My Weekend Back in Time

According to modern science, time travel (as fiction portrays it) is technically impossible. That doesn't stop history buffs like me from secretly wishing and dreaming that it were possible, from planning where I would go and who I would meet.

This last weekend (the 17th and the 19th) I got the chance to do some of the things I always secretly wished and dreamed for. I got to visit the late 18th century and brush elbows with both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. And I got to go to the late 19th/early 20th century Lower East Side and take in some of the immigrant cultures of the area. And it was really fun!

And I brought my Polaroid!

Okay, okay, I didn't literally go back in time. Hamilton Grange had an event on Saturday called "the Feuding Founding Fathers" and invited reenactors from the American Historical Theatre to come debate the issue of a national banking system as Jefferson and Hamilton. And on Sunday, the Museum at Eldridge Street, one of my particular favourites, held their yearly "Egg Creams, Egg Rolls, and Empanadas" Festival - a celebration of immigrant cultures in that area of the Lower East Side, particularly Jewish, Chinese, and Puerto Rican culture.


The 18th Century

 
I had come prepared both to work my ass off and to meet my hero, in my Alexander Hamilton socks I bought at the Strand last December. (Okay I'd secretly hoped the representative from Eastern National who stocks our gift shop would be there and see them so we could start selling them, but alas she was not there that day.) Imagine my surprise when I heard a voice behind me disparigingly sniff:

"Interesting choice in stockings, madam."

Yes, it turns out I met Jefferson first, and as much as the real T. Jeffs is one of my least favourite historical characters, I can't deny that this guy was charismatic. I apologised for my choice in socks (though I certainly wasn't very sorry) and he went on to tell me that as a member of the Hamilton family (which I must have been as I was at the Grange, you see) he would expect me to support Hamilton and cannot fault me for doing so. And this is, of course, where my logic brain and my fangirl brain had a falling out. My logic brain kept telling me "they're modern actors, they're modern actors." My fangirl brain, on the other hand, was internally squealing that "JEFFERSON THINKS I'M PART OF HAMILTON'S FAMILY!!!"

Hamilton did finally arrive (and I was delighted to find that he was appropriately shorter than the very tall Jefferson) and welcomed the assembled audience to his home. Over the course of the day, the men actually held two debates. The topic was the same each time - the debates were both on whether or not it was constitutional for Hamilton to found a national bank. The difference was that the intended audience for the first debate was children, and the second was aimed more at adults.

Now historically, we know Hamilton won and got his national bank, and that even Jefferson as president could not undo it. But both men were very well-spoken during the debate and argued their points well, albeit in different styles very fitting to what I know about these historical figures. Jefferson spoke as an academic, carefully and coolly measuring out his words. Hamilton was a bit more fiery, at times more rambly, and unable to resist a few digs. Such as this gem:

Jefferson: "The pen is, after all, mightier than the sword."

Hamilton: *stealing the quill from Jefferson's hands with a tiny smirk* "That depends on who's holding it."

I'd say the event went well, and though I've met two other Hamilton reenactors before, I must say so far this one (Eben Kuhns) is my favourite so far. Steve Edenbo was the first Jefferson reenactor I've ever met and is honestly the standard I will hold all other T. Jeffs I meet to. He even looks like T. Jeffs. Here's his facebook page.

The 19th Century

The world of the immigrants who came through Ellis Island and settled in the Lower East Side was an entirely different world than that of Hamilton and Jefferson, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the festival. The museum/synagogue describes it as an annual celebration of the cultures that have called this area home for the last century. It was a Chinese-Jewish festival for years and recently expanded to be inclusive of Puerto Rican communities that now have begun moving into the area.

I showed up and took my seat in the gorgeous old synagogue (built in 1887) just in time to hear Cantor Eric Freeman demonstrate the music that a good cantor is known for - interspersed with short explanations of Jewish history and culture, and what a cantor would have done for and meant to the Jewish community back with it was the LES's biggest demographic group. If you're wondering why his back is to the audience in the photo, it's because traditionally the cantor faces east along with the congregation, and sings toward Jerusalem. I'm glad he did it, both to demonstrate a beautiful Jewish tradition and to show off the amazing acoustics in the historic building. I admit that even though it was hot and humid, there were moments when the music gave me chills.

The whole day was like this. Despite the heat, it was undeniably joyous. Sarah later joined me and even she, who hates heat more than I do, was having a blast despite the temperature. Fascinating and inclusive and welcoming, this exchange of three very different cultures really gave me a taste of what it must have been like for those tenement dwellers a century ago. I could just imagine a Jewish immigrant from Russia stepping out of synagogue and skipping down Canal street to Chinatown, an entirely different world only a few blocks away. I made sure to drink in a little bit of every culture represented - after all, isn't that what America represented to these hopeful immigrants? Isn't that what America is supposed to be all about?

There were art demonstrations galore, all free to explore. Sarah and I each got phrases written for us by the Hebrew and Chinese calligraphers. (In Hebrew, I got my Hebrew name and she got the phrase "my love"; in Chinese, I got the phrase "my sun and stars" and she got her name transliterated into Chinese characters.)

We listened to klezmer and bomba and Chinese orchestral music, we watched demonstrations of Jewish and Puerto Rican paper cutting, we helped small children of all cultures decorate yarmulkes, and we were sure to sample the food available. We each had multiple egg creams, and baklava that was being sold by the Greek Jewish synagogue. I had an egg roll and she had an empanada.

A demonstration of Chinese tea ceremony

There were also demonstrations you could take part in, which of course I did as much as possible, wanting badly to step into the shoes of those who came a century before me. The Chinese tea ceremony, for example. I knew nothing about this ritual of tastes and smells and swirling the tea in one cup before pouring it into another before sampling it slowly and taking in the tastes and aromas. But it was beautiful, even moreso when I remembered that this has been done for centuries, far longer than the Chinese community has been in New York. I'm honoured to have taken part in it.

I also got to try my hand at folding Chinese dumplings (the woman told me I did well for my first try) and braiding Challah (the man let me take the braided dough home, Sarah and I baked it and ate it later).

I adored this festival. I adored that it found common ground between these three cultures' experiences while still celebrating what made each one unique. I'm so glad I went.

All in all, I don't expect to have many weekends like this in the future, but I will seize the opportunity to do so when I can. If "time traveling" is always this fun, expect me to do so more often!
-Nym