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T A T R A A R E A
R E S E A R C H
G R O U P
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© TARG All rights reserved.
Newsletter for March-April 2009
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Ahojte (hello) TARG members! Veselú
Velkú Noc! (Happy Easter!) I hope this issue of the TARG
e-neweletter finds you well. I was not sure I would get this
done. My Slovak Great Uncle Jerry (Jarislav), who many of you
will recognize from past TARG website homepage photos like his 90th birthday
in July 2005, is nearly 94 now. He's been going strong, except
that one night in February he was trying to swat a moth and fell
backwards between his dining table and a dish cabinet. He ended
up fracturing a vertebrae and has needed help during his recovery
at home. I am happy to report that in true Slovak fashion he
is doing well and nearly recovered.
I also have other BIG
NEWS: I will be heading to Slovakia and Poland on May 14th staying
until June 6th! The main purpose of my trip is to
visit the Roman Catholic archives in Spisska Kapitula, Slovakia
and attempt to photograph "Second Writing" pages from
the records in the 30 villages lost to Poland in 1920. These
are copies of the birth, marriage and death records from these
parish churches. (For more, check out this
discussion on the e-TARG website.) I will also be visiting
the archives in Krakow, Poland. If any
of you have requests, please contact me NOW so we can discuss
these.
Thanks!
-- Paul K. Bingham
TARG Founder
WEBSITES____________
1. TARG's official website: www.e-TARG.org!
2. To contact Paul K. Bingham, the TARG Founder,
please send e-mail to: TatraAreaResearchGroup
gmail
3. Helene B. Cincebeaux's new
2009 Treasure Tours Schedule is out! (More info is also on
her website at: www.Our-Slovakia.com.
4. For the latest information on the Zamagurie Region
DNA Project go to: www.e-targ.org/ZamReg%20DNA.html.
YOUR LETTERS___________
---Hi Paul, Wondered if you could
do an update on the Zamagurie Region DNA project. I will be going
to study Slovak in Bratislava as part of the University of Pittsburgh’s
Summer Language Institute this summer and will be able to add
on 1-2 weeks of time in our Zamagurie Villages. It’s not
too early for potential new members to consider joining our project
and the possibility of having testing done overseas while I’m
there. Can you please pass the word? Also, I have a member who
signed up that has never responded. His ancestry must be from
our region. I was wondering if you’ve ever had contact with
anyone named Jurgovian? He’s never taken the test nor does
he reply to the emails. Let me know. D’akujem Vam! - Karen
***Hi Karen, I most certainly will remind our TARG members about
the Zamagurie Region DNA Project. Please visit
this link for more information. It looks like we will both
be going to the old country this year! I very much look forward
to my visit! As for Jurgovian, yes I have had a couple of enquiries
for this surname. It is mostly from the little Polish village
of Rzepiska. - Paul
TATRA MOUNTAINS BOOK - PART 20__________
Chapter 9 "In a 'Hala'" begins here:
Sheep and cattle form the main wealth of the
population of the Tatra. As the snow melts on the grazing grounds
-- or 'hale' (plural of 'hala'), there is a great exodus of sheep
flocks to their pastures. This is quite a ceremonial occasion,
called 'kierdele', constituting a celebration of the advent of
the spring. In the autumn a similar migration takes place in
the opposite direction.
A hala is a grazing ground owned jointly by
a group of villagers, who have shares in it which give them the
right to keep there so many 'tails' of sheep or cattle each;
the shares are therefore called 'tails'. Normally there is no
marked boundary between the hale, which form geographical entities,
divided from each other by mountains or forests, while surrounding
peaks are regarded as a sort of appendix to a hala and in most
cases are named after it. Nonetheless, poaching is not infrequent
and leads to bitter quarrels and hot-tempered fights.
This system of joint ownership led to considerable legal difficulties
when the Polish Tatra Society sought to purchase sites for tourist
huts. The Gorals were quite ready to sell their 'tails', but
refused outright to part with any definite portion of their common
property. It needed much ingenuity to satisfy both sides.
A head shepherd, who is called a 'baca' (the
'c' being pronounced like a 'ts'), is in charge of a whole hala
on behalf of its collective proprietors, who entrust to him the
maintenance of their flocks, the manufacture and partly the sale
of sheep-cheese and milk and such other things as may pertain
to the business. At the end of the grazing season the baca gives
an account of his administration and hands to each particular
owner his share of cheese or money, if any has been obtained
from its sale.
(Chapter 9 "In the 'Hala'""
of Firsoff's 1946 book will continue in our next issue.)
CONTACTING TARG_____________________
To contact the TARG Editor, the new e-mail
address is: TatraAreaResearchGroupgmail . Our "snail"
mailing address is still TARG, P.O. Box 3533, Escondido, CA 92033.
use it for sending in orders or photos and anything else you
want to share with the group. (If for some reason you are unable
to contact us at the new address above, go ahead and use the
old address targ_nethotmail.)
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