non-Ukrainian men. She talks about children from Ukrainian-English backgrounds, and their pride in their culture. Joan says that her Babka was worried about her when she was 21 and still not married, and talks about the different expectations of young men and women. She talks about the Sandul boys, who had their own homesteads. She also talks about men in the '50's and '60's who went to work on the oil patch. Joan says that because of this, there were many unmarried young men. She says that the bachelors were the nicest men and tells stories about some of them, including a bachelor she went to school with who has a girlfriend only now that he's 70. She talks about men coming into the community to marry their girls, including men from the RCMP.

Partial Transcript: 1. Do you know of any Ukrainians in your community that intentionally changed their last name?
2. Did married women always take their husband’s last name?

Segment Synopsis: They talk about surnames, and about how it could be difficult to get certain jobs with Ukrainian names. Joan says that having the surname Bayers allowed her to be more easily accepted, but she does know of people changing their names to sound more English. She tells a story about one specific son in a Ukrainian family who changed his surname from Bzowy to Ludwig. She says he became a successful lawyer in Calgary and was also an MLA under the Ludwig name. Joan says that people said that he "copped out," and did not receive the same respect as his brothers who kept their name. She says that name-based discrimination happened in Windsor with her husband, who did not get certain jobs because of his Hungarian name, which he would not change. Joan brings up that name discrimination did not only happen to Ukrainians, but to anyone that did not have an English name. She says that she is unsure how name changes happened. She talks about how her son in laws' family changed their surname from Nowakowski to Nolan. They talk about women taking their husbands' surnames, and about proper naming conventions. Joan talks about how in cemeteries there are no maiden names on gravestones, but she wants to change that. She thinks it is a loss that the mother's surname is missing from the child's name.