Wash day in Skopska Crna Gora; women use wooden tubs and beat the wash against the rocks of the stream. There is also a cauldron for boiling the wash. This is a cooperative effort of the women helped by the young girls. Field notes read: "Last Wednesday the 26th of May (1954) we spent a day in the field visiting two types of villages in the surroundings of Skopje. The region we went to was Skopska Crna Gora or Skopje's "Black Mountain," a very mountainous area in the hills about 30 kilometers to the East of the city. The village we visited, Ljubanci, is high in the range with a mountain stream running through it. When we pulled up on a mule path, probably never before trespassed by car, the women were washing clothes in the stream with copper cauldrons of hot water heating on open fires on the stream bank. This seemed pretty advanced for what we were told was a very backward area, so we were surprised when we visited the inside of the homes."
All rights for this image are held by Joel M. Halpern. Requests to publish, redistribute, or replicate this material should be addressed to Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
Contact host institution for more information.
