Puncha-puncha

The phrase "Puncha-puncha" appears several times in all three of my novels.  I'm not sure there is even such a term such as Puncha-puncha, but it sure comes in handy for a humorous way of referring to delicate subject of human interaction.  My first exposure to the phase appeared when I was eavesdropping on a conversation between a group of my father's Rockdale male relatives.  As I recall it was a heated discussion about two brothers dating the same girl.  The conversation ended when one of the brothers said, "Look, she went with you for lovie-dovie.  She went with me for the puncha-puncha."

I have not photos for this post, but I'll add an excerpt from SLOGANS: Our Children Our Future in which Stepha learns about the facts of life.

* * *

Kolya stopped his search and went to Stepha's side.  “Nikki saw them doing puncha-puncha.”

“Puncha-puncha?  What's that?”

Kolya rolled his eyes.  “Puncha-puncha.  You know, like what Kokolov's bull did to your mother's cow.”  Kolya bent his elbow and thrust his fist back and forth several times.  “Puncha-puncha." 

***

When asked why he didn't have sex scenes in his novels, a well-know author was said to have stated, "What do I know about sex scenes? I'm a married man." So for me puncha-puncha will do just fine.

Religion In Historical Fiction Writng

When I began writing my trilogy, I had no idea religion would so heavily influence my characters.  Initially, I tried to stay away from religion, which from the title of my first novel, Ikons: Saint Nicholas the Wonder Worker, should have warned me of the futility.  I tried to make organized religion antiseptic by implying the village of Hutava could no longer afford a priest. My fictional village did have a church building, but it was not used as such except for special occasions.  I christened the church Saint Ivan Vladimir, for no special reason I can recall and described it as the standard Russian onion domed church with a fading icon of the name saint. 

Saint Ivan Vladimir in factious Hutava

Religion in Hutava

My main characters, having been raised Christian, rebelled against my attempts to secularize them and adhered to their religion as best they could.  Akulina and Massey followed the dicta of fast and abstinence, observed holy days, and traditional rites, such as the sacraments of baptism, marriage and anointing the sick.  In their family spiritual matters it was the patriarchs, Boris and Serge, who assumed the pastoral role in the priest's abstinence.

How much the Orthodox faith infused their beings was attested to during Massey and Akulina's courtship and wedding.  Their prenuptial traditions, banter and wedding reception antics were based on my recollections of my Eastern European relatives.  My maternal grandparents, John and Cecil Mores, provided some insight into Slavic wedding customs, but it was the reverence and frivolity of their children's ceremonies that I recalled and used as the basis for many scenes.

John and Cecil Mores on Their Wedding Day

There was nothing frivolous about Akulina's faith, however.  I gave her an unshaken belief in an afterlife that sustained her through the travails of her shortened existence.  But it was not just her who relied upon religion when she needed an anchor.

Religion In America

Religion increased in importance when Massey arrived in America.  Tossed into the turbulent waters of the new world, he and the others of the Orthodox community sought refuge in stability provided by their spiritual bond.

Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church - Joliet, Illinois

They founded Saint Nicholas Church which became the both their social and spiritual center.  I remember going to Saint Nicholas when it was housed in the building shown in the above photograph.  My most vivid memories of the church are not of the heavily perfumed ceremonies, but rather the ensuing trip to the Dairy Queen on the next block.  In the mid-40's Joliet was home to the very first Dairy Queen and for a nickle, I got a really large curly ice cream cone.

I based my characters' Russian religion on a mixture of my memories, current and historical religious programs, and imagination.  I'm grateful to the Orthodox church in Joliet for providing me with the history of the faith in Northern Illinois.  I believe I did them justice.

The Old Believers 

To bless with two fingers or three?  That was the question which caused the schism in the Orthodox church and created the Old Believers.  I introduced the Old Believers (Starovyery) in Banners: For God, Tsar and Russia and continued their story in Slogans: Our Children, Our Future.  Their isolated Siberian village of Unkuda, which became home for the refugees from Hutava, was 300 years out of step with the modern age and provided the backdrop for the Russian Civil War.  I didn't know much about the Old Believers, but I live in an area populated by Amish and other Christian sects of that nature.  The Amish became a surrogate for the Old Believers' language, life style and world view.

Old Believers

The differing views of the Orthodox religion provided ample opportunities for friction and misunderstanding between the refugees and the Old Believers.  For dialogue, I used old English words to delineate an Old Believer.  The clashes between the two groups were usually harmless and sometimes even humorous.  But all changed under the Red banner.

The Right Word

Based on current estimates, there are over a million words in the English language.  These words come in very handy if you are writing a novel and trying to express your thoughts in the most concise manner possible.  But, from these million words, how do you pick out just the right one?

Suppose I want to convey my character leaving a bar.  I could say, "Sam walked out of the bar." But walk is not the word I want.  I can see my character and he is not walking.  The correct word is on the tip of my tongue, niggling my memory, daring me to grasp it.  But I can't.  What does walk tell my reader?  Only that Sam left by his own power.  But I know Sam had a few too many drinks?  Is there a way I could describe his current condition in one word?  Maybe use a dictionary?

The Dictionary

My $5.00 dictionary (1984)

Definition of walk

According to my dictionary, walk can mean any of many different things, only one of which can be used to come out of a bar--to advance or travel on foot at a moderate pace.  Yes, Sam is doing that, but it doesn't tell the story.  The dictionary gives me as definition, but not connotation.  Where is the right word?

TheThesaurus. 

My handy thesaurus

I want to portray Sam as not doing so well moving from point A to B.  So using a thesaurus there are several verbs describing this action: undulating, waving, rocking, reeling, etc.  Surely Sam is not vibrating or swinging, and reeling makes it sound like he got punched.  I know I'm getting closer, but I'm still not there.

Walking unsteadily

The Word Guide

The Comprehensive Word Guide by Norman Lewis

My go-to source for synonyms is Norman Lewis's Comprehensive Word Guide.  The renowned fiction writer, Rik Newman, introduced me the Guide at our writers' group meeting back in 2010.  Though the Word Guide was written in the '50s, it's still pertinent today.  It is set up similar to a thesaurus, but contains the nuances of a word that makes it suitable for the scene.  Instead of many words meaning to walk, the guide presents words by description.  So when I wanted movement while leaving a bar, the Word Guide offered several choices for clumsy motion. 

Words describing clumsy motion

The word I want jumps out at me.  It's staggered.  Sam staggered from the bar.  The reader can now safely infer from my one word, a verb, that Sam had too much to drink.  Dictionaries are great for definitions and a thesaurus lists tons of synonyms, but to find just the right word, The Concise Word Guide  by Norman Lewis works best.

The Era

Information concerning my story's era was prolific.  By time I was finished researching I had several three-ring binders, cards, and computer files filled with newspaper clippings, hand-written notes, photos, government records, maps, personal accounts, some of which may even have been accurate and true.

Akulina and Massey's Wedding Certificate - Courtesy of Homeland Security

Joliet newspaper from the 1920's.

1920 Census for Rockdale, Illinois

Each bit of information open a door and led to a bit of information.  But sometimes traditional methods were not enough.  Hard as it is to believe, I actually had my characters come to me in dreams and chastise me for the way I presented them.  My character Boris Koscik was the worse.  He never appreciated my efforts to soften his methods.  He was tough and wanted to be remembered that way.  But of all my characters' manifestations, the one dealing with the SS Voltono had to be the eeriest.

The Women of Hutava

Every story needs romance and fortunately my grandfather and grandmother provided me with one.  I never knew much about Massey's love affair with his wife Akulina, but considering he remained true to her from the time they were married in 1906 until his death in 1949 says something.

Akulina A. Pribish circ 1913

This is the only known picture of my grandmother, Akulina A. Pribish.  She had it taken in Russia sometime around 1913 and sent it to her husband Massey Pribish in America.  This would place her age at approximately 27.  For a younger Akulina, I used a combination of my sisters, all three Slavic beauties.  My final version of my grandmother looked something like this.

Idealized Akulina

Although I knew little about Akulina, I was raised to admire her as a courageous, young mother facing the horrors following the Russian Revolution.  But before she could get to this section, I had to get her married.

I did considerable research into Belarus traditions and customs.  Most of them had to do with young women and their relationship to love and marriage.  This led to the scene dealing with the use of her wreath tossed into the water to find the man of her dreams.  This event also allowed me to introduce her special "gift."  Akulina was described by my father as the village seer, a fortune teller of extraordinary talent.  Whether her talent was a paranormal power or one based on an astute understanding of human nature is left up to the reader.  However, based on events which occurred  during the writing of these novels, I tend to believe the former.

Belarus girls placing wreaths in the water

The other village women were based on memories of my relatives, neighbors in Rockdale, and people I met in Russia.  Akulina's main friend, Nora, was real and was actually my father's godmother.

Akulina's little sister, Kataya was also a combination of my sisters, tilting mostly towards my youngest and feistiest sister, Jayne.

The Men of Hutava

This is my grandfather Massey Pribish.  It was probably taken in 1913 or so.  I believe it was a picture he had taken when he was arrived Joliet, Illinois and sent it to his wife in Russia.  But I'm getting ahead of the story.

Massey Pribish Circ 1913

The story of Ikons begins in 1904.  Massey and his brother Sam are planning to leave their home in Hutava to claim their fortune.   Since I didn't have any pictures of the two brothers when they were young, I chose to use a picture of two Russians I found in a history book as inspiration. 

Massey and Sam's Stand-ins

"Victor looked carefully at each man trying to decide who would give the most work for the least pay.  Over to one side he saw two young men standing apart from the rest.  They were of medium height and strongly resembled one another.  One, the oldest, already had a dense growth of hair on his upper lip; the other lad, only a mere shadow.  Both were lean.  Not the hungry lean Victor usually saw, but a sturdy, muscular lean.  Their hair was black and close cropped, more in the fashion of a soldier than the bowl-shaped chasha of a peasant, and their skin was still dark from days in the sun.  It was obvious both were just off the land and not yet broken by factory labor.  Victor leaned toward the yard-boss and pointed a leathery finger at Samuel and Massey.  "Those two," he said and quickly walked back to the mill."

* * *

Based on this photo, I constructed a story line for the brothers.  At the time I didn't have all the family information about the two, so I made it up resulting in two mistakes.  First, in my novel Sam was the solid older brother and Massey the feisty little brother.  In actuality, Massey was older.  Second, I named Sam, Sam, an honest mistake.  All my life I knew my great-uncle as Sam.  It turned out his name was Sergei and he had changed his name to Sam when he came to the United States in 1910.


For the rest of the men in Hutava I used this photo.  Notice the man on the far right.  He became my great grandfather, Major Sergei Pribish. Many years later I obtained records from the Department of Homeland Security, which listed Massey's father's name as Lucian Lukaszewicz.  I have no idea what that means.

The Men of Hutava

My father called his grandfather on the Pribish side, The Major.  It could be he was a major in the Tsar's army or was mayor of Hutava.  Both words are similar in Russian.  I chose to name him Serei and make him a retired army officer.  Note the medals on his chest.  Russian officers in 1900 were usually of noble birth.  The only way Sergei could attain commissioned rank was by serving in the Asian frontier.  So that's how his story came to be.  Sending him to the Far East also allowed me to explain my father's Tatar features.  Sergei's story is the frame upon which Russia's participation in the Great War was constructed.

According to DHS, my father's maternal grandfather was Andrew Kotchik.  Not knowing this in 1992, I named him Boris Koscik.  My father claimed he was a horse thief.  Boris' story is based on the recollections of my then ten year-old father and is instrumental on projecting the story of politics in the Russian village.

Other villager men were the inn-keeper, mayor, assorted farmers and of course, the village villain, Shako.

Using old photos was not an original idea of mine. It actually came from Sue Grafton (Alphabet Murder series).  She taught my class at the Antioch Writers' Workshop and brought in photos to use as props.  One of her photos became a character in my second book.

Giving the brothers opposite personalities and placing them under the thumb of a domineering father allowed me to create a coming-of-age story for the two boys.  I used my own experience and those of my friends to paint a picture of young men leaving home, looking for work and finding it the lower levels of the factory.  While our lives may have been sixty years removed from that of our grandfathers, our experiences were similar.  It would have been something to actually be able to have a discussion between me and my grandfather at age eighteen.

Russian Factory Workers - Circ 1900

Based on this photo, I do believe our grandfathers had it rougher than we did.

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