On Saturday we went to Neubergthal and Reinland. Darp Days and Tractor Trek. Which meant a lot of cool stuff happening yantzied. So we went!
First, Neubergthal. We were trying to get there in time for the first village tour. But. It was raining. More like a calm mist, I would say. Incredibly atmospheric. Really perfect weather for cemetery-wandering.
But not for hayrides.
The hayride through the village that I had told Steph I had enjoyed two years earlier… did not happen.
However, what DID happen was Plautdietsch Bingo!
This was a lot of fun. Steph and I talk about starting a conversational Plautdietsch club at The Public, and it’d be fun to steal (borrow?) this idea.
We don’t know Plautdietsch but would like to. So we participated happily and had a lot fun even though at first we couldn’t follow anything. But it didn’t take too long before we got better at recognizing words.
After that, Sean Goerzen presented his research on the Umseidler, which was very informative and probably an important thing for me to learn about considering there are many Umseidler in our region and we interact with them daily. And I’m a bit shy about it because I was enthusiastic when worked at the window factory, I met people with the same kind of last names but who had just arrived from Europe, and I asked them if they were Mennonites and related to us and they said no. So then I felt stupid. But Sean’s presentation made me realize I shouldn’t let the feedback from just one or two speak for the whole group. Which is maybe also good practice in general.
Steph and I then stepped out to go see the Friesen Housebarn but it was locked. (Now that I think about it, we probably should have asked someone to just unlock it.)
Then we wandered the cemetery. Neubergthal’s cemetery is one of my favourites. The only thing it doesn’t have going for it is that it is very easy to access. (One of my criteria for a “favourite cemetery” would be that reaching it must feel at least somewhat trespassy.) It is also very well cared for. Sometimes cemeteries that are too cared for repulse me. But Neubergthal’s gets a pass from me because the gigantic cottonwoods’ roots have tilted or absorbed several headstones and no one seems to find it a problem (at least no one’s tried to “correct” this). And so the cemetery maintains an air of otherworldly mystique, at least for me. The proliferation of housebarns and the overall old-world village feel certainly helps.
There. That is my review of the Neubergthal cemetery.
Then back into the Commons, which is the restored barn portion of a housebarn. The Neubergthal Commons is the old Klippenstein housebarn and in the house portion you can find a lovely Saturday morning café with the most delicious coffees and muffins. We had several muffins by the way. So good. Carrot cake muffins. Blueberry muffins. Morning glory, too. All excellent. Ginger cookies too!
After Sean’s presentation, Bonnie Friesen from the Altona Archives spoke about the importance of knowing your history – exploring who we are and why our family behaves as it does. She stated that children who know their history exhibit higher self-esteem and a stronger sense of control over their lives. This makes sense to me, because as I have learned some actual facts about my family, even just normal things like the details of where ancestors lie, and what they did with their lives – even just that very basic information has caused me to walk a little taller, and somehow feel stronger. And it’s not like I’ve been discovering that my ancestors were royalty or anything. They sure were not lol. It’s just that having facts feels powerful. They say that knowledge is power but I don’t think they were talking about knowledge of your own personal family history is power… but for me, it feels powerful.
She told a story of visiting a cemetery with links to her family and she turned and read a certain burial marker, and realized she was standing on the exact same ground as her great-grandmother stood on when she buried one of her babies. And there was just something about knowing she stood in that same place. To just stand there and know that and think about it and feel it.
You know?
Anyway. I intend to pay a visit to the Altona Archives in 2027. I have some threads I need to follow.
But for now, we were meeting Paul Bergman for lunch.
You know, I probably wouldn’t discuss how I’m related to just anyone. After all, I live in Steinbach. I kind of assume everyone with a Mennonite last name is a cousin of sorts. I can’t be analyzing our shared genealogy with every person I encounter. It has to be a specific thread I’m focusing on.
But because Paul has created music that touches on history of the Altona area, and has paid attention to history-related stuff, AND my paternal grandmother’s origins near Altona are a mystery to me that I wish to solve – I have become interested in the fact that Paul is my dad’s third cousin. I guess for some reason I think he can help me solve this. And the information he has shared is really helpful. My next step would be to visit the Altona archives.
But not on this day.
Our next objective was to visit Reinland and see the Ens Housebarn.
(Mennotoba’s Instagram will be more active now. I’ll post more pictures there!)