Our ancestors –past Diviners– worked hard and a lot. They received very little from their work and were happy with that, considering themselves lucky. At times, on the contrary, a person who had a more wealthy life remained constantly dissatisfied and considered himself miserable.

The life of the peasants in those years was simple, primitive. For example, for a long time peasants used silicon or flint strikers for the production of fire at home or at work in the field.

The Diviner people – peasants were religious people, of deep faith. They had a deep respect for the church and its rituals, religious holidays. Fasts were adhered to strictly and faithfully: the Peter fast was in the summer, the Savior’s fast was observed in the month of August, the Philip fast was 6 weeks before Christmas, and Lent, was 7 weeks before Easter. In addition, people fasted weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays. During such fasts and days, it was not allowed to eat meat, milk and eggs. The main permitted food was bread, potatoes, cabbage soup, cabbage with mushrooms and fish. As well, different soups, such as barley and millet soup with beans, peas or vegetable oil. The fast was observed by all, starting with children from the age of seven, and ending with old people. Milk and eggs, if they were kept by a family, were used only by younger children (until the school age), decrepit old people and sick people.

Our people, in light of their illiteracy, were not without prejudices, superstitions, which accompanied them from the cradle for the entirety of life. Not aware of many natural phenomena and other life occurrences, they were not able to understand what is what [or how things worked]. That is why they attributed many things in life to supernatural forces. In such cases, in addition to praying to God, they also turned to various traditional healers. They believed that with their help, they would be able to drive away impending disaster or prior calamity from themselves and their families.

In some stale minds, it has been preserved even to this day.

Peasant homes in Divin were four-walled, with one common room, with small windows. A large Russian stove was situated in one of the corners of the great room. Next to it, or with a small gap from it was a Dutch-oven. These ovens contained chimneys {39} (old ones, without chimneys, existed, but were very rare). Behind the stove, typically, arranged were bunks for resting. Similarly, along all of the walls, extensive benches that spanned the entire length of the wall were attached. In such dwellings lived large families of ten people or more. Such are the Diviner homes preserved in my memory from childhood.

In the fall and winter, Diviners illuminated their homes in the evening with splinters. Some of the more wealthy had used kerosene for lighting. However, they did not use a lamp, but rather a kerosene wick, which burned without a glass. All the necessary peasant work that was performed in the house was down at such a low light. Peasants spun yarn, wove canvas and cloth, sewed different clothing by hand, wove rope and made bast shoes.

Kerosene lamps were used only in Jewish homes. Much later, they began to also be used by peasants that were a little wealthier. But they only did this on the occasion of some celebration or for some other valid reason. This was done to save costs and out of poverty.

Our people could not earn a penny anywhere for their necessary needs, because in our area there were no kinds of factories or businesses.

Our peasant farms were in a deplorable condition. Because of poverty, peasants treasured every breadcrumb. People treated bread with great reverence, believing that the miraculous power of human life is hidden inside of it. When a piece of bread dropped from the table, our peasant would pick it up raise it with the sign of the cross, kiss it and place it back on the table or eat it. Bread was considered holy, as a God's gift to man.

During haymaking and harvest, grain collection, a man could find daily work, which was paid for in pennies. But during harsh times, each farmer worked from dawn until sunset on their plots. He tried to harvest his meager harvest quickly, safely and in a timely way.

Thus, many of our farmers started to emigrate overseas in search of work and a better share [of life], for instance: USA, Canada, Argentina and Brazil. Many continue to live there as permanent residents. They have taken the citizenship of these countries, their mannerisms and customs.

In our town there were close to ten windmills. But they could only be used by those people who were a little richer. All of the rest of the population (they were the majority) ground grain by hand, using a millstone.

Our town was the center of Divin district and the district government, led by the district mayor and the district clerk. Here, district trials were conducted in which the judges were elected from among the peasants, illiterate judges. It was a rare occurrence that the district mayor could write his last name correctly. All of the district’s office work was led by the district clerk. Therefore, the decision of many cases depended on his abilities, and more importantly, on his conscience.

The population of our Divin, in its number, was divided into three communities:

{40}
• The 1st community consisted of the entire Jewish population;
• The 2nd community, the entire population of the Ratnenskoy, Brest, and Kobryn streets;
• The 3rd community, the entire population of the Povitskoy street and all of her adjacent courtyards.

In the structure of the Diviner district entered the following populated locations:

Lipovo-Or, the villages of Kletische, Osa and Borisovka. In every populated village there was always a mayor. The village mayor was elected from among the residents of each community, village and town. The village mayors obeyed the district government. Besides this, there was also a local police, which consisted of a police official who had at his command a sergeant and four police officers.

Prior to 1911, in Divin there was only a three-grade public school with one teacher. Only boys were participants of this school. From 1911, in Divin, a five-grade school was opened, and from 1913 a seven-grade one.

Divin had an office that held the postal agency. In the same place there was also a state insurance bank under the direction of one person, manager A. Turtsevich.

On Ratnenskoy Street a good district hospital was built. It had three separate buildings. In each of these patients from the residents of the three townships were seen. Admission of patients was daily with the exception of holidays. The hospital also dispensed drugs for home use. In this hospital, when necessary, inpatient treatment was conducted. All this was done for free. The hospital staff consisted of one paramedic and his assistant. The hospital kept one cook and two nurses. They were also the ones that performed all of the necessary laundry.

On April 25, 1911 in the afternoon in Divin a big fire sparked on Ratnenskoy Street. The fire occurred because of children's misbehavior. In one of the neighboring yards, children started a bonfire. This fire spread to all four streets and destroyed more than one third of all of the buildings in Divin. The aforementioned school and all of the hospital buildings burned to the ground. The center of the town was burned down completely. In this timeless disaster, not only homes were burned down, but people were also harmed. Two people burned to death. The fire was aided by a strong, gusty wind that created pockets of fire in several places at once. Thus a solid sea of fire was formed, one which was difficult to stop.