Village life reflected the work cycles of agriculture, church holidays, habits and customs. It was marked by simplicity, limited possibilities and concentrated mostly around the village and immediate surroundings. Trips to Akkerman, Odessa and Kilia were minor adventures. Aside from work and shopping for home and farm items, there was little room for other activities. Tradition and Customs were well adhered to.

Several authors describe the annual cycle of the farmers, (work in winter, spring, summer and fall) and life in the Bessarabian villages very vividly.

• J. Becker: Wie’s daheim war (What it was like back home) pages 29 ff
• Wilhelm Hornung: Eine andere Welt. Aus dem Leben der Deutschen in Bessarabien (Another World, about the Life of the Germans in Bessarabia), published in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen aus Bessarabien Heimatkalender 2002) (Yearbook of the Germans from Besssarabia, Homeland Calendar 2002), page 16
• Lebenserinnerungen (Memories from my Life) by Emil Nagel, Emmental Bessarabiendeutscher Verein, (Bessarabian German Association) Landesgruppe Rheinland-Pfalz, (National Group of the Rhineland Palatinate), 160 pages (a booklet).

Cultural events as we know them today, such as concerts, the theater, museums, and exhibits, were nonexistent in colonist life. Colonists were happy to be able to rest after hard work in the fields and on the farm all day long.

Cultural and social events were adapted to a farming community and faced challenges. Krasna cultural life could be described as modest. Father Schumacher noted in 1936: When I arrived in Krasna, there was virtually no cultural life outside of the church and youths there were neglected from a cultural point of view. The church was indeed the only institution caring for the language and culture of the people.

The most important book was the Bible. The situation in Krasna was most likely the same as in Katzbach. ¹⁾ Many families do not have books at home, aside from the Bible and the hymnal, not even calendars. In the final years matters inmproved a bit. (From around the middle of the 1920's)

Church service for the community of Krasna was in German hands beginning in 1870 and the spiritual leaders strove to elevate the common education of the people. They took great care in obtaining German books. We do not know what the results of these early efforts were, but even sixty years later, the love of books was not very highly developed. The Dakota Rundschau reports from Krasna on July 3rd, 1931: Our educated village people make great efforts to promote culture, but there is not a great demand. For instance, we received a large amount of free books from Germany, but there are hardly any people reading them.

These books and perhaps more (about 150 of them) were set up in a library run by teacher Eduard Ruscheinsky.

Bessarbaian literature began to develop after 1918, after the Bessarabian Germans were severed from their relatives in the Odessa region and Rumanian discrimination increased. People began showing interest in the lives and achievements of their ancestors and their battle for independence. Material on the subject was gathered in all the villages, memories and stories from the old people were collected. This was also the case in Krasna. We know that teacher E. Ruscheinsky was very involved. Together with a number of other authors from different villages, he published a village chronicle of Krasna in the German Farm Calendar (Deutscher Bauernkalender) for Bessarabia in 1939.

Germans from Bessarabia also began to write. They penned novels, poems, biographies, dissertations about economic issues, etc. A short overview of them is found in these books:

• J. Becker: Wie’s daheim war (What it Was like back Home?), Asperg, Württemberg, 1950, page 92
• R. Weiß: Unsere bessarabische Vergangenheit 1967 (Our Bessarabian Past 1967), page 23

The newspaper “Odessa Zeitung” began publishing in 1863. The “Odessa Kalender” was added later. These were the first periodicals with a readership from Krasna. In World War I, they, as well as all other German publications, were forbidden.

At the beginning of 1897 the diocese of Tiraspol had a Sunday paper called “Klemens.” It was published in a small volume biweekly and had a few readers in Krasna. After the turn of the century the Catholics published a political-economic daily paper called “Deutsche Rundschau” (German Review), which carried the Klemens paper as a supplement. The Deutsche Rundschau was well received by the Catholics and had readers in Krasna. It was published until World War I began. Then the Deutsche Rundschau had to quit publishing.

The German spiritual leaders in Krasna also passed around magazines from Germany and Austria. Some families subscribed to the German Treasure publication (Deutscher Hausschatz), a common interest magazine for Catholic families, published in Freiburg-Breisgau. German and Austrian missionary publications were also liked in Krasna.

After annexation to Rumania, the Bessarabian Germans began developing their own publication and press system.

• Deutsche Zeitung Bessarabiens (German Newspaper of Bessarabia) founded 1919,
• Deutsches Volksblatt (German Peoples’ Page) combined with the Deutsche Zeitung after 1939 with a national socialist orientation,
• Jahrbuch der Deutschen Bessarabiens (Yearbook of the Germans in Bessarabia),
• Volkskalender Bessarabien, (Peoples' Calendar for Bessarabia),
• Deutscher Bauernkalender für Bessarabien (German Farm Calendar for Bessarabia),
• Bauer und Bauernschaffen (The Farmer and Farm Work), a special interest publication of the farm association called “Kolonist” (Colonist).

E. Ruscheinsky: The newly founded German paper, called “Deutsche Zeitung Bessarabiens” has arrived here. Another colonist paper was published later in Tarutino, called the “Volksblatt” (Peoples’ Page). This paper also established a readership here. The German-Bessarabian farmers’ paper, issued by the farm association “Kolonist” in Sarata, titled “Bauer und Bauernschaffen” (Farmer and Farm Work) had several readers in Krasna. The German papers of the Banat, such as the “Banat Tagesblatt” (Banat Daily) and a farm publication and several others, had readers in Krasna. Even German language papers printed in the USA and Canada were read in Krasna. These were newspapers published by Bessarabian and Russian German immigrants to North America. The most widely read American paper was the “Staatsanzeiger” published in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Josef Braun, a reporter of the Dakota Rundschau writes on June 5, 1931: I have to laud the fact that we are getting several dozen newspapers in the village now. The most widely read is the “Deutsche Zeitung Bessarabiens” (German Newspaper of Bessarabia). There are also other Russian, German and even American papers.

The German papers printed in the USA (Der Staatsanzeiger, Das Nord¬licht, Die Eureka Rundschau, etc.) were either subscribed to by Krasna people themselves or by relatives of Krasna people in the USA under the names of Krasna inhabitants. These newspapers reported regularly about Krasna events. Krasna citizens were the reporters. A large number of these reports still exist.

According to a report by the Dakota Rundschau of January 24, 1930, the first radios arrived in the village shortly before. One was located at the school, the other was purchased by Johannes B. Herrschaft. In the following years, several other families, such as Anselm Volk and Alexius Riehl, purchased radios.

Operating the apparatus was not so simple. As an antenna, very long wires were needed and usually wired between the house and barn roofs. The radios ran on batteries, which could get charged only at very few locations.

Bessarabia had no German radio stations. Even in 1940 German radio stations were almost impossible to tune in to. The national group received news of the arrival of the German resettlement command from Soviet radio announcements.

Krasna had no cultural center until a few years prior to the Resettlement. This made it difficult to have music and theater presentations, etc. Father Schumacher was not very happy about the fact that Krasna had no place to assemble a large number of people. He made a great effort to create such a place. In spite of resistance from within the community itself, as well as political and official levels, he managed to realize this project in a very short time. In 1936/1937, the cultural center “Unser Heim” (Our Home) was completed.
(See also 3.1, The Village of Krasna, its Location and Appearance
Soon after its completion he began using this place extensively. The population of Krasna was enthused about it. Unfortunately, they could not enjoy this place for their own culture for more than two years, because of the Resettlement. This institution created an upswing of the cultural life of Krasna.

In the first decades and even until the First World War, church music was the only public musical presentation available in Krasna, although the youths played their harmonicas or sang folk songs at gatherings. Krasna people loved music. There were many musical instruments in the village. Each club of the older boys owned an accordion, called “Blosbalke.” Some homes had pianos from early on. The church had a harmonium and later an organ.

The church choir founded in 1923 practiced choir music, as did a singing group started by Father Schumacher in 1935. Father Schumacher writes in his annual report for 1936: The group met in the evenings and developed from initially seven members to a membership of seventy later on.

Father Schumacher also put much effort into instrumental music. He writes in his annual report of 1936: Musical education is going well. Seven young men are starting to learn playing the violin and they practice on Monday and Thursday evenings. Three girls are taking violin lessons and one of them wants to learn playing the viola. They meet on Tuesday and Friday evenings. We demonstrated our musical progress publicly at a carnival celebration, where we also used drums. It was a great success. We also obtained a new piano and can hardly wait to use this new instrument.

In 1936 Father Professor Schumacher began a stringed instrument group and in 1938 a horn group. The horn group played at civic and church festivities and weddings. They played a song at funerals at the grave and also at the wake.
See also 5.4, Associations, Councils and Clubs
On Christmas after midnight mass, many of Krasna people were deeply touched to listen to the rendition of “Silent Night” played in the church tower on their way home.

Krasna song and verse were mainly from old German texts and melodies. A few related publications shall be mentioned here:

• Erinnerungen an Bessarabien, 60 Jahre nach der Umsiedlung (Memories of Bessarabia, 60 Years after the Resettlement), published by Landsmann-schaft der Bessarabiendeutschen Rheinland-Pfalz, (Fellow Countrymens’ Association of Bessarabian Germans, Rhineland Palatinate 2001), pages 205-214;
• Lieder und Gedichte aus der alten und neuen Heimat (Songs and Poems from the old Homeland), from the song and dance group program of the Bessarabian Germans, published by the Bessarabian German Club of Rhineland Palatinate, 24 pages (a brochure);
• Lieder und Gedichte Aus dem Kulturgut der Bessarabiendeutschen (Songs and Poems from the Cultural Heritage Collection of the Germans from Bessarabia), Bessarabian German Club, Rhineland Palatinate, 82 pages (a brochure);
• Song book titled: Wie schön ist das ländliche Leben (How beautiful is Country living!, a collection of 50 songs, music and text, as they were sung in the Catholic communities of Bessarabia (edited by Paul Wingenbach).

The Bessarabian Homeland Song (Bessarabisches Heimatlied) was written by the former director of the German Werner Institute for the education of German teachers located in Sarata, Mr. Albert Mauch (text and melody). The text is as follows:

One has to note here, that the Krasna people (as well as the German residents of other villages) sang their songs at a slow pace and their songs had a certain melancholy to them.

Lay theater troupes existed only at the very last times under Father Schumacher. They were well received within the community as several sources report. At one of the final theater presentation in Krasna, directed by Father Professor Wilhelm Schumacher, the following song was sung:

Twenty-three years later this song was the opener (1965) for a laymens’ play about customs, traditions and language of Krasna. The text of the piece, written by Alois Leinz, Von der Wiege bis zur Bahre (From the Cradle to the Grave) can be read in the Heimatbuch 25 Jahre nach der Umsiedlung, 1965 (Homeland Book 25 Years after the Resettlement 1965).

This laymens’ play illustrates Krasna traditions very well.

People danced mainly at weddings or at evening gatherings of the young people in the evenings or on weekends. The so-called “Hopser” (Hopper), a form of the polka and the “Runde,” a sort of waltz, were especially well liked. Popular formation dances were the “Oira” and the “Zaratzki.” The hat dance was also popular, where people danced, hands placed on the hips, cavorting around a number of hats placed on the ground.

Many customs and traditions from the ancestral home of Germany are still known today and the colonists practiced these and cherished them. They were passed along from generation to generation, in family life, at weddings, funerals and church celebrations.

As already shown, the work rhythm of agriculture had a decisive influence. Emil Nagel writes: There was much fieldwork to be done after Easter and there was no time for celebrations, family or public. After harvest came at the end of October or beginning of November, there was time for private celebrations.

Krasna had no public celebrations, such as carnivals, May dances, shooting matches, etc. There was one celebration, a procession with horsemen and wagons through the village, accompanied by a brass band. Josef Erker believes that this celebration occurred in February/March of 1938. Father Schumacher, a native of Cologne in Germany, was the first who wanted to organize a carnival procession in Krasna.

Max Riehl remembers: There was a procession through the village with many horsemen and the brass band, with the mayor and other dignitaries of the village on horse-drawn wagons and the youths on foot. Many spectators lined the streets.

Image 73: Caption: The Hussar Prince of Krasna, Raffael Bachmeier 1938

Relatives, neighbars and friends visited each other on the long winter evenings. This was called “Maie gehen” (going Maie.) The women brought their knitting or crocheting. People sampled the home-brewed wine of the man of the house, played cards. The main card games were for instance Tarock/Durack, and Bottkidnoi, The cards were called “Herz” (hearts,) “Kreuz” (clubs,) “Schelle/Karo” (diamonds) and “Schippe/Piek” (spades).

People loved telling tales (traditions, stories and fairy tales). The village had some excellent storytellers. When they were speaking, people waited expectantly for the end of the story; children also participated. Alois Leinz remembers: During my youth in the1920's, fairy tales were often told in our native village of Krasna. My father was the story teller in our home and he spent long winter evenings telling stories and tales. He continued sharing his tales with us grown-ups as well, passing the time until the wee hours of the morning. ²⁾

It is a shame that none of our parent generation recorded these old traditions and stories. Fortunately, a few of them were written down and preserved.

In this context, several publications have to be mentioned:

• Bessarabian Tale(s), interesting material of old handed-down material,
  from the Bessarabiendeutscher Landesgruppe Rheinland-Pfalz (Club of Bessarabian Germans, National Group, Rhineland Palatinate), 98 pages;
• Geschichten aug Krasna/Bess. Erlebnisse und Erinnerungen von Melchior Koch u. a. (Tales from Krasna, Bessarabia, Experiences and Memories of Melchior Koch and Others), published by the Bessarabiendeutscher Verein, Landesgruppe Rheinland-Pfalz (Bessarabian German Club, National Group of the Rhineland Palatinate), 24 pages;
• Tales by Alois, Leinz, printed in the Heimatbuch 25 Jahre nach der Umsiedlung (Homeland Book, 25 Years after the Resettlement), pages 281ff;
• Melchior Koch Krasnaer Geschichten, Heimatkalender 2007, (Tales from Krasna), Homeland calendar 2007, page 71;
• Geschichten aus Bessarabien (Stories from Bessarabia), printed in Erinnerungen an Bessarabien, 60 Jahre nach der Umsiedlung, 2000 (Memories of Bessarabia, 60 years after the Resettlement), page 189;
• Several stories by Alfred Thielemann printed in the Heimatbuch 20 Jahre nach der Umsidelung (Homeland Book 20 Years after the Resettlement), and in various homeland calendars;
• Folk verses and childrens’ rhymes of the Germans from Bessarabia collected and published by Friedrich Fiechtner, Stuttgart 1949.

Aside from the Maie gehen visits, there were other occasions where family, friends and neighbors met.

• The first one is Sunday. It was a holy day. Saturdays, yards and streets were broomed and pretty yellow sand was sprinkled in front of the street wall. Aside from food preparation and feeding of livestock, no work was done on Sunday, including threshing and harvest time. On Sunday, rest was exemplary. On afternoons, relatives and friends were visited and people loved to sit outside in front of the house and talk.

Image 74: J. Becker’s publication “Wie’s daheim war,” (As it was back home,) describes Sunday very well, page 96f.

• Butchering: Butchering took place in the late fall. (See also 5.5, Food and Clothing) Butchering days were always small family celebrations. Meat sizzled in the large butchering pan, which was mainly used to make sausage, but also to serve to the helpers on butchering days. When the meat was done, this “Kesselfleisch” (kettle meat/meal) was placed on the table, which also contained bread, pickles, tomatoes and peppers, as well as the watermelon and wine. Each could eat whatever he liked. Neighbors and the poor were also given a cup of broth to use as stock for soups.
• Corn harvest, called “Bobshoiblade”: The corn had to be husked. (See also 4.1, Agriculture in Krasna). Relatives and neighbors, who grew no corn of their own, came and helped. It was a happy affair and people sang, told jokes and stories. At the end there was a meal and the new wine was tasted. These occasions lasted often until midnight.

Image 75: Young people at the Bobshoiblade.

The main family celebrations were baptisms, first communions and weddings.

Children were baptized very soon after they were born, mostly on the following day or the day after. After the baptism in church, a simple family celebration took place in the house of the parents. The godparents, called “Gooth” and “Pat” visited as well as friends and relatives.

For the walk to the baptism in church, the infant was placed on the baptismal pillow and a blanket, called a “Placht,” wrapped around both. The child was then placed into the arms of the godmother and a laced cover of linen placed around both.

Image 76: The godmother carried the child to church, accompanied by the godfather, the father, and the grandmother, as the midwife was called.

These were a significant family event. Long before the celebration the homes of the first communion children were prepared to make a memorable event of it.
See also 5.1, Church and Religion

Weddings were communal events. They lasted two days and longer with festive meals, song and dance and a number of other activities. The village had no party halls per se and these events took place in the family homes of the bride or groom, which were especially prepared for the occasion. Weddings took place in the winter months, when the farmers' workload was not great and they had the time to celebrate. Weddings usually happened on a Tuesday. This custom probably evolved from two limitations of weekly activities in place for the Catholic colonists of Krasna:

• Resting on Sunday was sacred and no celebrations or preparatory work for weddings was allowed.
• A Friday was a fast day and not suited for scrumptious meals.

This limited the time frame open for festivities. Max Riehl explains:
The celebrations usually lasted from Monday night until Thursday night. At daybreak on Monday, the butchering took place and volunteer helpers were always welcome. The servants of the bride had to gather extra chairs, tables and benches from friends' and neighbors' homes to seat and serve the many expected guests. Monday evening, called the “Brautabend” (bride’s evening), was a celebration with friends and relatives, where music was made and wine was served as the couple to be married was dismissed from their single status. On Tuesday, the wedding took place with a festive mass in church. A standard wedding dish was milk rice with raisins and sugar for a dessert. The bride’s “Milchbrautdiener” (milk servants) in a trip around the village collected the fresh milk needed for this from the invited guests. On Friday, the clean up was held and borrowed items were returned.

Georg Hedrich has written about the wedding customs of Krasna in detail, here is an excerpt: ³⁾
In our community of Krasna, it was the custom that once a young man had found his bride, there was no engagement, but it was called “Er hat fertig gemach” (He has finished) (his bachelor life). It meant that after the three announcements from the pulpit on consecutive Sundays, the wedding took place three weeks later.
The bride and groom elected four “Brautdiener” (male bridal servants) and four “Bratumädels” (female bridal servants). On Monday, the day before the wedding, these bridal servants were dispatched, wearing decorated caps and carrying a staff decorated with a band of silk to invite the wedding guests. The speech used for those invitations was a verse: “Please come to the wedding, bring a chicken or a rooster and spoon and fork, as well as sugar.”
Meanwhile at the home used for the wedding celebration, preparations were made and food and drink prepared. The wedding ceremony took place in the evening. On the wedding day, a Tuesday, a decorated coach took the groom to pick up his bride for the wedding. Before all departed for the church, the senior bride servant made a wedding toast. Then the decorated wedding coach started off. The musician’s wagon led the wedding procession and with marching music and gun salutes they traveled to church for the church ceremony.

After the wedding, the guests met at the wedding house where the bride and groom were met with the traditional loaf of bread and wine.
A hearty breakfast was next, followed by dancing. The noon meal consisted of chicken soup and a roast and after that a plate of rice with sugar and raisins was served. After the feast, the customary plate plea began, led by the senior bride servant with a traditional verse. The band then played a marching song while the two bridal servants clapping their tin plates, collected contributions from the guests.
The pledge for the dance of honor came next. The senior bridal servant recited a verse, and then led the bride in a circle before presenting her to the groom for the dance of honor.

After the evening meal the woman of honor (godmother of the bride) carried a bottle of Schnaps and a perfumed bouquet. She went to each wedding guest and asked for a contribution for the couple. It was a fun occasion and if someone was stingy, another song was sung for him. It was fun and lasted late into the night. Shortly before midnight, the bride was asked for dances. It happened at times that the bride lost a shoe and in order to retrieve it, the groom had to pay for a round of Schnaps.

At 12.00, midnight, the couple was surrounded by the wedding guests, who sang a song. During this song, the bridal veil and wreath were taken off the bride and handed to her mother. After this the young couple went home, but the guests celebrated until daybreak.

The laymens’ play by Alois Leinz, entitled “From cradle to grave” also illustrates Krasna's wedding traditions in depth. ⁴⁾

Image 77: A Wedding Party

Image 78: Bride and Groom, 1936

Image 79: Groom and Bride, 1936

Image 80: Bridal Servants and Bridesmaids in Krasna, 1938

A word is in order here about the meeting and falling in love of a couple. Women married usually between the ages of 17 and 22, young men between the ages of 21 and 24. A woman still unwed by age 25 was considered an old maid. Often the young men married their sweethearts from school. Meeting members of the opposite sex was limited to Sunday in church, at the corn harvest and other harvest activities. People did not get engaged and lovers did not stroll around the village arm in arm.

⁵⁾ On Holy Eve work on the farms ceased earlier than usual. At least for the past twenty years most families had decorated Christmas trees. ⁶⁾ Families, who could not affford Christmas trees, cut acacia branches and decorated them with paper to display in the home. Larger boys and girls went to the homes of little children and carried an improvised nativity scene as described in detail by Emil Nagel. ⁷⁾
Prior to midnight the church bells rang to call the faithful to Midnight Mass. Almost all the villagers also went to church on the first and second days of Christmas. Krasna celebrated a third day of Christmas called St. John’s Day. On this day, each family brought a bottle of wine to church to have it blessed. At the noon meal everyone received a glass of the blesssed wine, called “Johanneswein” (St. John’s Wine).
People greeted the New Year with a loud bang and for this occasion people either fashioned their own rockets, containers filled with gun powder, which could be detonated with a blow in the correct spot, or had the smith make them for them. The older boys prepared these. The girls collected enough Schnaps and cookies for the New Year Wishing celebration. When the church bells rang in the New Year, the boys went off in groups to wish their girls a Happy New Year. Each New Year salutation was acccentuated with a salute shot and in every home they visited they were served a few drinks of Schnaps or wine. Detonations could be heard until day break. On the morning of New Years, the children visited friends and neighbors to wish then a good new year and recited a verse for the occasion. Some of them also exploded “Knallkorken” (bangers). The children liked this a lot since they filed their money pouches during this event.

The adults also extended best wishes to their friends and neighbors and usually met at a relative’s home to celebrate the New Year together. It was a lot of fun with song, dance and plenty of wine.

Holy Week preparations caused a lot of anxieity in the village. In particular, housewives had their hands full preparing home and farm for Easter. Much had to be hauled in and prepared.

At Holy Week, the so-called “rattling boys” played an important role. They served at mass and all the boys who finished school in the following year had to work as rattling boys, replacing the regular church bells from Thursday before Easter until the morning after Good Friday and holding watches at the displayed Holiest of Holies and at the altar of the grave.

They went through the village with their “Klappern” (clappers) or “Ratschen/Rätsche”, ⁸⁾ always when the bells were supposed to ring and calling the faithful to church service, meaning at twelve, noon, at morning prayer and at evening prayer, as well as the regular church service. These rattling boys performed their duties with gusto and recited their verses as required. On Saturday before Easter they went through the village, carrying baskets, rattling at the individual homes and being rewarded for their efffots with cake and sometimes with sausage and ham. Alois Leinz describes his rattling boy service quite well. ⁹⁾

Highlights and the end of Holy Week was the celebration of the resurrection on Easter Sunday morning in church.
See also 5.1, Church and Religion Children built an Easter nest with moss and greenery for Easter Sunday. When they checked their nest in the morning, they found that the Easter Bunny had left colored eggs and sweets. The housewives had colored the eggs with care the day before.

Krasna did not have the custom of a May Pole, called May Tree, but they did have a “Pfingstbaum” (Penetcost Tree), which has the same origin as the May Pole. It was a tree with all the branches removed and the top crowned with a wreath. This pole was reused every year.

The Krasna children did not have any complicated high-tech toys. There were a few dolls for the girls, but play equipment was largely homemade by the children themselves. Play took place outside and involved a lot of movement.

Image 81: Children at Play on Main Street

Some of the favorite childrens’ games are listed here (there were certainly more of them, as well, and some of them were probably called by different names): “Brummkater” (growly cat) was a whip top game; ball games: “Eckenball” (Corner Ball), “Fuβball” (soccer), “Handball” (handball), “Schlagball” (base ball) and others; catch me games, hide and seek, running games and “Hüpfspiele” (hop scotche), etc. There were see-saws called “Klaunsch” and a favorite was the game called “Zerkelschlan” or “Giesspiel”: A short stick, about 10-15 centimeters long and sharpened on one the end was placed on the edge of a hole in the ground and hit with a stick, about 40 centimeters long. The players must try to catch it. A game called “Reihe von hienä (unter weg)” (from the back of the row) could not be explained to me.