06/05/2023
Britancima čestitamo, a Camilli hvala što nas je onomad svojom posjetom podsjetila koliko je svaka obitelj posebna. I vrijedna.
Pozvali su nas iz Muzeja Slavonije da im posudimo tanjure za doček engleske kraljevske obitelji.
Imaju oni eksponata ali prerijetki su i prevrijedni.
To je kod nas običaj, draga Camilla: prvo ideš kod susjeda ako ti nešto fali.
Vojvotkinji će biti poslužena juha prilikom posjeta Osijeku. Ne sumnjam da će joj se svidjeti.
Draga Camilla, rekla bih Vam, a nemam priliku, da se iz tog tanjura jedino juha i može jesti. Pileća ili goveđa, s ručno rezanim rezancima, sos i meso, poslije pečeno...
Ono što ne znate, ono što Vam nemam kada reći, jest da u tom tanjuru ima toliko povijesti, baš kao i u obitelji u koju ste se udali.
Znate Camilla, nakon II. svjetskog rata, naše bake i majke vraćale su svoje izgubljeno dostojanstvo i otete posjede kroz posteljinu i ručnike, spremljene u ormarima kćerkama za miraz. I kroz kristalne čaše u vitrinama i servise za ručavanje koje su vadile nedjeljom i kada gosti dođu na slavlje il' žalost.
Nikada ih nisam razumjela. Nisam razumjela ni '92 kada je taj tanjur iz kojeg ćete probati juhu, umotan u novinski papir, kao blago prenošen u izbjegličkom kamionu preko 6 granica.
Pucali su na nas, prijetili životima a moja majka nije htjela otići bez svog servisa za ručavanje i pozlaćenog escajga za 24 osobe. Nisam razumjela.
Do danas. Danas sam se, noseći Vam tanjur moje majke, po prvi put zagledala i shvatila.
Ispred mene je bio prazan tanjur, pun povijesti moje obitelji.
I zato, draga Camilla, hvala Vam.
Najiskrenije želim dobar tek.
They called from Museum of Slavonia today, asking us to lend them plates for Royal Family welcoming ceremony. The museum does have some appropriate exhibits, but those are too rare and too valuable.
It's a custom here, dear Camilla: if you need something, your next door neighbour is where you ask first.
The Duchess will be served soup during her visit to Osijek. I have no doubts that she will enjoy it.
Dear Camilla, I would like to tell you, but I don’t have a chance, that only soup can be eaten from that plate: chicken or veal, with handmade noodles, sauce and meat, and a roast afterwards…
What you don't know, what I don’t have time to tell you, is that this plate treasures so much history, just as the family you married into.
You know, Camilla, after WW2, our grandmothers and mothers were trying to return their lost dignities and stolen properties through linen and towels, kept in wardrobes as dowries for their daughters. And through crystal glasses, sets of dining plates and cutlery that they would only pull out on Sundays and on special occasions- when guests would gather to celebrate something or to mourn.
I never understood them.
I did’t understand in 1992, when that plate, that you are going to taste your soup from, was wrapped into newspapers and carried in across six borders in a refugee truck, like some kind of treasure.
They were shooting at us, threatening our lives, but my mother didn’t want to leave without her dining plates set and gilded cutlery for 24 persons.
I didn’t understand.
Until today. Today, as I was carrying my mother’s plate for you, I realized that things finally made sense to me.
In my hands I was holding an empty plate, full of my family’s history.
I thank you for this, dear Camilla.
And I sincerely wish you bon appétit!