Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Mindehrs in the New World

What is a mindehr?   (mind rhymes with wind; ehr rhymes with air as in wind!) Have you heard of the kitchen couch?  The kitchen couch was a major piece of "furniture" in many homes in the United States in the first half of the 20th century . . . (Was it only in Armenian homes?)  The kitchen couch was typically a roughly put together bench along the outside wall of the kitchen where family members would gather to keep company with the cook (usually the dandigin) who was preparing the meal, (undoubtedly the warmest place in the house, both in winter and summer).  The kitchen couch that Marash Girl remembers was made up of wooden orange crates positioned end to end, with the bottoms of the crates -- the unopened side -- at the top; covered with a pretty piece of cloth (or, more likely in Armenian homes, an old oriental carpet), families would place a mindehr across the length of the bench over the carpet covering (and pillows across the back against the wall).  The mindehr was usually a long narrow cushion made from lamb's wool in a fashion similar to the way angoghins (yorghans, quilts) were made by the old Armenian ladies.  [See http://marashgirl.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-make-quilt-armenian-style.html] The mindehr (perhaps made from a worn out yorgan or quilt) was placed across the top of the crates  in the kitchen for kids and adults to sit comfortably, keep warm, and socialize with each other. Marash Girl still remembers sitting on the mindehr in her Grandmother Yester Bosnian Vartanian's kitchen on the third floor of the three floor walk-up apartment at 47 Vassal Lane in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Do any readers of this post have such memories?

7 comments:

  1. Memories of mundar mindehrs, as well as temiz mindehrs.

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    1. Unclean (mundar) and clean (temiz) mindehrs. Just like some worn-out, or soiled, furniture is a testament to the spirit of familial, or good company's ever-presence in a home. The clean one, however, barely whispers to the ghost of a phantom-sitter left behind (no pun) on a slippery plastic-covered furniture. And that's the paradox. I have seen both.

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    2. You mean kirli (dirty?) as opposed to mundar (unclean in the religious sense), don't you? Marash Girl may have seen worn out (eski) mindehr covers, but never kirli (dirty), as all the mindehrs she has ever seen had covers on them, similar to yorghan covers, which could be removed, washed and dried whenever they appeared to be getting dirty, or simply removed and replaced by a clean cover. Geographical location of your observations?

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    3. Yes, I meant dirty, and I should have not expressed it in negation. Mea culpa! Mundar means unclean or filthy, and lends itself more easily to describe filth of character or morality, and almost never in any religious sense.

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    4. Depending on your religion, of course.

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  2. Mindhers and Yourghans ... are there any that have survived? The quilts wrapped us in comfort and told stories of their makers...I'd love to hear more of those stories. Thank you Marash Girl for your smile and hospitality, I look forward to following your blog!

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