Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

SPECULAAS

Date Range From

1940

Date Range To

1950

Materials

WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

2

Length

38.7

Width

5.8

Description

RECTANGULAR UNFINISHED WOOD PRESS. ONE FACE HAS FIVE ASSORTED IMAGES CARVED INTO SURFACE, INCLUDING WINDMILL, MUFFIN(?), TWO FIGURES, AND TWO UNIDENTIFIED SHAPES.

Subjects

FOOD PROCESSING T&E

Historical Association

DOMESTIC

History

USED FOR MAKING SPECULAAS COOKIES, TRADITIONAL DUTCH TREATS ON ST. NICHOLAS DAY EVERY 5TH OF DECEMBER. COOKIE FORM BELONGED TO DONOR'S MOTHER AND FATHER-IN-LAW, DIRKJE & THEUNIS (DOROTHY & TONY) ELZINGA, WHO CAME TO CANADA IN 1948. TONY WORKED AT ADVANCE LUMBER (CURRENT LOCATION OF EARL'S RESTAURANT) FOR 25 YEARS, RETIRING AS YARD FOREMAN. BOTH WERE ACTIVE IN THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AND IN THE DUTCH COMMUNITY. PRESS USED BY DONOR'S MOTHER IN LAW UNTIL 1997. *UPDATE* IN 2018, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED AN AUDIT OF ACCESSORIES, INCLUDING A BOX DONATED BY BERNICE ELDON. ON 2 MARCH 2018, PUNDYK INTERVIEWED THE DONOR’S HUSBAND, HARRY ELDON, ABOUT THE DONATION MADE BY HIS LATE WIFE. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION HAS BEEN EXTRACTED FROM THAT INTERVIEW: ELDON REMEMBERED THE COOKIE CUTTER FROM HIS CHILDHOOD. HE SAID: “IT’S A COOKIE CUTTER WITH DIFFERENT SIZES ON THERE, AND IT WAS MAINLY USED FOR BAKING, YOU KNOW. WE BROUGHT THAT WITH US [FROM HOLLAND], AS WELL. [THEY COOKIES WERE CALLED]… SPECULAAS, YES. THAT WAS THE NOVEL THING WITH ALL OF THE COOKIES. THEY WERE DIFFERENT COOKIES THAT WERE MADE IN THOSE FORMS, YOU KNOW.” “[MY MOTHER] WOULD MAKE THEM ONCE IN A WHILE…THEY CALL THEM SPECIAL DUTCH COOKIES BECAUSE, BUT YOU CAN MAKE THEM WITH ANYTHING, I THINK,” HE CONTINUED, “SHE BROUGHT SOME RECIPES WITH HER, I THINK, BUT, IN THE TIME THAT SHE WAS HERE, SHE LIVED TO BE 89, AND SHE WAS 35 WHEN SHE MOVED – NO, 33. I DON’T KNOW. SHE WAS BORN IN 1912, AND WE MOVED IN 1948, SO SHE WAS IN HER 30’S, AND SO SHE GOT PIECES OF THINGS THAT PEOPLE MADE HERE, BECAUSE IF YOU WANTED A CAKE, YOU ORDERED IT FROM THE BAKER…” SPEAKING ABOUT THE COOKIES CONNECTION TO ST. NICHOLAS DAY – AS STATED IN THE INITIAL RECORD – ELDON SAID, “OH, SURE, BECAUSE ST. NICHOLAS DAY WAS ON DECEMBER THE 5TH, AND IT WASN’T ON DECEMBER 25TH, AS YOU HAVE SINTERKLAAS COMING HERE ON THE 25TH. SO, IT WAS TWO SEPARATE DEALS, AND I CAN REMEMBER SANTA CLAUS COMING. I WAS RELATIVELY SMALL THEN – MAYBE 6 OR 7 YEARS OLD – AND HE CAME WITH HIS PRESENTS IN A BAG, AND YOU COULD SEE WHAT WAS IN THE BAG, SO HE WOULD GIVE YOU ONE, BUT IT WASN’T WRAPPED. IT WAS PLAIN IN THE BAG, NOTHING WRAPPED, AND THEN HE WOULD LEAVE. HE CAME WITH BLACK PETE AND SANTA CLAUS. THEY CAME TOGETHER… I THINK THE SANTA CLAUS MAY HAVE BEEN ONE OF MY AUNTS. I DON’T KNOW, BUT, YES, I RECALL SANTA CLAUS BRINGING THAT STUFF FOR ME, AND, OF COURSE, EVERYTHING ELSE FOR MY MOTHER, MY SISTER. THIS WAS IN ’40 OR ’41, BECAUSE AFTER THAT, I DON’T THINK WE WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BUY THAT STUFF [AFTER THAT].” HE EXPLAINED THAT ST. NICHOLAS WAS CELEBRATED IN HOLLAND. HE ELABORATED, “I DON’T THINK ANYONE ELSE CELEBRATES IT ON THE SAME DAY, NOT THAT I AM AWARE OF. BUT IT … MAKES A BIG IMPACT ON ALL THE CHILDREN. [AND IN HOLLAND] SANTA CLAUS DOESN’T COME ON CHRISTMAS. ONLY ONE DAY. IT’S CHANGED NOW. I THINK MOST PEOPLE CELEBRATE SANTA CLAUS ON CHRISTMAS… BUT THE BIG THING USED TO BE SINTERKLAAS ON CHRISTMAS.” ELDON RECALLED CHRISTMAS AFTER IMMIGRATING TO CANADA: “WELL, YES, WE HAD A DUTCH CHRISTMAS, YES, BUT I CAN’T REMEMBER. WE MOVED, I THINK, BEFORE CHRISTMAS… I DON’T THINK WE HAD A TREE. WE WERE TOO POOR… DAD HAD SOME MONEY LEFT IN HOLLAND, AND IN 1950, HE BOUGHT A NEW AUSTIN, FOR $1500-$1600, AND, WHEN MY UNCLES CAME OVER [THEY] BROUGHT A TYPEWRITER FOR ME, A FOURTH TYPEWRITER, AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE BROUGHT FOR MY SISTERS, BUT HE WAS ABLE TO BUY THIS STUFF OVER THERE, AND BRING IT. BUT, AT THE TIME HE CAME, WE HAD ALREADY MOVED OUT OF THE HOUSE EAST OF THE AIRWAY GROCERY STORE, AND MOVED ON TO THE HOUSE ON 1318 6TH AVENUE…” IN THAT INTERVIEW, ELDON RECALLED HIS FAMILY’S SETTLEMENT IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA, “[WE WENT] TO COALDALE FIRST [IN 1948]… [FOR] FOUR TO FIVE MONTHS… AND THAT WAS A MISTAKE. AND THEN WE WENT TO LETHBRIDGE. AND THEY STAYED HERE, AND DIDN’T GO BACK TO HOLLAND BECAUSE MOM DIDN’T HAVE… THE PROBLEMS THAT SHE HAD IN HOLLAND...” “IN HOLLAND, MY FATHER NEVER WORKED FOR A MAN,” ELDON EXPLAINED, “HE WAS A SALESMAN… [HE] HAD HIS OWN STORE... BUT IN 1940, WE MOVED BECAUSE THE WAR WAS STARTING, AND HE WOULDN’T STAY IN THE PLACE THAT HE WAS… I DON’T KNOW WHY WE MOVED, BUT [WE] MOVED TO FRIESLAND… [WHICH IS] A PROVINCE IN HOLLAND THAT IS ON THE NORTHERN EDGE, MAYBE 40-50 MILES FROM GERMANY. AND HE MOVED THERE TO BE CLOSER TO HIS PARENTS AND SIBLINGS. SO, THEN WE LIVED THERE FOR SEVEN TO EIGHT YEARS, UNTIL THE WAR WAS FINISHED, AND THEN WE DECIDED TO MOVE TO CANADA. BUT THAT WAS A BIT OF A MISTAKE AS WELL, BECAUSE [SOME OF] THE NEIGHBORS WERE MOVING, AND THEY SAID, ‘TONY’ – THAT’S MY DAD. HE WAS TINUS… IN HOLLAND, BUT THEY CALLED HIM TONY HERE – SO THEY SAID, ‘TINUS, WHY DON’T YOU MOVE AS WELL?’ AND [HE SAID], ‘HUH, I’LL TRY IT.’ AND, HE DID. WELL, IT WAS A DIFFERENT LIFE OUT HERE THAN IT WAS THERE FOR THEM… BECAUSE IT WAS EASY FOR THEM TO MAKE A LIVING [IN HOLLAND], AND IT WAS DIFFICULT FOR [THEM] HERE… BUT THEY ADJUSTED TO IT.” “AND, IN LETHBRIDGE, A JOB WAS PROVIDED FOR [MY DAD] AT THE ADVANCE LUMBER COMPANY… [THEY] LIVED AT 1318 6TH AVENUE SOUTH, AND THAT’S WHERE WE GREW UP. I WENT TO THE HIGH SCHOOL THAT IS NOT FAR [THERE]… WE COULD WALK IN 6-7 MINUTES. AND, THAT WAS IT… I HAVE ONE BROTHER, [AUKE], WHO IS 5 YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME; AND A SISTER, [MARY], WHO IS A YEAR OLDER THAN ME.” ALL OF THE ELZINGA CHILDREN WERE BORN IN HOLLAND BEFORE THE FAMILY’S IMMIGRATION. ELDON SAYS, “I WAS BORN IN ’35… [WHEN WE WERE MOVING] IT SOUNDED EXCITING TO SEE WHAT IT WAS GOING TO BE LIKE... AND [WHEN] WE MOVED… AS FAR AS WE WERE CONCERNED AS KIDS, IT WAS FINE…” “I WAS 12 WHEN I LEFT HOLLAND,” ELDON SAYS, “I HAD MY 13TH BIRTHDAY IN COALDALE. BUT, I’VE BEEN BACK TO HOLLAND QUITE A FEW TIMES BECAUSE OF MY BUSINESS, AND I HAVE GONE BACK AS WELL TO VISIT SOME COUSINS, AND WHAT-HAVE-YOU, THAT I KNOW THERE…” WHEN THE FAMILY FIRST MOVED TO CANADA, ELDON SAID, “WE BROUGHT ALL SORTS OF FURNITURE… A LOT OF STUFF THAT WE DIDN’T NEED BUT, ANYHOW, WE BROUGHT IT, AND USED IT… WE HAD THREE BIG CASES… [WHICH ARRIVED] A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER, AND THEY WERE DELIVERED TO OUR HOUSE, AND WE HAD TO UNPACK IT, AND SHOVE IT WHERE IT HAD TO GO.” ELDON EXPLAINED, “MY MOTHER’S NAME AND MY FATHER’S NAME WAS ‘ELZINGA’, AND I CHANGED MINE, WHEN I WAS CLOSE TO GETTING MY DEGREE, AS CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT, TO ‘ELDON’, BECAUSE I DIDN’T THINK I WOULD GO THROUGH THE – WELL, THEY USED TO CALL US NAMES – AND SO I THOUGHT I WAS STARTING UP MY OWN ACCOUNTANCY, AND I DIDN’T THINK THE NAME ‘ELZINGA’ SOUNDED ALL THAT FAMILIAR. THAT’S A LONG TIME AGO.” A LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLE STATES THEUNIS AND DIRJKE GAVE THEIR APPLICATIONS FOR CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP TO THE LETHBRIDGE DISTRICT COURT ON 2 FEBRUARY 1954. ACCORDING TO HIS OBITUARY IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD, THEUNIS (TONY) ELZINGA PASSED AWAY IN LETHBRIDGE AT THE AGE OF 73 YEARS ON 12 OCTOBER 1983. THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD PUBLISHED A THANK YOU FROM THE FAMILY FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF DOROTHY ELZINGA ON 10 OCTOBER 2000. THE DONOR, BERNICE ELDON (NEE LANCASTER), PASSED AWAY ON 6 NOVEMBER 2006. PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION.

Catalogue Number

P19980071001

Acquisition Date

1999-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail