02:42

Ruth Deutschmann

Benjamin Epp

Aldrans

2008-06-16

Syslvia Manning - Baumgartner

Nicole D´Incecco

1925

We had straw sacks to lie on. Corn leaves - Flitschen, the leaves, do you understand? We called them straw sacks in dialect. They were made of strong linen and had a hole in the middle. We filled them with dried corn leaves. That's what we slept on. Naturally the sacks adapted to the shape of the body. They were less hard than a mattress. When you got up you'd insert your hand through the hole to shake up the leaves. It was covered by a sheet but the linen was of a rough weave. Once a year the leaves were placed in a garden, on a lovely meadow, sprayed with water and turned over until they were clean. When they were dry, the leaves were put back into the sack, with a few new ones added, because some had decayed. That's how it was before there were mattresses. That's what it was like! But there was no heating in winter. o heat the bed we took a brick, a 25 cm brick, and usually put it in the oven to warm it up. It was placed in the bed to heat it as everything was cold. Or, when you ate cherries you kept all the stones. These stones were put in a pot on the stove until they were very warm, hot even. We had special little bags that we put the hot cherry stones into, tied them closed and put them into the bed. Then the bed was warm. You can laugh but that's the way it used to be. In the old days - cherry stone bags. That's how it was