Lost Shawls and Pig Spleens: Folklore, Anecdotes, and Humor of the Germans from Russia in the Dakotas

Humor, folklore and other anecdotes about North Dakota's most numerous ethnic group... the Germans from Russia. Eighty nine separate entries, of varying lengths with eighteen line drawings done in ink showcasing the ample talent of the illustrators, Andrea Trenbeath and Joshua Vossler, the author's son. The drawings cover a range of feeling, from humorous; to whimsical. Examples Germans from Russia every day humor-- including "ritual" greetings, quips, proverbs, and retorts - once typical fare for this distinct ethnic group, often stereotyped as stoic and humorless, which settled in the Dakotas between 1884-1914. Some narrative jokes, complete with translated English punch-lines. Included in the panoply of characters of this volume are garrulous old farmers, naive town kids, and deprived farm boys who play music in order to steal the most luscious watermelons in the township. There is weather lore, faith healing rhymes, remedies for ringworm, and brief narratives. Numerous anecdotes and other material that obviously derive from ethnic traditions brought to Dakota small towns and farms. Peripheral material from German or Ukrainian villages of the Soviet era, including folkloric beliefs gleaned from old letters written to the Dakotas by German villagers, as well as stories and jokes from Ukrainian traditions, which give some insights into the lives of the German villagers who did not immigrate to America like their kinfolk. The most striking story in that regard, which likely is a real story but reads more like a legend, concerns a Soviet collective leader who after insisting on driving a harvest machine over a bridge built from razed German tombstones, suffers the consequences of that sacrilege, and is killed.