Coal and Coke Heritage Center presents ‘Christmas in the Coal Patch’
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
The Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus is featuring a new exhibit in their Community section called Christmas in the Coal Patch. The exhibit show various traditional artificats carried through patch towns during the turn of the 20th century.
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
On display inside the Coal and Coke Heritage Museum are examples of some of the traditional recipes used from various ethnic groups residing in patch towns during the Christmas season.
Rebecca Devereaux|Herald-Standard
Elaine DeFrank, oral historian for many years at the Coal and Coke Museum, walks through the new Christmas in the Coal Patch exhibit pointing out a replication of a traditional Christmas tree constructed for the exhibit. The show will be on display until Jan. 9.
In coal-mining towns in southwestern Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century, immigrants from eastern and southern Europe brought Christmas traditions with them that included special food, decorations and faith-based practices.
The Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, in North Union Township is inviting the public to learn more about these traditions in a special exhibit called “Christmas in the Coal Patch,” running now through Jan. 9. The exhibit can be viewed from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays at the center, which is located in the library of the campus, situated along Route 119 north of Uniontown.
The heritage center is also hosting an open house with light refreshments from 3-6 p.m. Friday to give the public more time to view this exhibit.
Here, traditions are explored, such as baking treats for the holidays, searching for the first star on Christmas Eve and taking part in a special Christmas Eve dinner.
“Life without traditions would be empty,” noted Elaine DeFrank, oral historian for the heritage center.
DeFrank and Amanda Peters, archivist, said descendants of those immigrants carry on their traditions today but may not realize the history behind them.
Peters relied on DeFranks, the center’s archives and research to put together the Christmas display, which can be found in the Community section of the heritage center’s permanent exhibit. The heritage center contains history and artifacts of the coal and coke industry from Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties during the period of 1870s-1970s.
For the Christmas exhibit, Peters noted, “We focused on Slovak, Polish, Carpatho-Rusyn and Italian cultures.”
She stood before an introductory placard that prompts visitors: “It’s Christmas Eve: Imagine you are in a patch town. What do you see?”
The placard sets the scene: “People rushing in and out of the company store. Children playing in the snow. You walk through the town and see women beating rugs outside their homes. You peek inside. Window sashes are being washed and tea leaves are sprinkled around the floor to be later swept up, leaving a fresh, clean look and scent. The town is preparing for Christmas Eve celebrations.”
The Community section showcases a coal miner’s home with a glass case that includes a Christmas tree made by DeFrank’s son, Jerome DeFrank, from wire wrapped with green crepe paper and decorated with straw ornaments, nuts and small apples.
Local customs and traditions taken from the archives’ oral histories are explained in information sheets, such as this one given by DeFrank:
“The weeks before Christmas, people put their lives and homes in order. Women of the coal and coke region had pride in their homes and cleaning was of utmost importance.”
Near the glass case rests a miniature, white stable and a cross-shaped staff with bells that are artifacts from the Hungarian Catholic Church of the Assumption in Daisytown. They were used to perform the Bethlehem play called Jaslickari, a tradition in which a group dressed as angels and shepherds would walk through the town, carrying the creche and a figure of the infant Jesus.
They would sing Christmas carols and bring holiday greetings to residents of the company-owned town that was commonly referred to as a coal patch.
DeFrank explained the term “patch” is based on the Old German word “pacht,” meaning to rent or be a tenant as the homes were rented to the workers.
A Nativity scene, also placed in the glass case, marks the popular representation of the birth of Jesus that continues to be found in homes today. Tradition says the first Nativity scene was created by St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century.
Newspaper articles that explore traditions are laid on a kitchen table, including one with recipes for “A Slovak Christmas Eve Menu” that includes pirohy (filled dumplings), nut and poppy seed rolls as well as mushroom and caraway soups.
The Christmas Eve dinner was special, called Vilija in Slovak, Polish and Carpatho-Rusyn homes, where a table was set with a white cloth to symbolize the clothes of baby Jesus, and straw is scattered underneath the table or tablecloth to symbolize the manger and animals present at Christ’s birth. An extra place setting might be added to receive a stranger or honor a loved one.
In Italian families, the Christmas Eve dinner is known as the Feast of the Seven Fishes, referring to a number of references, including God completing Creation by the seventh day, the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church and the seven hills of Rome, which is Italy’s capital city. At the dinner, fish dishes are served alongside pasta, bread, vegetables and homemade wine.
Peters also invites the public to share their own traditions by writing them on paper slips used to decorate another Christmas tree placed in the exhibit.
In fact, the heritage center is a place where people are always invited to share their memories and stories.
The heritage center grew out of a 1970s Penn State Fayette oral history project on the coke and coal industry of southwestern Pennsylvania that became the book, “Patch/Work Voices: The Culture and Lore of a Mining People,” written by former campus instructors Drs. Evelyn A. Hovanec, Dennis F. Brestensky and Albert N. Skomra.
The book is still available for purchase at the heritage center along with others that include “The Early Coke Worker,” “Common Lives of Uncommon Strength” and “Another Time, Another World.” The heritage center also sells photos, postcards, CDs and collectibles of the era.
More information about the heritage center is available at on the Penn State website at http://fayette.psu.edu/coalandcoke.