<Begin Segment 16>

RP: And what would you do for celebrating Christmas? Do you remember...

MH: Yes.

RP: ...those holidays in camp?

MH: Yes. Holidays in camp... Christmas especially, we made a lot out of it, okay. We would decorate our mess hall. They would even have contests to see who had the best decorated Christmas mess hall. And I don't know where we got all the stuff but we, we did. And Block 32 happened to have some very talented people. And we always had, those two years that I was there, we had just the nicest decorations. And then we would have a time where we shared gifts and we'd have a Santa Claus. Somebody in our block would act as a Santa Claus and he would give us our gifts. And I found out the gifts were from the churches outside of camp. The churches in the camp gathered them for us and then they brought, brought them... and I don't know who picked them up for each of the blocks. So, all the children received a gift of some kind and usually it was a puzzle or cut out dolls or jacks or pickup sticks, that kind of stuff which were popular during that time. So, and then we'd always have a talent show, okay, along with it. And the Japanese men, they loved to act. They used to call 'em shibais and they would do their act and oh, I'm telling you, they were hilarious. I mean it was like, like they were always having a shibai about somebody who was drunk. I don't know why I remember that.

RP: Just kind of like a little short skit or...

MH: Yes. Little stories, right. So it was, it was really a fun time for all of us. And I, and I think for the older people especially because, you know, they didn't have a lot of chores to do anymore, so they were able to devote their times to doing that kind of things. And the women especially with sewing crafts. Learning English was a big thing. Classes in embroidery, classes in knitting, all those things were offered for them. And I remember one of the ladies in our block taught us how to knit and crochet, yes. And I can see, still see those slippers that we crocheted.

RP: Interesting.

MH: Uh-huh.

RP: Did you do sweaters too?

MH: Yes. I never knitted a sweater but there was a lot of crafts of that kind. And some people still have them. So those are really great artifacts, objects to have. If the moth hadn't eaten them by now. But there were some people in Portland who did have some and we did loan to the legacy center to show. They did a lot of crafts with shells and that kind of thing too and lots of carvings. I mean, I was surprised at the number of carvings that they did.

RP: I've seen pictures of a lot of sagebrush carved and displayed...

MH: Yes.

RP: ...in different patterns and things.

MH: But, actually it was a special type of sagebrush. They called it greasewood. And they would go way out and, and pick them and they just made beautiful things with them. Some of it ornamental but some of them really useful things. So, it's fun to see them again, especially canes, a lot of canes, right.

RP: Did you collect anything while you were in camp? Any shells or rocks?

MH: I didn't. No, uh-uh. I really did not. I don't think I was into that kind of thing. I wish I were, when I think about it.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.