A sprinkle on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But in our little village of Anatevka, you might say-

Oh wait, Papa is supposed to say that.

Silly me! I forgot; Papa is supposed to tell you all about our village, and metaphors involving musical instruments, and keeping our balance, and all of that. But how about I tell you about it from my perspective? I mean, why not learn about the old traditions of a Russian village from the point of view of a 12 year old?

Ahem.

So, let's see here… metaphor… scratching out a simply tune… oh, right! You might be wondering how we keep our balance in this little village of ours! Well, that I can tell you in one word… (which I will then repeat six times to make sure you understand the importance of that word) Tradition!

"TRADITION, TRADITION! … TRADITION! TRADITION, TRADITION! … TRADITION!"

Did you hear that? Did you hear those people sing? (singing the song of Jewish men. It is the music of a people who will sing that word again!)

Good. I thought I was going crazy! You see, that is something you will learn about our village. People seem to break out into song every now and then; it is quite strange. But it's a tradition, I suppose! And because of these songs – I mean, traditions – everyone knows who he is and what God expects them to do.

Oh, look! Here comes my Papa!

"Who, day and night, must scramble for a living? Feed a wife and children? Say his daily prayers? And who has the right, as master of the house, to have the final word at home?"

See, I don't know how they do it! A bunch of fathers from around the village just all knew what to sing in unison. However, they gave a pretty good description of my Papa, and all the other fathers in this village. My Papa's name is Tevye, and he is a milkman. He works very hard to support all of us, and still manages to keep a humorous and lively attitude! I admire my Papa very much.

Though I'm not sure how much my Mama admires him… Here comes Mama with some of her friends now!

"Who must know the way to make a proper home, a quiet home, a kosher home? Who must raise a family and run the home, so Papa's free to read the Holy Book?"

That's my Mama! While Papa is working hard delivering milk, Mama is working hard at home. She cleans until everything is spotless, and she makes sure that my sisters and I are nice, well behaved girls.

Let's see, who is next in the descriptions… Ah! The sons!

"At three I started Hebrew school; at ten I learned a trade. I hear they picked a bride for me, I hope she's pretty!"

Ah, the sons. Sometimes, I think that Mama and Papa wished they had sons instead of five daughters… anyways. See that one? He is the Rabbi's son. Don't tell anyone I told you this, but I think my sister Hodel wants to be picked as his match!

Oh, that's right; I haven't told you about my sisters and I! Here; some of the other village daughters and I will tell you what it is like to be a daughter in this village.

"And who does Mama teach to mend and tend and fix? Preparing me to marry whoever Papa picks?"

Like I said earlier, Mama spends her time teaching us how to be good wives in the future by making sure we can clean, and cook, and all of that important traditional stuff. I think Mama's greatest aspiration in life is to marry each of her daughters off to nice men. Sometimes I wonder if there is a nice man out there, waiting to be matched with me… but then I remember that I'm the second youngest of five daughters, and that my older sisters have to be matched first!

Right, right; it's about time I told you about my sisters. My oldest sister is named Tzeitel. She can be quite like Mama in that she does what she is supposed to do, but she can be sassy and silly, too. Tzeitel has this friend, Motel, who she hangs out with a lot. Sometimes my other sisters and I will tease her, saying that Motel and she should get matched up together! That's when she will blush and go into older sister mode, telling us to get back to our chores. I think Tzeitel will make a lovely bride one day… hopefully, someday soon! :)

My second oldest sister is named Hodel. She can be kind of quiet, but when she does speak, she is witty and makes me giggle! She looks out for her little sisters and never fails to make us smile. I've always looked up to Hodel for being so positive.

Then there is Chava. She is the dreamer of the family! Chava is only a few years older than I am, so we are rather close. We talk about everything; specifically about possible matches, and about what she reads in her books. She always has her nose stuck in a book; she really is a funny girl, that Chava!

Next in the line of sisters is me, Shprintze! I like my name, because it means "hope" in Yiddish. However, no one ever seems to pronounce it correctly! Oh well. There isn't much to learn about me; all I really do is obey my parents and play with my sisters.

My younger sister is named Bielke. Chava and I might be close, but Bielke and I do everything together! After all, we are only a year or so apart. Bielke and I have lots of fun playing all sorts of games – that is, when we aren't doing our chores.

There you have it! Those are my sisters.

Now, who else am I supposed to tell you about… oh! How could I forget? Yente, the matchmaker!

There she is over there, talking to a man named Avram about a match for his son. Yente is a very important part of our community. Without her, we wouldn't have anyone to decide who should be married with whom!

Oh, and there's that beggar, Nahum. I kind of feel bad for him, but then again, most of us in Anatevka are poor.

Look! The rabbi! He is probably the most important man in our whole village. Everyone is getting all quiet to hear what his son is asking him…

"Rabbi, is there a proper blessing for the Tsar?"

The rabbi doesn't even hesitate! "A blessing for the Tsar? Of course. May God bless and keep the tsar… far away from us!"

We have quite the humorous rabbi!

There are a few other authority figures in this village, though. His Honor the Priest is one that we particularly don't bother. Also, there is His Honor the Constable. He may not be Jewish, but my Papa is somewhat friends with him.

Even though there are some who are not Jewish in our village, everyone seems to get along rather well. Eeek, maybe not right now though! Two men are causing a ruckus, arguing that one man sold the other a mule when he said it was a horse.

"It was a horse."

"It was a mule!"

"It was a HORSE!"

"IT WAS A MULE!"

Oh dear, now everyone is fighting! Surely it must have been a horse. Why would someone trick the other like that?

"HORSE!"

"MULE!"

"HORSE!"

"MULE!"

And here we go again with the breaking into song thing:

"TRADITION, TRADITION… TRADITION!"

Good, now everyone seems to be leaving.

"Come on, Sprinkles! Let's go get those logs for Mama."

Well, Bielke and I are going to go skip offstage – I mean, back home – now. Thanks for listening! Hopefully this gave you a good idea of what tradition is all about. I still am a little shaky sometimes as to knowing what tradition is all about… You could say my belief in tradition can get as shaky as…

As a sprinkle on the roof!