In the time of Polish rule, life for our peasants was very difficult. Economically, we did not fare well. When our people returned home, their first priority was to try to acquire some animal power. Everyone bought whatever their monetary means allowed. Some people bought a horse, some people bought a cow. This was necessary to process their land.

Very often the monetary means were not sufficently adequate. In such cases, several neighbors would pool their resources together and buy something, which they would share in processing their plots of land. It wasn’t always that a horse was used for this purpose. Very often, a cow or bull would be used.

At the same time, it was necessary to build themselves a house and additional structures for farm use. After the whirlpool of the war, many structures were fully or partially destroyed. A great difficulty was obtaining construction {53} materials. Even harder was transporting the materials to the site, not having the adequate financial means.

Peasants had little land. The land in our region is sandy. It requires fertilizer, which was not available. This is why harvests were scarce. There was another serious problem with the land. The size of the peasants’ plots of land was already too small to support our people. The population grew with every year, but the amount of land did not change. Families’ plots of land were divided between adult heirs. In this way the land was subdivided into small plots.

The size of the land plots was very important to the peasants. It would determine their lives and income. Life was difficult. But this taught our people to live frugally and without complaint to endure misery. The people lived frugally, laboring honestly and heavily. But they did not grumble, did not complain, but were satisfied with that which they had.

This high morality and purity were inherent only to a simple and hardworking people, which had always lived under the rule of oppressors.

It was in these unhappy conditions that our peasants lived. But life continued and it was necessary to find paths to solutions of difficult, but life-depending problems.

In the household it was necessary to have different to have agricultural inventories and many household items. The prices of all of these things were very high. For instance, a wagon with iron wheels cost 100 – 120 złoty, a plow, 15 złoty; an axe, 3 – 5 złoty; a bucket, 1.5 złoty; 1 kg of salt, 0.18 złoty; 1 kg of cubed sugar, 1.1 złoty; 1 kg of granulated sugar,1.0 złoty; 1 liter of kerosene for lamps, 0.36 złoty; 0.5 liter bottle of vodka, 2.1 złoty; box of matches, 0.1 złoty; a 50 gram pack of smoking tobacco, 0.60 złoty.

Many costs were unaffordable for the poor peasant. Smoking people, for instance, found it very difficult. Few people had enough money to buy themselves a whole pack of tobacco. This is why people came together in twos, threes, fours, and bought one pack for everyone.

The circumstances with matches were not much better. To be economical, for instance, many people would split a match into two. Some were even able to chop a match into four. You could acquire a homemade lighter, not a patented one, but for the use of such a lighter, a penalty of 2 złoty was charged. The lighter would also be confiscated immediately, on sight. People who were discovered with tobacco plants, the so-called self-grown tobacco, were punished just as severely. These people were called to court and were levied a penalty in the amount of 5 złoty for each stalk of tobacco.

For the procurement of fire, some people used an old, grandfatherly technique: a flint and sponge; this was permitted.

All of our Diviners dressed alike, in clothes of their own homespun production. This applied to all of the clothing: undergarment whites and outerwear, as well as warm winter clothes, all handmade by themselves. Summer and winter footwear was one and the same: bast shoes. Later on, winter bast shoes began appearing. We called them gumovtsi. They were created from old automobile tires. A pair of these gumovtsi-bast shoes cost 1.5 – 2 złoty. {54} For our people, there were constraints to everything. It was not permitted to gather brushwood, berries, or mushrooms in the forest. For this one had to buy a permit from the forestry service. Some people did this without permits. These people, if caught, found themselves in court. They were sued and fined.

In Divin there were already various craftsmen. Among them were shoemakers. One pair of heeled boots cost 35 – 40 złoty; a pair of men’s or women’s boots, 15 złoty; shoes, 10-12 złoty.

In the final days before the war (1939), our youth began to dress better than before. People began to acquire formal clothing and shoes, heeled and flat boots, shirts, suits, factory-made fall and winter coats. Different type of clothing was bought, according to people’s income and familial circumstances.

Many of our Diviners had relatives in America, who had left to go there to make a living. They received help from them in the form of money. This helped people overcome their hardships.

In this time, under Polish rule, many things were very expensive. For instance, a foot-operated sewing machine cost enormous sums, 600 – 700 złoty. Only the very rich person could acquire one. A bicycle cost 100-120 złoty. This was a luxury item and not accessible for the average peasant, who could barely make ends meet.

In that time Divin had 50 – 80 households, which had enough of their own bread to last the year. In addition, they could sell part of their grain. They could all acquire additional money to assist in the necessities on the farm, in the home, as well as technical equipment. The rest of the households were forced to buy bread. There were even those households whose harvests would only last them until the New Year. After all, part of the grain collected by peasants was used to sow winter crops.

All of our peasants labored from dawn until dawn on their plots, as they say, until their seventh sweat.

The Polish authorities’ system of measuring the weight of grain used kilograms and hundredweights. However, our people, by their old methods, counted grain during sales using the pood measure (one pood is equal to 16.4 kilograms). This is why the costs of various grains are indicated here in poods. One pood of rye cost – 2 złoty, barley – 2 złoty, oats – 2-2.5 złoty, buckwheat – 3-4 złoty, flaxseed – 5-6 złoty.

A cow cost from 100 to 300 złoty depending on her weight and condition. A horse cost approximately the same as a cow. Sheep cost from 10-15 złoty each. Here the price depended on fatness and weight.

Every owner was required without fail to sell part of his household livestock. He needed money for unavoidable household expenses and the payment of dues. He did not have another source of income. Therefore, many of our young residents, aged 20-30 years, left the country in search of better paying work in foreign regions; North and South America, Canada. {55} In the years 1926 – 1930, the Polish authorities began to pressure the people of non-Catholic religions. In accordance to this, they tried to replace orthodox services and rituals with Greco-Catholic traditions. In short, they wanted to install Catholicism by any means as they had tried at the close of the XVI century with our people.

But the Belarusian people, and among them our Diviners, stood their ground in defense of their dogmas and the customs of their faith and defended their rights with dignity.

On the other hand, after this, our peasants began to face the next, new hardship of life. People of Orthodox religion were not hired to work in any establishments. This type of person could not even hold the post of a guard in a commune or school, because they weren’t roman-catholic.

More and more of our people began to talk to each other about the land of the Soviets. About how a new life was created there, where everyone was equal and there were neither rich people nor poor people. More frequently people said the name V.I. Lenin. However, all of this was said through whispers, they were afraid to talk about this out loud. People nervously checked their surroundings to make sure no traitors, informers to the gentry, were nearby.

Diviners were a simple and mostly uneducated people. But in the culture of the people, politeness and respect for elders was prevalent in the people at all times. People greeted each other without fail, be it amongst men or women. Every person greeted a passer-by with a “Good Day!” Very often, in greeting someone, people would say “Thank God”, and answer to this “Thank God Forever”. These were the ancient norms in our region, and parents and grandparents passed this down to the younger generation. This is how the people lived, these were their practices. And if a person passed by someone who was working, he would say “God’s Help To You”, to which the other would respond “Our Help to God”, “Thanks”, in other words, they thanked the greetings. These greetings amongst the elderly, our older people, have been preserved until this day.

Amongst our people, olden songs have been preserved. These songs are often sad and somber. Our people sang about their perpetually sour and difficult lives. They considered themselves bullied and oppressed, working from dawn to dawn, everyone from young children to grey elders.

Therefore, in our Diviners there developed a feeling of patriotism and solidarity with their brothers in blood and customs, those living to the east of us. They knew and remembered the times when, not once and not twice, they stood shoulder to shoulder, with {56} weapons in arm, together encountering various hardships and misery, defending the independence of their Homeland. These memories were dear to them because, in defending the Homeland, they took part when the time called for it.