My great-great-grandparents descended from Catalonia, Spain and were Jewish. They were forced to change their Jewish last names to a modern last name in order to avoid prosecution in the 1900s. The next generation were my great grandparents who were also from Spain. They lived during the Franco Era in which an anti-Hasidic dictator ruled the area in which they lived. They needed to consider the extreme precautions and keep the new last name in order to not be caught as a Jew. After the second generation came about the third generation in the family began in which my grandparents, Tadeusz and Vicenta, decided to keep the last name and move to the United States. 

The making of the shawl is passed through every generation as a tradition of crocheting with thin lace to make a complicated and detailed shawl. The shawl displayed in the picture is over a hundred years old for it is now extremely delicate and fragile. Even though it would take up to a year to make it, the shawl is used for the lighting of the Shabbat candles, a day of rest in the Jewish religion.

– SJT

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant