If you were in eastern Canada around Thanksgiving Day of 1954, you’ll remember Hurricane Hazel. Hurricane Hazel killed at least 400 people in Haiti and caused 95 fatalities in the U.S. It struck Canada as an extratropical storm, raising the death toll by 81 people, mostly in Toronto when it slammed into the city on October 15. It left 1,868 families homeless in Ontario.
In the weeks prior to Hazel, Toronto had received eight inches of rain. Toronto’s infrastructure also took a major hit, with as much as 50 bridges being washed out by the rising waters.
Farmers of that era might remember the International Plowing Match that was held in Waterloo County near Kitchener, Ont. The 1954 Plowing Match, a farm exhibit show, was drenched by rain on its first two days, and on Oct. 15 it was struck by the full force of the hurricane. More than 100 tents were destroyed in the tent city.
I thought of Hurricane Hazel the other day when I leafed through an old Dutch Bible in a book shelf in our basement rec room. It was published in 1941 and was a wedding gift to my parents when they married in 1944. It’s in remarkable good condition except for the bindings, which have been taped over a few times. Between the thick black covers are 1,355 pages of Dutch words.
As a youngster I grew up listening to scripture and psalms that were read in the Dutch language – in home and in church. My sisters and I couldn’t always understand all the Dutch words (such as opperzangmeester and menschenkinderen) however, I’m sure we had a general idea what the words meant.
Dutch words have a beautiful ring to them. There are so many Dutch words that can’t be translated into English, and if you do find similar meaning words, they are not the same. Take the word gezellig. It’s a word that you can’t really translate to English. You’re having family or friends over for dinner. The house is neat and clean and the food, coffee and refreshments smell so good. People are having a wonderful time chatting away. You’d say that’s gezellig. Translating that to cozy, snug, chummy or pleasant evening just doesn’t cut it.
Canadians are familiar with the words Oma and Opa. Maybe gezellig could be added to their Dutch vocabulary …that is if they can pronounce the “ge”.
The large Bible has also been a place where many important letters from Dutch relatives (uncles, aunts and grandparents) were safely stored during our early immigrant years. Perhaps the letters served as bookmarks for certain memorable passages. There are 10 such letters still tucked in the Bible and they are all dated from the 1950s and early 1960s.
Our family immigrated in September of 1953. In one letter of December of 1954, my grandfather from Ermelo (Holland) wrote that he had read about Hurricane Hazel in the Dutch papers.
There are three cream cheque receipts in the old Bible that are perhaps a reminder of what dairy farming was like during those early immigrant years. One cheque statement of June 15, 1956, shows that my father received $57.13 for cream he shipped to the local creamery for the first two weeks of June.
Back then, nearly every farmer shipped cream. In 1951 there were 244 creameries in Ontario with 60,272 cream producers.
Days were sunny and warm at the International Plowing Match held in Wellington County at Minto from September 20 to 24 this year. No rainy or stormy weather.
We have a lot to be thankful for as we celebrate Thanksgiving Day this coming Monday. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
