Women's Work

A century ago, life was not easy for the average women.  For those of the Siberian village of Unkuda, as their callused hands and bent backs proved, it was even harder, .

Plowing the Fields

One of my favorite scenes in Banners: For God, Tsar and Russia is where Kataya and Ultia prepare the ground for spring planting.  Since Ukurda was too poor to afford a horse, women pulled the plow.  My grandmother on my mother's side was from Slovakia and she thrilled her nearly forty grandchildren with stories of the old county.  Her most memorable the tale told of her uncle hitching her and the other women to a plow.  She said it wouldn't have been too bad if her uncle would not have whipped them when he thought they slowed down.

Women plowing the fields

In Banners,  I teamed Kataya and the elderly Ultia at the plow's lead.  Kataya, being young and brash, made the plowing into a contest of wills.  Despite her small statue, she was determined to show the men her mettle.  Ultia, hardened by years of labor, sought to slow the pace and lighten the load.  The action and dialogue between the two allowed me to develop a story line leading to their mutual respect.

Milk Maids

Akulina Borsikova was a white widow, one of hundreds of thousands of Russian women whose husbands were in the military or in America.  But, as the village harpies oft told her, she was a fortunate among the unfortunate.  They jealously pointed out Akulina had a father and two sons to help, plus a husband who sent American dollars to buy her a Kholmogory, the best milk cow in the village.

Akulina's milk cow, Belyanka

I used Akulina and Belyanka in many scenes where I wanted to show Akulina's thoughts.  Instead of "she thought" or italicized print, I had Akulina carry on a conversation with her cow.  She bared her soul on many occasions and even once got caught doing so by Commissar Bogdanov leading to a poignant scene.

Churning butter

Akulina used her cow to produce milk and cheese.  Her butter was the best in the village and the source of her pride--her very being.  One of the lowest points in her life came when the state confiscated Belyanka, stripping Akulina not only of her income, but her pride.

Akulina's dairy products came with a steep price.  Not only did she have to milk Belyanka, she had to churn the milk into butter and make cheese for sale and barter.  This was in addition to her normal chores: cooking, planting, weeding, making flax into cheesecloth, washing clothes in the river, harvesting plants for medicine, mucking out the stalls, and keeping her two sons in line.

Though I was very familiar with most of Akulina's chores, I had never milked a cow or washed clothes in a river.  Fortunately our county park system has places where you can experience rural life from hundreds of years ago.  Through them I was able to enhance my writing by learning how to milk a cow, churn butter, make cheese and weave cloth. The park's hands-on demonstrations, however, fell short of having me pull a plow.