25 May 2015

What Was Faspa?

May 14, 1932  Ascension Day.  The children went to church.  For faspa we went to Grandmother.  After faspa we went to the congregational meeting [Gemeinde Stund].  Anna R. Friesen is here.
The Siemens lived a mile and a half west of Margaret’s mother, Katharina (Barkman) Reimer.  Margaret would frequently walk there, and the families would visit back and forth.  On this Sunday the Siemens went to her mother for faspa.  Faspa is the Low German word for a light evening meal, and it comes from the Latin word vesper, which means evening.  The Mennonites ate faspa on Sunday evenings after visiting all afternoon.  They always served tweeback, cheese, canned fruit, cookies or cake, and coffee.  In Manitoba, pickles were usually served for faspa but not at Meade.  Since it was a cold meal, it required very little preparation, which was convenient for Sunday, and it could be expanded to serve a lot of people when there were more unexpected guests than usual.  Since it was not a large meal, they would have an evening snack later on at home with bread, cold meat, sliced onions, and cake or cookies. 

Jake was surely glad to see Anna R. Friesen there (or soon would be if he was not already).

No comments:

Post a Comment