Funeral Feasts - was Re: SC - Marion Zimmer Bradley: MourningSong (FWD)

[Bonne of Traquair]

> > >Bonne of Traquair wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Another time, the granny was the one that had died, so there wasn't 
>any
> > > > sense leaving food at her house.  Some was left and the daughter 
>living
> > > > nearest took it home.  As family members returned in the coming 
>weeks to
> > > > close up the house, they brought more food.
> > >
> > >Hmmm. Okay, so maybe this is some kind of backhanded comment on the
> > >decline of the extended family in America ...
> > >
> > >Adamantius
> >
> > I'm not sure what you think I mean.
> >
> > Bonne
>
>Oh, I wasn't reading anything into your words, just noting that if the
>granny didn't live alone, things might have been different. We seem to
>have fewer extended-family households than we used to, is all.
>
>Adamantius

Well, she didn't quite exactly live alone.  Only 2 of her 7 children had 
moved out of Virgilina.  Her third daughter lived in "the old store" that 
her first husband had built in the 30's.  The old store was situated 50 
yards away through the tobacco, a quarter of a mile back up the drive to the 
road and then down the other drive.  That daughter's husband had taken over 
the farming in the late 1970's, and they lived with her until they had kids 
and the family decided that their other option, Ralph's late aunt's house, 
was too far away for him to easily tend the land. Ralph started and ended 
his day at the barn behind the granny's house and Kay spent her days at her 
mother's home, esp. after the car accident in which Papa Joe died and Annie 
Sue was months recovering from. I really don't think they did much more than 
sleep at their place, and perhaps not even that: her kids always seemed 
slightly confused when we used Annie Sue's guest room and they had to go 
home.

So when I say the nearest daughter took the rest of the food home, I really 
mean near!

I understand that after the house was "closed",  meaning various siblings 
personal items and promised items removed, and the vast accumulation of 
useful things that old ladies save (disposable pie tins, plastic bags) 
disposed of, Kay and Ralph moved in and an adult grandson moved into the 
store.  Doubt he ever cooked and ate there either, what with his aunt just 
through the field and having to drive past his other aunt's house and his 
mama's between town and the store.  (All of which precludes much of the 
bachelor life I'm sure he was hoping for when he moved into his own place.)

Bonne

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