COLUMN: Carillon Flashback July 26, 1957 – Kleefeld sisters organize “Schwesterkraenzchen”

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This article was published 01/09/2024 (323 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Co-operative movements of one kind or another have gathered popularity in recent years, but the daughters and daughters-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. H.D. Fast of Kleefeld have taken the old idea of neighbours helping neighbours, to a new level by organizing a Schwesterkraenzchen.

The German name of their co-operative means “Sisters Circle” and works the same way as the old-fashhioned threshing bee where everyone in the neighborhood went to help with the threshing until all the grain in the district had been harvested. Instead of threshing, the Fast sisters make quilts or drapes or join efforts on any of the special tasks facing a housewife from time to time.

Once each month the eight daughters and daughters-in-law of the H.D. Fasts converge on the home of one of their number. Then, things really begin to fly. Brooms, mops, and sewing machine all go into action in a concerted effort to make short work of the mountainous pile of work that usually confronts them. They will paint or paper a room, weed the garden, or do any other thing that needs doing.

It has been said the Fast girls were born with a darning needle in one hand and a rolling pin in the other. Housework comes easy to them and it’s just natural, like swimming to a duck or barking to a dog.

Every new sister-in-law to join the Fast family soon gets the hang of things and comes to enjoy the co-operative method of getting things done.

Of course, the Fast girls are said to do a little chatting while they work and freely admit they enjoy this part of the Schwesterkraenzchen as much as the working end of it. Some of the women live in Kleefeld, some in Steinbach and two in Winnipeg.

But these co-operative sisters do more than talk as evidenced by what they did earlier this month for the wedding or their youngest sister. Eleanor was married July 6 to Alvin Neustaedter and in one afternoon the sisters’ circle baked eight batches of cookies, sewed two pairs of pyjamas, made two children’s shirts, one dress and darned a dozen pairs of socks and created two dozen buttonholes.

Elsie is the senior seamstress in the group and when she’s around, needles fly. While most everyone will agree it is impossible to whip up a dress in a day, Elsie does it in an afternoon. The friendly chatter of the other girls seems to help her work faster, she says.

For Elsie, the monthly session with her sisters is only a small fragment of a busy life, which includes four children of her own, boarding two school teachers, and being very active in church and community work as well.

People who attended the fashion show in Steinbach last fall will remember the fine work done by the Kleefeld group.

Besides Elsie, who is Mrs. Jacob Kliewer, the group of seven sisters includes Della (Mrs. Alvin Fast), Freda (Mrs. Clarence Fast), Anne (Mrs. Arnold Fast), Marion (Mrs. Henry Friesen), Bernice (Mrs. Leonard Bartel), and Eleanor (Mrs. Alvin Neustaedter). Then of course there is the senior member of the group, Mrs. H.D. Fast, who wouldn’t miss one of these get-togethers for anything.

The day’s housework draws to a close about 6 p.m. when husbands and children start coming in for supper. This takes on the form of a sort of family reunion, inspired by the competitive spirit of cook striving to outdo cook. When the monthly session is in Steinbach, husbands say it is worth the trip from Winnipeg or Kleefeld, just for the supper.

But every member of the Fast Schwesterkraenzchen say it is also worth the effort to get all that work done and each one of them looks forward to the month when it is their turn to play hostess.