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We'd find larger, dry branches, and carve it from those. We'd write Hebrew letters on the four sides, each one of which had some sort of meaning. Then the trenderli was spun, and the letter that came up would indicate the winnings.
There was gimel (ג), which stood for the Yiddish word ganz, meaning player takes all. Hei (ה), in Yiddsh halb, meaning half. Nun (נ), stood for non, nothing, and Yod (י), I don't even know anymore what that one was.
Most of the time we'd play for St. John's bread. St. John's bread is the sap of a tree. After drying it makes these hard, brown beans, which are then picked. Mainly we children ate it, because it was sweet. At Purim it was even ground for cakes. We played mainly for these beans and some five heller pieces.
There was gimel (ג), which stood for the Yiddish word ganz, meaning player takes all. Hei (ה), in Yiddsh halb, meaning half. Nun (נ), stood for non, nothing, and Yod (י), I don't even know anymore what that one was.
Most of the time we'd play for St. John's bread. St. John's bread is the sap of a tree. After drying it makes these hard, brown beans, which are then picked. Mainly we children ate it, because it was sweet. At Purim it was even ground for cakes. We played mainly for these beans and some five heller pieces.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Singer Alexander