My Diary in Serbia: April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915Stanley, Monica M.
History
My Diary in Serbia: April 1, 1915-Nov. 1, 1915
Stanley, Monica M.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
Dr. and Mrs. Berry went to Kragujevatz in the morning for a
conference. We went into the town, did some shopping and had some
raspberry drink and cakes at a cafe; we had a glorious walk back. This
afternoon we heard that there was a funeral; then we heard a lot of
wailing in the distance, so we put on our things and went to the
cemetery. We met the procession of about twenty women with a lot of
banners and baskets of food. It seems that the corpse they were
mourning for had been dead some time, forty days, so it was just an
anniversary. When we arrived at the cemetery the women put the flags
against a tree, then knelt down round the grave and began to wail and
cry bitterly. Then they lighted candles and put them on the grave.
They unpacked the baskets and put plates of food all over the
grave--bread, rice, cucumber cut in slices, cherries, little bowls of
jam, onions, little glasses of wine and decanters of water. We watched
this ceremony for about half an hour. Some of the mourners ate the
food and kept kissing the grave. There were no end of mourners at
other graves doing the same thing. It was the most pathetic sight I
have ever seen, so sad to see the poor things.
Sunday, _July 4, 1915._
A very wet day; nothing but rain and thunder. After tea we went down
for a sulphur bath. Such a quaint place; it was a round deep hole with
running water only about six yards wide; the water was warm. After
breakfast we went another walk up to the cemetery. All the food that
had been left on the graves on Saturday had been eaten by the women
who had been wailing round the graves, with the exception of a few
apples and cherries that had been left on the ledges of some of the
crosses. We had a lovely walk back through some woods. There are
crowds of wild cherry trees laden with cherries, wild mulberries and
walnuts. The vine trees are also plentiful and so well trained. The
land is fairly well cultivated, considering that all the men are
fighting. The women are splendid workers. This afternoon I went again
to learn some Serbian dishes. There is such a nice woman here as cook.
As soon as she heard I was interested she said she would show me some
of their dishes, and Dr. Berry's sister is so good in letting me go
down into the kitchen to learn. We have been over most of the
hospitals here; really very good, and they are so clean. The park is
glorious, but it amused me to see spittoons all along the pathways.
Tuesday, _July 6, 1915._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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