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A Peasants Pride: A Short Celebration of German-Russians
| Article
# : |
15399 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1989 |
2,396 Words |
| Author
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Roger L. Welsch
Plains folklorist Roger L. Welsch is professor of English and
anthropology at the University of Nebraska. |
Chances are, I'm a folklorist because I'm a German-Russian. In high school I listened to history lectures about generals, congressmen, presidents, and statesmen, knowing that my people had never in their fifty years tenure in this country produced anything more than three generations of migrant farm laborers and factory workers. I read Faulkner, Hemingway, Cather, and Frost, but found no mention of Koehlers, Weyandts, or Schwindts. My people, it seemed, had no art in the galleries, no music in the concert halls, no gourmet dishes, no ballet, no heroes, no giants.
But I knew better, or at least I hoped I did. The determination and integrity of my grandparents was certainly no less than that of Washington or Eisenhower, their spiritual strength no less than Lincoln's. In my Aunt Anna's cellar and in Mother's quilts was an art that made the paintings I had seen in the university gallery look silly by comparison. To me, the tinkling fury of the hammered dulcimer seemed no less an accomplishment than what I had heard in concert halls. The Krautpirogs rye bread, and Broda of my mother's table are a feast without comparison.
The power of my people, I decided, is not so much in extraordinary accomplishments by unique individuals as within the daily processes and craft of the culture as a whole. That is, the contribution of the German-Russian people to man's cultural tapestry lies within their traditions, folklore, and day-to-day accomplishments. That teachers and scholars ignored the power of my people's tradition--and almost all other traditions, including the American, for that matter--was their loss, it seemed obvious to me, and it would by my loss only insofar as I accepted the narrowness of elitist
... (1963 of 14754 Characters)
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