Welcome back to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday, weekly Sunday hops where writers share 8 sentences from a book or WIP. This week’s snippet comes a few lines after last week’s, when a most exquisite Italian Chanukah feast was being prepared. Enough food was made to last the entire holiday.
A few of my characters were able to recover possessions after the war, and so have chanukiyot to light.
Chanukah during the Yom Kippur War, 1973, Copyright Matanya (Flickr), Source
Once the table was set with chicken, stuffed mushrooms, kugel, fried eggplant, deep-fried artichokes, eggplant salad, and both kinds of latkes, Caterina filled the little bowls of her chanukiyah with olive oil, Eszter set red candles in hers, Jákob set green candles in Rebeka’s chanukiyah, Klaudia set white candles in Lea’s chanukiyah, and Aranka set purple candles in her chanukiyah.
There was melted, hardened wax on Lea and Rebeka’s chanukiyot, a wordless reminder of how their owners had been alive last Chanukah. So much had changed in that one year. Last year at this time, many more of their friends had still been alive too, no matter under which kind of bestial circumstances. A life of suffering was still a life.
Imre disappeared into his room and came back with the orange gift bag. “Would you like to light too, Csicsi?” He smiled at her, his puppy dog eyes soft and warm.
“With what chanukiyah, something you bought me as a present?” Csilla took the bag and pulled out the object that felt like a chanukiyah.
Deep-fried artichoke, Copyright Signor DeFazio, Source Flickr
Welcome to My Magick Theatre 
He’s being very nice to her. Does she realize yet that he’s sweet on her?
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They’re a couple at this point in the story. They became sweethearts in Budapest, and Imre told Csilla he loves her for the first time when they were reunited on the Ponte Vecchio on Imre’s 19th birthday.
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Aww, that’s a really touching scene on many levels. You do a great job of bringing out emotions without hitting readers over the head. Very effective!
Marcia
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Great scene!
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You’ve made me hungry again. That artichoke looks amazing!
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Another wonderful scene that works on several levels at the same time. You’re so good at providing glimpses into the past….
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I’m intrigued by the Budapest setting of your story. Loved reading your excerpt.
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It was so fun researching Budapest, though the Budapest of 1945 was about 80% rubble and not the beautiful Pearl of the Danube it used to be.
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I always love your holiday snippets, and this one evokes so many poignant feelings.
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Lots of emotion in this poignant scene, Carrie-Anne!
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First this snippet made me hungry, then it made me sad. What poignant reminders of the lost…
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It is nice that they are able to keep with tradition and faith after all they have lost. Great snippet!
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Hungry first then saddened. Such emotions, esp. at the end. Very nice.
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Very sweet scene. I like how you bring alive the scene with wonderful imagery to go with it.
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Sweet scene. And such vivid descriptions!
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Intense scene! Good job!
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I’m confused about who is with whom here….I think I know too much and too little at the same time snippets mixing in with crit pieces….
At any rate, I love the different approaches, and the hardened wax with its wordless reminder of sweeter times.
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There are twelve people at this holiday celebration, the ten you’ve already met plus siblings Imre and Júlia Goldmark from Budapest. Imre and Csilla became unlikely sweethearts in late September, and they’re all in a vacation apartment in Florence (financed with money Imre’s mother gave him before he was smuggled out of Hungary). Imre’s mother lived with Eszter’s two oldest sisters and their families in the larger of the two ghettoes in Budapest, and was able to collect some things they left behind which hadn’t been noticed or stolen in their absence. Besides a few religious articles, she also found some pictures, the children’s tin of marbles, oldest sister Rebeka’s fur coat, and the fabric swatches and unfinished quilt the ladies of the family were still working on.
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Very interesting that each person has a different colored wax. Is that a traditional thing, or something this family does? And yes, the food descriptions has made me hungry once more. That artichoke does make my mouth water!
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Each character has a signature color or colors. Csilla’s colors are orange, yellow, and brown, though she uses some other colors every so often so her look will be a bit varied.
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