Interview with Elodia de Hoyos Planck
Contributor
Description
Date
Rights
Date Modified
Is Part Of
Extent
Transcription
Broome County Oral History Project
Interview with: Elodia de Hoyos Planck
Interviewed by: Nettie Politylo
Date of interview: 14 August 1978
Nettie: This is Nettie Politylo, interviewer, talking to Elodia de Hoyos Planck of Glenwood Road, Binghamton, NY, on August 14 ,1978. Elodia, will you please tell me about life and experiences in the community?
Elodia: I came to the United States in 1931 with my parents, two brothers and sister and we came to San Antonio, Texas. We lived there three years and then a friend of my father's that lived in Endicott asked him to come here because he thought, that during the Depression, and he thought it would be better for us to be here and we, he sent a taxi, a limousine taxi after us. We started to work, my sister worked as a nurse's aide, I started to work in the cigar factory and my brother worked in the restaurant. My dad worked wherever he could, and of course, he worked for EJ for a while. I met my husband in 1933 and we got married in 1936, and since then I have been living here in Binghamton, for, since 1931. What would you like to, what else would you like to ask me, Nettie?
Nettie: At this point, I would like to ask you, you say you had worked in the cigar factory, what did you do there?
Elodia: I used to be spotter—they used to call them spotters. I used to spot the bad cigars and, then, throw them out and see that they were perfect.
Nettie: How did that procedure go about?
Elodia: They had boxes with trays on them, and each tray consisted of so many cigars, 24 cigars, and then I would see that every one was perfect and then they, of course, would send to different parts of the world, you know, United States and even out of the United States.
Nettie: I mean, what would you do if you saw something wasn't just right?
Elodia: I throw it away—we usually, they would sell them for as not perfect, imperfect.
Nettie: All you would have to do is to spot them if they are good or bad, right? You didn't actually have to fix the cigar?
Elodia: No, no.
Nettie: Just have to spot them.
Elodia: Just to spot them.
Nettie: Where was that located?
Elodia: That was on Emma Street where later on—ah—ah—Ansco took over because the cigar factory—ah—ah went out of business.
Nettie: What was the name of the cigar factory? Do you remember? I asked several people and they just cannot remember the name.
Elodia: I could find out for you from a friend, her father was a foreman there—I can't remember the name of it. I go back and look at my records.
Nettie: Did you work there very long?
Elodia: No, I think I worked there three years and then, of course, when they closed why then I went to work for EJ.
Nettie: I think most people did that, didn't they?
Elodia: Yes, that was a Godsend—EJ was a very good place to work for, at those times. I worked at different jobs—stitching and different jobs. Then let me see—I was going to tell you—I went to school in Endicott—night school for a year and after that I taught myself to read and write. My mother and dad lived in Binghamton, then, of course, when I got married and lived in Binghamton, since then.
Nettie: How many children did you have?
Elodia: I have three children. One is in Ann Arbor and he is an engineer, and then, I have one is in Mexico City who work for—sh—someone some company who is connected with United States they sell hospital things—he's like a market researcher and my youngest son, Ernest, is an engineer—he worked for Ansco. He was laid off and now works for Universal Instrument. He has two children, also and let's see I became involved after—I became involved after my children left home. I became involved with the Ladies Patronesses—Ladies of Charity is an organization that helps the community—especially the First Ward—and we do various things like—ah—we have a store, clothing store, that we help the poor with also we give good to the needy, and we do eye exam—not examinations—but it's the—ah—we go and test the children in schools for eye defects, among other things, that's we do we help—we are associated with Catholic Charities. I was president in 1972 and then I became involved with china painting and I do that as a hobby, also, sometimes I sell it in order to get more china. I enjoy that very much.
Nettie: Elodia, how did you get involved in this china painting?
Elodia: Well—friend of mine asked me if I would like that. There was a teacher in Hillcrest, Mrs. Gregory of Gregory Avenue and she is 87 years old. She is one of the best in the country. I took probably between four and five years with her and she is unable to paint now but she's one of the best.
Nettie: What is the procedure of your china painting? How do you go about this china painting?
Elodia: OK—china painting—I get the green china—it is not the green china—I get the china from the different factories—stores, rather out of town. First, I put my pattern on with a special pencil, then proceed with painting. Some patterns you have to fire them three or four times or more and china is getting very high price now—of course, gold is very expensive, so we are trying not to paint with gold—the way they used to do years ago. It is very intricate work and of course, we like to say that we are porcelain artists not china painters—we are porcelain artists because we do it—on porcelain. I go to seminars, you know, in different places like Syracuse or wherever they are near once a year to see other teachers paint and it is a very lost art which is coming back quite rapidly, which is quite interesting.
Nettie: Elodia, where was this started this art from England—the history about this?
Elodia: Well, as far as I remember it was started in England in 1500s—I think it was (if you could give me a minute I can look it up).
Nettie: No, we do not need to know exactly.
Elodia: All right—what they used to do—they used to be very secretive about it—they didn't want anyone to know about it and they started to do china painting mostly with decal and then they would gold it or paint shadows on it and they they would gold it—and then there was one vase that Louis XV had—even when he died it was worth like $2200 and that has been—since then, of course, there had been lot of painters that have come mostly from England and France, Germany, but we are rapidly becoming one of the first in this business—Americans, we are really going strong on that.
Nettie: Now, when you make your paintings, do you do this free hand or—?
Elodia: I can—most of the times I do—lot of times—sometimes if I want to copy some very old pattern—I can—put some, you know, from that pattern I want. I rather have my own patterns because then it is so much easier than if I am trying to copy it—copying is much harder than doing it yourself.
Nettie: When you do it yourself, it is more you, right, or it is original.
Elodia: Yes, yes—authentic. I am very interested in doing lamps. I'm trying to match old lamps, painting the globes. I have had very good success with making four of them and I find that some of the colors are very hard to copy—there isn't the color as they used to be—because some of those red colors require lot of gold in them so they are very hard to fire—if you fire them to a higher degree than your cone specifies you can have a disaster—they'll melt with even 50° over it—so it is very complicated when it comes to glass.
Nettie: When you are painting—are the paints made out of vegetables? Years ago they did—
Elodia: No, the paints are—isn't that funny I read it when I was studying—it's gotten away from me but they are in powder form—then we have a special oil that we mix it with then we paint with oil and turpentine along. Ah—let me see what I can tell you anything else about it—painting—
Nettie: Is this lady, Mrs. Gregory, originally from England?
Elodia: No, Mrs. Gregory was born here, right on Gregory Ave. They had a farm there—her and husband—and let me see—she started when she was 14 years old and she's 87 years old now—so, she painted up to about two years ago when her heart—she had a heart attack but she still paints. Every once in a while—she still paints and she took lessons from—ah—ah—Mrs.—again I have to look in my notes—anyhow this woman that she took lessons from went to NY and took lessons from Mrs. Provost, her name was, she took lessons from a woman in NY—she stayed a week and it cost her $500—at that time—which was about 65 years ago, something like that. When he came to Binghamton, Mrs. Gregory took two year lessons and she is—she is just an artist—a very gifted person and could draw very good without getting any education. The same teacher had her paint—you know—whole sets of dishes, painted a whole lot of sets—now she put patterns on two of my set of dishes. One is in—the boy in Mexico City has it—he had it—now it’s for 7 er 8 place setting and of course, platters sugar, creamer, etc. He had it appraised and they offered him $8000 in Mexico. He was so proud, he wanted to insure it and but he wanted to know just what it was worth and he insured it—they told they would gladly give him $8000. So I'm very proud of that. I have three sets myself—you know, of course my other son has a set that I did for him.
Nettie: Sounds interesting.
Elodia: It is—and of course it is very relaxing like some people relax with crochet and others with you know, knitting, you know and I relax with china painting.
Nettie: Elodia, since you came from Mexico it is always intriguing to me to ask something about the customs of Mexico.
Elodia: Well, let's see we have three—uh—three kinds of people—elite, middle class and poor. Even today, they still have the same customs and I know some foreigners, some people, think we are cruel because we had maids—but we always take care of the maids—my mother never had less than three maids—of course, at the time when we were there—why they were very cheap to have—like $20 a month plus room and board—but my mother always saw that they were taught to read and write and she always gave them a day off—she clothed them—she made clothes for her whenever she could or bought clothes for her—at those days most of them were done by hand—the sewing and that’s one of the customs—they are much harder to get now because they are going to factories—but the factories are taking advantage of them because knowing they are ignorant—you know—they take advantage of them and really they are much better off being a maid in people's houses. Now, my son has a maid—she made the mistake by having a child out of wedlock but my son built a little room for her with a shower and, you know, shower and bedroom—he takes care of the child—same time she is—maid in his home. So, you know, some of the poor are alleviated that way—now you know, people go to Mexico and they say, "Oh, there is so much poverty,'' but it isn’t true because in a sense this government cannot instruct them or get through to them that they will help them if they need help. They'd rather beg than accept government help. Now in the past 20 years Mexico has progressed in education very well—the universities in Mexico are free—like universities—like the college here like SUNY and Broome—and they are free but naturally they have to still pay room and board but free tuition. Now—there still—especially in the small cities they're still ten years behind United States. Of course, we have imitated you in a lot ways because of course, your ways are better. I find Americans are very willing to help us—to help the Mexican people. One of the things—I admire about the Americans they are not selfish—they are very unselfish and well we have learned a lot from you and I think—I—we have a lot better relationships than we had years ago.
Customs—let's see we still have the elite—still marry with the high class of people—sometimes for convenience, not all time—I think they're changing too—where the girls couldn't go out without a chaperone, now they could go—alone—now and they're no more lenient towards that—but we still have a lot the customs we had before—like we still wear black if someone dies for two or three months according to relative—we are very close families—we always have uncles, aunts, cousins, second cousins, third cousins—we are very close together—we keep track of each other—usually when we have gatherings, we—it’s usually just the family—because it’s so big—because we always say, “oh well, it’s the third cousin—we have got to have him.”
Now let me see—Northern Mexico is very arid—very hot—the middle part which is Mexico City and up to the coast of Acapulco is very lush—then you have Yucatán and Degalt, also very arid—is very hot and lot of poverty—a lot of poverty in that region—they're trying to—you know—make life better for them—well, it takes years and years especially, the Indians, they still live in little huts, you cannot make them change because they think the hut since it is made with palm hedged roofs—why they think it is much cooler and they go through the same thing that their grandfather, their great grandfather taught them to do and they till the land with such primitive tools. You just can't change them—they just don't want to change—some do come to the city, they're miserable when they come to the city—people will say, "Gee, look at those poor things”—they're not poor—they like to be themselves—this is the way they were taught by their parents—they just don't know any other way. If they have enough to eat and a roof over their heads they don't care for anything else.
Nettie: Elodia, tell me something about the social life.
Elodia: Of the government or of the people?
Nettie: The social life of the people.
Elodia: Well we have, of course, the fiestas like you have—like the 4th of July—this comes in which is 16th of September, there. We have fireworks, we have parades, we have almost the same things that you have. Our most important time is Christmas time, of course, Easter time too. They are two special events for us. They are, Christmastime 16th to 24th, we have a custom that we go from—different families get together and we go to Mass at 6 o'clock—we have special ceremonies and then after that we have a late supper—a 12 o'clock supper—like a 12 o’clock supper—that goes on until the 24th and on the 24th we have, of course, have a big feast like we have here. Now we have trees but before we had altars because it was hard to come by. It is very religious time. Even now they have about 80% are Catholics—there is quite a few Protestants now but predominant are Catholics. We have—in the part that I come from they have a little celebration 5th of May—it is the beginning of the crops—and all the Indians or the poor people there's a group of people, just like the Knight of Columbus, they get together, dress like the Indians used to, they have a Mass—in fact my mother donated like a little grotto to the out of town so they could have their feast there—and they still dance all those dances—they are colorful—this is only for the 5th of May and they bring their bread and some of the legumes, some of their crops to be blessed by the priests. All day long they have different dances—they have like a carnival atmosphere—you know, this is very important—they have mariachis which—a mariachi is a fellow—is group of young men or men who play different tunes of Mexico—usually they are primitive dances, you know, primitive dances—primitive music. They still are going on with all that.
Nettie: For social life—
Elodia: We still have dances at home or in halls, always with music. They still have serenades. They still serenade their girlfriend and if they are engaged why they bring three or four musicians and they sing under the window. Then of course, is is the custom the parents ask the young man and the musicians in for chocolate or something like that.
Nettie: It Is romantic! (Laughing).
Elodia: It's romantic—and it's always two or three o'clock in the morning because by then they had two or three drinks and are, of course, feeling gay and romantic and sing to them. Of course, we have the bullfights. Some people think it’s very cruel—but those bulls are trained just for that—they trained them—they bring them from Spain, sometimes—they train them to be very ferocious—a man has to know what he is doing in order to defend himself from the bull—of course, it is customary to kill the bull. The meat is always sent to the prisons which if there is another— (interruption). So anyhow the custom—oh—the meat goes to the jails—which is another thing another disgrace in Mexico—the jails are bad—but in each nation something has to be bad, that is one of the things that are bad in Mexico which has been in the papers lately, you know, how bad they are but I tell you they don't have the vandalism, murders that they have here—because when they say that they—shoot them if they find them in an act of vandalism or act—like abducting somebody—or stealing or killing somebody—they kill them on the spot, they don't have a trial for them—in this way America is very lenient. I'm very sorry, it is a very bad mistake—so, we have very bad conditions in the jails but believe me they think twice before they go to jail. Before, they, you know, commit something like when they started here to rebel, all those student started to rebel in Mexico City—also they wanted to do the same thing they did here. The President said, “OK, if you do that we'll start with cannons we will not fool around—we'll start fighting right away and they did—and they killed a few of the protestors and there never was another demonstration. It isn't that Mexico has a dictatorship—yes, they had quite a few presidents, bad presidents—that is the one of the reasons why we came here—the government was corrupt—my father got into politics—that's another story but they have had a very bad governmentship—how do you say—government and we have had ups and downs, past history revolutions and all that—what is better? To be strict with the people and show we have authority or let people get away with things?
Nettie: That's right.
Elodia: I may be wrong but now the politicians here are not any more corrupt than in other countries—in fact, I think that they are not as corrupted as in other countries. They are doing the best they can—I find that people demand too much from the politicians—they're human beings like we are—sure, they get big salaries but on the other hand look at the risk they—taking—they are our leaders, they should be able to make more money—as they are the leaders—they take a lot responsibility—oh well, so they find this politician that politician took a little money from this or that—well, maybe they don't get enough money to represent the people like the people want to represent them—like, for instance, it takes money to be dressed the way supposed to be dressed, to live in luxurious homes—they have to live in luxurious home—they are the representatives of United States. I do think they should be—the people that have beautiful homes so that other countries will say—well look—all right, I think they should be treated equally in some instances but they also are to be treated with respect because we are the people who elected them so, they should have a certain kind of aura towards them, you know, something like, not that they are better than we are but they do have a better position because that's the way we want them to be—they have to be. Is there anything else?
Nettie: Well, Elodia, I'm always interested in foods and recipes of Mexico.
Elodia: In the first place, the Indians taught us to use the maize—the corn that is the staple in Mexico—they would, the kernel of the corn, they would grind, now, years ago, they used to grind by hand in a stone made for that purpose with, sort like a rolling pin but made of stone. Now, of course they have machines that grind the corn and make into dough—that dough is made into a tortilla, like a pancake, and is cooked like a pancake and from the tortilla we make, we stuff them we call it a taco because, “let's call it a bite to eat"—the tortilla can be cut into 5 or 6 or 8 pieces—could be used as like a piece of bread to eat with a meal. Now the tortilla is very essential in Mexico. The scientists have found out that Mexicans have very good teeth because the corn when is eaten does not leave a residue that is left by bread—so, that is why they think the Mexicans have good teeth.
Now, beside the tortilla, like I said, we have chili which is very hot, we use them in sauces. We don't—the restaurants cook very spicy with very hot peppers but the people don't have that hot stuff—they make a sauce, of course, it is up to each individual to use it—now we have the tacos—tacos are fried, beans are fried, the meat is made into a like a stew—you put in tortilla and you then roll it—you call it a taco—also, we use that for an enchilada. The enchiladas have another procedure—we put them through with a sauce made of chili powder which is not hot—chili is made with dry peppers for that purpose and then sometime we use it as they are but it's ground to the powder—the tortillas pass through the sauce and then you put the fried onions with cheese, roll them and bake in the oven 10 minutes—you call them enchiladas. The tamales are a very long—intricate procedure—it takes a long time, it’s not complicated but takes a long time. The tamale is made into ah—right—the meat is cooked with garlic and spices and ground and then the dough is made with meat juice—broth—soup. You make it into a stiff dough and then you make it into a corn husk and then put your meat in the middle, roll it, and then you cook it—probably for one half hour because the meat has been cooked already. The masa, which is the dough, is cooked in about 20 minutes—which is called the tamale because it is cooked in the cornhusk—and it is a tradition which comes from years and years. We eat very little pastry. They do now, in Mexico City, you find the most famous bakeries in the world—they use a lot of pastries, but only at night. The Mexicans have a very good breakfast which consists of sausage, eggs, sometimes pork chops and even steak. Then the meal, main meal, between 2 and 3, they have a big meal first comes the soup, then comes rice—we fry our rice—then comes the meat, it’s either made into roasted charcoal or in the oven. After the meat comes the vegetable or the salad and we very seldom have pies or cakes—we have fruit piece for dessert, it’s plentiful there. This is 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock now at night when people come to visit you it is usually between 4 and 6 and the custom is to serve chocolate and little bit hojarasca—which is a cookie made very rich—that's what we offer them, you know, between 4-6—now the supper which we call dinner here is very light usually is a sweet roll and hot chocolate or milk or coffee—it is always 8-9 o'clock—a very light meal, of course, they have their meal at noon. That's it. The spices we use are entirely different than the Italian or Americans use. We use cilantro—which is cardamom seeds—no—I can't think of the name in English—we have cumin seeds—we use in rice or meats—we use a lot of almonds to cook with our meats which is cooked into a paste, thickened like meatballs or like in stew. The chili con carne which is so popular is not done as it is done here—probably it is Americanized. The way I was brought up I was cutting tiny little pieces of pork or beef, we fry that then of course, we cook the pinto beans which is cooked ahead of time and then when the meat is done we put the pinto beans along with chili powder, garlic & onions and then we simmer for a long time and that is our chili con carne, which is a little different than they make here. It's good here too, but I mean, but it has been changed some, but that was the original chili con carne. We use pork in our tamales—when we make our tamales—or we make like you would call a stew with green peppers and sauce of green peppers entirely—for pies and cakes there are few recipes, we use flan, quite a bit, which is like a custard only is a little bit sweeter, it’s almost like a custard, we have it at night, sometimes, when we do that.
We also make, here we go again, buñuelos—it's a very thin like a pancake—put one over our knees—put on knees—proceed to pull—until it becomes very, very thin—and we fry that out—sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. This is the custom that we usually make them at Christmas because the weather is hot—now Christmas it is cooler so we make them that time of year so we call them buñuelos. What else could I tell you about Christmas? We take a roast beef—you know—you say, “what am I going to do with a roast beef?”—so you make it into a loaf, hash, or meat patties. Our meat patties or croquettes as you call it, we use them different, we take the leftover meat, grind it—then put into—eggs with peaks—beaten egg whites with a tiny bit of flour—then we fry and using leftovers we make a sauce with tomato, garlic and onion—put sauce on top of croquettes—(meat patties leftovers with)—we always have—most of our meals are with rice, meat and beans—even on the hottest day we have soup. The soup consists of a bone with meat, throw in whole carrots, a half cabbage, cut into quarters, pear, apple, tomato and onion. We don't use garlic on soup—soup of the day—sometime—we have corn soup and cream soups—but this is our popular one.
Nettie: Elodia, this sounds interesting—sounds like a cookbook. Is there anything else you want to add to this?
Elodia: No, unless you want to go into custom dress—
Nettie: That would be interesting to know.
Elodia: I'm, all right, making too many ahs—I've got to make my thoughts together. We, every state in Mexico has different custom—costume. The custom of the whole country, whole republic, is embroidered blouse which is white, very pretty embroidery—skirt is made of green—because the flag is green, white and red and we have an eagle in the middle of our flag—usually custom of the whole country—colors are exactly like the flag on we painted by hand or embroidered by beads and very colorful—as I say, each state has their own costume—towards the Yucatán Peninsula—they have entirely different like a muumuu—not too white—like a muumuu embroidered on top, then they have a skirt embroidered with white and then they have another with lace and that is the custom of Indians—they usually, even now, they dress all the time. Now—toward the Tampico—Veracruz—which is another port is near the Gulf—they have all white made of very tiny plants—and is in layers—one after another. We have folklorico—a group of dancers—dance of every state—it's different—when it comes to New York, if anyone hears about it should see it—it's beautiful, colorful being handed down from generation to generation—it's authentic—from the primitive stage to now.
The poor people of Indian people still have a custom to put their shawl around their shoulder and then cross it and they carry babies on their back. Now I can see the Americans with their carriages on their back—carriers, almost like that—child sleeps and is comfortable because next to mommy or when carried in her stomach when they're tiny—that's only the poor people. Naturally, rich people have maids to carry babies like that in a carriage. Now we are clothes conscious—now we might not have a beautiful furniture or the house elegantly furnished—but we are careful how we dress, for instance, like in the afternoon when we go to the plaza which is a circle, its middle made of concrete. The middle of plaza there is a band concert—always a band—since we have hot days, at night we go and listen—government pays for that. Gee, I have been getting away from everything, Nettie—I have told you so much and yet I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to—my mind goes from one thing to another thing.
Nettie: You told me quite a few things. I understand you belong to a charity—sounds quite interesting.
Elodia: Patroness Ladies of Charity that is a group of ladies of charity that—uh—is an association of charity of ladies of the United States. It was formed in 1960 and became one of the 43 countries in the world to have its own association. We—the Patronesses are devoted to do good for the community—right here in Binghamton. We have a store on the corner of Jeanette and Clinton St. Anybody in need of clothing can come with a letter or note from either their priest, minister or social worker. Even though we are Catholics we serve everyone that comes or anyone that come and says, "Look, I am in need of clothing," or, "I'm in need of groceries—because either my husband is sick or is not working,” and we try to help all we can. We have—we also sell clothes and other articles—with the money that we acquire from sale we put back in to buy shoes for the needy children as they start school. Sometimes, we help people in need that have no money—we help them for one week or so until they can go to their own church or social services or go to Catholic Charities to be helped. We have done this quite often—we have a Sister Genevieve who works with us—she is tremendous help—she goes to houses when she finds out they are in need of something—sometimes we pay the electric bill so the electricity is not turned off—or the gas bill or other necessities or we buy their drugs because, maybe they haven't gone through Medicare and like that for them.
Nettie: I say you have an interesting project that you are in. What was the name of the store?
Elodia: Patroness Lady of Charity, Nearly New Shop, Clinton Street, 797-2033. If you have no way to come down, sometimes we can delegate someone to come after you and you can pick out clothes you need. They, also, take you home—it has to be—people who can't get there—we try not to emphasize this because so many people have a cousin, nephew or a niece who can bring them down. Now we have certain hours—we close Saturday in the summer. Other days, Tuesday and Thursday 10-3 o'clock. Now if by some reason or other you have to have clothing, as I say, you can call the shop and we'll send someone after you and we'll get you there, somehow.
Nettie: That's wonderful work you're doing for the people. Well, Elodia, I must say that was a wonderful interview. Thank you very much.
Elodia: You're very welcome.
Streaming Audio
Date of Interview
Interviewer
Interviewee
Duration
Date of Digitization
Collection
Subject LCSH
Rights Statement
Files
