Village Life

kulle betvatet mata, gu-mavate, kut-beta etvale kha tanuyra, tanuyra kat … zoda gavu lakhma ki-payyi, yan kusarta ki-bashli gavo, kusarta. kusarta mattila, kusartet upra, b-upra kusaryate etvalan. mattivalun gu … tanuyra. raba tamane, basime k-aviva khurraget tanuyra.

All the houses of the village, in the villages, every house had an oven, an oven in which they mostly baked bread, or they cooked in a pot, a pot. They put a pot (in the oven), a pot of clay, we had pots of clay. They would put them in the oven. The foods of the oven were very tasty.

kharta e-dana b-yuma tanuyra k-odivale ka-lakhma pyeta, ita berashvaneda kat-arkhe ativa gu-do bet tanuyra mattivalun kha-dana miz atkha matti al-patet tanuyra, yan-la, kha-dana adyal dari nashe aklate p-chambellivalun gu-do tanuyra, kulle shakhine. khina leva lazem bukhari tapi. up-betet tanuyra raba shakhina k-ave aklukhda … gu-tanuyra raba basemta k-oyava. ita b-yatviva adiyya arkha tiyukhile, b-yatu tama. b-yattiva hakiva zamriva t-akhliva b-shativa, raba sodanta k-oyava.

Now, during the day they used the oven for baking bread, then in the evenings, when guests arrived, in that oven house they laid for them a table, they lay it thus on the top of the oven, or if not, they laid out a blanket and the people would dangle their legs in the oven, all (keeping) warm. There was no need to light a stove. So the oven house was very warm, with your feet in the oven, it was very pleasant. So, they would sit. If a guest has come to (visit) you, he sits there. They sit, tell stories, sing, eat and drink. It was very pleasant.

kharta tilun … anne bukhariyye pletlun, bukhari et-kesa. gu-mata bukhariyye et-kesa k-avi. adiyya khina kamta … berka gu-mavay letva. adiyya berka tiyyele khina. kulle mendi etten ina kamta raba sodanteva, kamta kulle mendi … EnaturalE-iva kulle mendi. ina-khina adiyya kat … atmabele zedlun, khashta teta zedlun, tanuyre khina-letlan. gu-mavayda khachcha etten.

Then came, then the stoves came out, a stove for (burning) wood. In the village the stoves were for (burning) wood. Now, in the old days there was no electricity in the villages. Now electricity has come. There is everything, but in the old days it was very pleasant, in the old days everything was natural, everything. But now that cars have increased (in number), travelling has increased, we do not have ovens. But in the villages there are a few.

anne lavasheda kat-atkha k-avi adiyya-khina lena viyye-khina b-tanuyra. etlan et-tanuyra. ani bush timena. lakhma etlan … b-tanuyra kat ki-zabni lakhmet tanuyra. raba basima k-ave, va tamana k-ave m-do kat bi … nuyta b-gazuyl vaduna. ina ot tanuyra kha-mendi khina, raba tamana, raba basima.

The flat breads that we have nowadays have not been made in an oven. We have (also those) that are made in the oven. They are more expensive. We have bread made in the oven, which they sell, oven bread. It is very delicious, and it is more tasty than the one they make with oil or diesel fuel. But the one of the oven is something different, very tasty, very delicious.

gu-matvate kat … et-kamta-khina tanen, adiyya mavayda makh-mdita viyyena adiyya. ina kamta guydane b-charpichet upreva, charpiche la bshile. charpiche pt-odivalun, kam-shemsha bet-barziva. ani guyda bet-baniva menne. guyda atkha bet-baniva.

In the villages—I’ll talk about (the villages) of the old days. Now the villages have become like the town. But in the old days the walls were of clay bricks, unbaked bricks. They would make bricks and they would dry in the sun. They would build walls from them. They would build a wall like that.

ulluyluda kesa pt-ave kesa makhiva, dariva. lakhkhada anne kesena, ina keset diyyan glulena, atkha kese. ilana kat-pramuna kese k-odilun atkha, ki-darilun. ita al-dani parduvve ki-dari alle. parduvve kese nazukina al-danne ki-yatvi . anne kese atkha ina, anne khlime atkha aralleghghet danne atkha parduvve ki-dari kat …al-dayyada … tina. anne kesena, khlime kese. atkha chup kurba al-uydale t-avi-khina, kurba al-uydale. esri tlay san-tem prishe m-uydale atkha kulle pt-odilun. ita al-danne, parduvve bet-makhi. parduvve ina takhte atkha, lena khlime-khina, takhte nazuk. b-yatvi al-danne atkha parduvve.

Above it there was wood, they put wood. Here they are wood, but our wooden beams were round, wood like this. When they cut the tree, they make the wooden beams like this. Then on these they put laths. Laths are thin strips of wood. They sit on the (beams). The beams, the thick beams, between these they put laths, and on that mud. These are wooden beams, thick wooden beams. Like this, thud, they are (put) near to each other, near to each other, twenty or thirty centimetres apart from each other, they make them all like this. So on these they laid laths, laths, planks like this that are not thick, thin planks. The laths sit on those (beams).

ita al-dani ki-tanakh akhnan b-lishan-diyyan suvvagh ki-tani. suvvagh, tina, tina b-dokile men … tuyna. tuyna muile? khette khette e-dan-vadena, tammuzena o-kuylashe kat-pyashele. anne khette, gave khettena an-khine kuylash vayele, kat ka-kenyaneda ki-yavvi k-akhlile ani. makh-gella k-ave ka-setva.

Then on these—we say in our language ‘mortar,’ ‘mortar,’ this is mud, they bind the mud with straw. What is straw? Wheat, when they make wheat, (when they) clean it, it is their straw husks that remain. In this wheat are wheat grains, the rest is straw, which they give to the cattle and they eat it. It is like grass for the winter.

ita avun ki-khotile makh EkonkreteE t-ave o-tuyna k-ave ki-khavet gu-tina. khina o-tina e-dan-brazele, gari le pakke. o-tuyna … bekhvatel gu-tina, avun vayele Fbeton arme khina le pakke.

So, they mix it, it is like concrete, this straw is mixed with mud. Now, when the mud dries, it should not crack. It becomes (like) reinforced concrete, it does not crack.

ita al-gare avun darile, vile a-gare khina miyyada le-azi. ina adiyya khina al-dan garavayda adiyya EkementE vadona va EinsulationE vadona atkha adiyya. akhnan etvalan bakhcha gu-mata, cholan, akh-beta … gu-karma. cholan atkheva. kulle guydane b-charpichet upreva va-garoda atkheva, kese va ita … b-tina ulluylu. atkheva.

So, they put it on the roof and water does not flow through the roof. But now they put cement on the roofs and they put insulation now. We had a kitchen garden in the village, our booth, like a house in the vineyard. Our booth was like that. All the walls were of mud bricks and its roof was like that, logs of wood, and its top of mud, like that.

[GK: gu-Tyare etva kha-mendi kat-maplekhkhiva al-garavate, ki-karile mandurta. etva atkha mendi gu-Urmi? ] he duzila etten al-garavay av ki-mattile. kha-kha-ga kat-gare miyya bitayena bedlapena, k-ati, melkha ki-dari al-gare, melkha baruzta-khina, ki-barbezzi allu. ita mendi makh-dayen ki-makhderri al-gare, ki-tapteppale. tapteppale-khina, miyya le-ati eltekh. atkha vayela, kipa glula. melkha dariva ita b-da kipa, yakuyra kipa makhderriva al-gare, kat … la-dalep gare. kuya vayele.

[gk: In Ṭyare there was something that they used on the roofs, which they call mandurta. Was there such a thing in Urmi?] Yes, that is right. There are some people who put that on the roof. Sometimes when water leaks through the roof they come and put salt on the roof, they scatter dry salt on it. Then they roll something like that on the roof and it compresses it. It compresses it and the water does not flow down. It is like that, a round stone. They scatter salt, then with this stone, heavy stone, they roll on the roof, so the roof does not leak. It is hard.

adi ayen gu-mditada etten. anne khakma batvate kat … et-kamta anne betvate pishena, har-atkha nashe k-odilun adiyya. ita nashe kat-kasebina, letlun. betvate … arzan betvatena. atkha k-odi kha-kha-ga.

Now this is also found in the town. Some old houses that have remained, people do the same thing now. Well, people who are poor do not have it. Their houses are cheap houses. They sometimes do so.

gu-betvatet mata tyavtet beta preshtela. raba gurta darta k-avilun batvatet mata. kha-giba k-avila ambar k-avila. betet tanuyra k-avile. bet … bashalta k-avile. Ptwalet mwaletP le-oya gavay, al-vaddar k-oya. ka-betet kenyane etlun masalan paga. paga k-avilun. beta klitela muggur beta ave. beta akhnan etvalan beta, et-betet babi ana betkharen gu-mata, a-yba betele, ina betet kenyane al-do-giba khinet beteva.

In the houses of the village the living in the house is different. The houses of the village have a very big courtyard. On one side there, it has a storeroom. It has an oven house. It has a cooking house. Toilets and the like are not inside, it is outside. For the house of the cattle they have, for example, a stable. They have a stable. As for the house, it depends what kind of house it is. The house, we had a house, of the family of my father in the village, I remember on this side was the house but the house of the cattle was on the other side of the house.

mula etvalan kat-ani yonja etvale ka-kenyane shule. tama t-odiva beta prisha al-da-yba al-do-yba. ina betet nanunti, nanunti al-do-gibeva. ay betkharun beto. ulluylu tyavteva khutu iva paga. khutu pageva. ita beta shakhina k-aviva, paga chunket kenyane eltekh shakhine k-avi. ullulda kat-betele shakhina k-aviva avun. ina prisha, raba shapira beteva. e-dan paga urkhu kenyane t-ativa u-t-oriva men-tamma gu-darta paltiva pt-aziva kedamta, ina ulluylu raba shapira beteva.

We had a barn, which had clover for the cattle and the like. There they would make a different house on one side and on the other side. The house of my grandmother, my grandmother was on that side. I remember her house. Above was the living area and underneath it was the stable. Underneath it was the stable. So the house was warm, because the cattle below in the stable were warm. Above, which was the house, was warm. But it was different. It was a very beautiful house. When the cattle would come and go on the path from the stable from there, they would go out into the courtyard and go off in the morning, but above it was a very beautiful house.