Planning a Ukrainian Love Match?

yolkstar.com

No matter who you marry, where and how, wedded partnerships are best forged out of respect, embrace and understanding.  Western wedding traditions are featured everywhere in the media, but how to enhance a partnership ritual with someone of Ukrainian heritage? 

Ukrainian rituals are often ancient, so the symbols, art, clothing, music and ceremony are recognizable, and can contribute to create an extravagantly beautiful marriage memory.  Everything from the courtship, betrothal, preparations, ritual foods, ceremony, wedding feast, the songs and dances, the incantations, and the layers of visual arts focus on the moral and ethnic ideals of Ukrainian people, and their views on the creation of a new family.  Relationships through the ebb and flow of time, shape history. 

A plethora of Ukrainian songs are about courtship.  A ritual exists for each of the betrothal events - which ambitious diasporan Ukrainians typically try to cram into an evening or a weekend!  They start with activities such as Ivana Kupala - which is the eve of  St. John the Baptist day in June/July (closely tied with the summer solstice). Girls weave magical and enchanting wreaths of flowers gathered from the field and forest, carrying the wreaths into the flowing waters of a river.  Releasing the enchanted wreath into the water will entice the correct young man.  Their joyful leaping over the bonfire together starts a cascade of wedding planning.  More ritual songs involve praise for the family, the father, mother, siblings and of course, often humorous ceremonies indicative of their approval or disapproval of the match-making. 

Many ritual and betrothal songs are commonly part of the Ukrainain spring song collections of haiivky, and vesnianky. They are familiar and well loved, often sung and celebrated at summer camp activities everywhere in the Ukrainian diaspora. The Ukrainian Culture Club of Northern California celebrated this way!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLH6Gmfg4tA (maybe you'll recognize Calgarian Ihor Bohdan - Esteemed Artist of Ukraine, and former headliner of Halychany on the video.) Well, someone has this right - a cultural heritage camp for kids and adults!

Bridal garments are a ritual of nostalgia, the stuff of princesses and fairy tales.  While brides may be bombarded by the wedding industry, traditional wreaths, colors and fragrances of flowers can make for a brilliantly unique and beautiful bride.  For an exceptionally beautiful bridal wreath check out Temna Fialka at http://www.temnafialka.com/#!krov

An ancient type of bread known as korovai takes the place of a wedding cake in a Ukrainian wedding. Large, rounded and braided, the korovai is decorated with symbols such as love birds or pinecones (whose fertility depends on the heat of a fire), flower, nuts, herbs or coins. Talented korovainytsi traditionally prepare the korovai in the bride's home while singing ritual songs.  The korovai comes to church dressed up in a periwinkle (barvinok) wreath, then to the reception hall as their food of celebration together, and shared with guests.  Of course, today you can purchase a korovai online at http://www.nazdorovya.com/korovai.htm.

Underlying all of it, these deeply loved Ukrainian traditions carry a sense of the eternal, a spirituality of family which spans history, and enriches the contemprary faith circle, church or temple marriage.  Include one of the Ukrainian traditions, include all of them to celebrate and honor an endearing Ukrainian love match! 

 

 

 

Be a Willow

ukraine.ui.ua

Не я б'ю, верба б'є,
Віднині за тиждень
Буде Великдень.
Будь великий, як верба,
А здоровий, як вода,
А багатий, як земля!

The Ukrainian folk calendar is opulently layered with sophisticated, elegant expressions of insight. Encountering the coded messages over the course of a long life gives one ample opportunity to plumb their depths, to meditate upon their ancient meaning.  What were the ancients trying to tell us?  And why? 

Ukrainian prehistory is a deep well of experience, but the wise ones say that "in the fulfillment of time", Ukrainians encountered Christ. Prepared by the ancients to see the cycle of life through nature, logic linked the season of spring to the Christian Easter message. It is a time of renewal, on so many levels.

Signs of hope are everywhere, the snow is melting, the days are longer, the smell of sap begins to run in the trees - these are nature's messages. Palm Sunday, or Pussy Willow Sunday before Christian Easter is an expression of the joyous Entrance of Christ in Jerusalem, festivity ensues! Happy times, cheering, waving of palm leaves (willow branches) - it is good news!

The traditional Ukrainian folk greeting on this day is cheerful, hopeful and happy! The classy simplicity of the words are simply a veil of mystical poetry over a momentous message. Really, prepare for the Day is coming!

Ritual petitions, incantations richly layered with symbolism, carry messages of hope, faith, wisdom and often wry humour in the face of the human condition. All of nature can act like a mirror to the human condition, the cycle of life is everywhere. 

Grow tall like a willow, as healthy as the water, and as rich as the earth!

Grow tall like a willow - doesn't that say something about being tall in character? Isn't the pussy willow the first flower of spring? Isn't the pussy willow the most hopeful blossom in nature? Doesn't the willow extend its reach further, and bend the most willingly? Isn't it the first food for eager bees seeking their first nectar? What does the first nectar of spring taste like to the bees?

Be as healthy as the water - doesn't that sound like a gushing wellspring from which thirsty travellers could benefit? Are we not made mostly of water? Is the gushing wellspring of health nurturing our healthy journey? Clean, pure, healthy water?

Be as rich as the earth - fed by the sun and the rain, bear a plentiful crop, harvest it in the course of a good life, be fruitful and multiply, lead a bountiful existance, prepare for the Day!


 

Shaping Community with the Pysanka







amk2012

Having Ukrainian cultural elements in my life, it is easy to take for granted what others consider absolutely beautiful. Embroideries, ceramics, weavings, but this season is the time for the Ukrainian Easter Egg - the pysanka.



Recently got an invitation to teach pysanky to the children at the community school nearby. Now that Ukraine is a focus in the Alberta Social Studies in both Grades 3 and 5, it is not only an extra to "do Ukrainian things", it is a curricular expectation. But it is assumed that everyone teaching has an expertise in every aspect.....could one conceivably have expertise in everything? Mindful to focus on the curricular expectations, I am glad to accept the invitation.



http://aroundnewyorkin80worlds.wordpress.com/author/emilyparkey/

What an opportunity to shape the minds, hearts and sensibilities of a new generation! I started by telling them when my blonde, blue eyed ancestors came to Canada, and why. A little lesson on the map opens opportunities to so much discussion, about Europe, about neighbors, about the land and its chernozem fertility, the people and the culture, and of course, the economic opportunities or deficits.

Then to tell them about Ukraine's ancestral forests and steppes, rivers and Black sea, the bees, the honey, the beeswax - using every gift nature provides. Followed by terms like "non-text features" - the symbols that convey meaning over time, space, and language. Then expressing the belief that every person's culture has beauty, and reminding the children they have yet to discover their ancestral tree - perhaps a tidbid about geneology. After all, every generous contribution to Canada and her future actually shapes and molds what will come!

There are a large variety of videos online to explain the process of pysanka writing, but I found the children really wanted the basic traditional designs first. But to begin the learning, I teach. The raw egg is life, a seed bearing a life in a shell that breathes. Inscribing onto the shell creates a talisman of good wishes for the future. Their first pysanka will be the traditional 8 pointed star rosette, or sun-god with its rays of yellow, orange and red, blue/green rain drops, decorated with the red curled horns of plenty (plenty of food, prosperity and wealth), all on the black background of eternity. Precious, the pysanka will live, fulfill its mandate in the world, and eventually dry to dust, its shell will return to the earth that brought it life.

Father Paul     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzVicHadJfc

Gentleman - brief comment about the sun god  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6NFtX8XNUY

How to make a Beginner Pysanka (short and concise   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YqkKrbkqf8

A volunteer who generously shares the gifts of their time, treasure and above all their unique talents, is always a welcome guest it seems. Note to self - tell them about the Pysanka in Vegreville, Alberta and remind them that one in 5 Albertans has some Ukrainian ancestry! Maybe they are Ukrainian too!
http://www.vegrevillechamber.com/pysankastory.htm

For more online material about pysanka writing, follow the links at http://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/high/Sue-Pysanky.htm

Sadochok Open House

Calgary is home to a wonderful Ukrainian preschool program! St. Vladimir's Sadochok has grown so positively over its 25 year existence! The program is again making strides in service and excellence in child care programming.

 
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 from 7 to 8:30 they are hosting a visit for fans and newcomers to feature changes that are making Sadochok one of the most sought after preschool programs in the city of Calgary. Sadochok is welcoming ongoing registrations, too.  

Sadochok is located just across the Bow River from Calgary's city core. With excellent parking, open air playground, gym and sunshine filled classrooms, this is a program for native speakers of Ukrainian, and those seeking an embracing introduction to the culture and traditions. They also have an innovative manner of addressing a variety of schedule needs.

For more information check
 http://www.ukrainianpreschool.ca

Living Culture - Ukrainian Style

Learning the language and culture of your ancestral heritage is a precious gift to open! Canada provides top notch public school education, and fabulous Ukrainian Bilingual Programs in many of the large cities, places like Edmonton, Vegreville, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Dauphin and Toronto. The students who are fortunate enough to participate often become polyglots - fluent in many languages - and not only in the languages of their familial ancestry. Elsewhere things are perhaps a bit more complicated.

Fortunately for "elsewhere", there are great opportunities opening up for summer studies in Ukraine. Take for example this L'viv Summer Course offered by the University of Alberta. They are announcing the twelfth annual travel study course hosted by the University of Alberta's Ukrainian Language and Literature Program  in L'viv, Ukraine to take place from May 17th to June 14, 2013.

Ukrainian Through Its Living Culture is an opportunity to explore the culture and local flavour of the Ukrainian world, while practicing your language skills in a living experience. If you are interested in what could be the most memorable experience of your life, you will find L'viv Ukraine is a beautiful city. The program itself is full of educational value, not only the academic kind, but learning from an immersion in the culture and daily life of this vibrant Western Ukrainian city.

A recent CNN article calls L'viv "Little Paris of Ukraine." That sounds like high praise to me, so it's a wonder that so many waves of Ukrainian immigration to Canada eminated from L'viv and area - there clearly must be layers of the story we don't necessarily know about in the western world.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/12/travel/lviv-ukraine-culture-capital/index.html

To make things even more interesting, I have discovered that there is financial support for potential candidates of this program too. Makes it a very worthwhile little detour from the daily grind, eh!

For more information, see the course site at

http://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/ukraina/study_in_ukraine/ukrainian_through_its_liv/

or contact the instructors yourself at

Dr. Alla Nedashkivska, Associate Professor
Undergraduate Academic Advisor: Ukrainian
Chair, MLCS Curriculum Committee

Modern Languages and Cultural Studies
University of Alberta, 200 Arts Building
Edmonton, AB T6G 2E6
TEL [general office] (780) 492-4926
FAX 492-9106

The Dishes of Ukrainian Christmas Eve Supper

Young and old enjoy the special Ukrainian Christmas traditions on the Canadian prairies.  Probably the most universally loved celebratory moments comes with the end of the lenten fast, and the family joining for the Ukrainian Christmas eve supper - Sviata Vecherya by the old calendar.
Andrew Boykow of the University of Calgary Ukrainian Student's Society explains the traditions of Ukrainian Christmas Eve celebrations, honoring his mother Eileen's culinary preparations. Here is a  great clip from CityTV's Breakfast Television, aired January 4, 2013.
Greeting everyone enjoying the Ukrainian Christmas meal - Andrew says Veselikh Sviat!  Happy Holidays!
http://video.citytv.com/video/detail/2073012736001.000000/ukranian-christmas--jan-4th/

Ukrainian Christmas on World FM

Remember listening to the Ukrainian programs in the evening as a child?  Radio shows from Camrose, Edmonton, and a variety of locales took advantage of the crisp clear winter weather for great long distance radio reception - it was great to listen, to sing along, to hear that everyone was enjoying the season.  It was a way of connecting to the entire Ukrainian diaspora it seemed to me.  Everybody was listening from the farms, from the town, cities, in the vehicles - wonderful!

Thanks to www.worldfm.ca you can listen where ever you may be!  Ukrainian Christmas on World FM has great holiday programming this year.  Make sure to send this contact information to all your family and friends! And PRINT A COPY FOR THE GRANDPARENTS! You can also hear in the Edmonton area on 101.7 FM!

UKRAINIAN CHRISTMAS RADIO SPECIALS (all times MT)

101.7 World FM

Monday, January 7, 2013

· 4:00-4:30 pm Christmas music & greetings

· 4:30-5:00 pm Father Kenneth Kearns Bilingual School

· 5:00-5:30 pm Dnipro Choir

· 5:30-6:00 pm Ukrainian Youth Unity (CYM, Liga ukraintsiv, Liga ukrainok, etc.)

· 6:00-6:30 pm St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Parish

· 6:30-7:00 pm St. John’s Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral

· 7:00-8:00 pm Xmas Liturgical Highlights, St. John’s Cathedral

Friday, January 18, 2013

· 6:00-6:30 pm Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization

· 6:30-7:00 pm Dnipro Choir

NEW FEATURE, JUST IN TIME FOR DRIVING HOME FROM MIDNIGHT MASS OR CELEBRATING WITH FRIENDS

Their overnight, commercial-free World Music montage will feature songs for Julian Christmas:

· 12 Midnight Jan. 6 to 5:00 am Jan. 7, and

· 12 Midnight Jan. 7 to 5:00 am Jan. 8

Ukrainian carols, holiday songs, etc. interspersed with a few Greek and Serbian festive favourites.

Thanks to Roman Brytan  - Program Director - 101.7 World FM

www.worldfm.ca   10212 Jasper Avenue Edmonton Alberta Canada T2J 5A3

780-863-2040 cell; 780-401-1601 office direct

Culture Shift

amk2012
The embroidered paths of Ukrainian ancestors,
and little chicks ready for liftoff.
The korovai bread for a Ukrainian wedding.  

Calgary's vibrant and active Ukrainian cultural community is awesome. Unless you are out there, you may not have noticed the full calendar of events coming out each season!  Ukrainian Calgary promotes everything that makes our community awesome, from old to new and everything in between. We’re like the human interest piece on the news… only different.

Ukrainian Calgary is dedicated to everything that makes it that way. But except for a handful of people whose service is remunerated, all the community building work in Calgary is volunteer! Only a handful of people are "professional Ukrainians", bravely building careers out of sheer passion for the task! Volunteers are the amazing lifeblood of our community. 

But lack of funding is why a lot of creative aspirations end for many artists. They come up with an amazing idea and are forced to let it die due to the expense needed to make it happen. Luckily for Calgary artists, Ukrainian Calgary is going to poke a few of our generous fundraising groups - an initiative that could breathe life into these new amazing ideas through funding. 

Investing in our grass roots artists could start a whole new cycle of activity here. To give you an example, over the years Tryzub has fostered a relationship with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. The shows have been spectacular! That is a top-down activity. Big, splashy. But are there composers, musicians, producers, choirs, writers or theatre groups that could get a nod of support and recognition for doing something good for the Ukrainian community? 

Here are a few ideas. Commission a local writer of Ukrainian origin.  A local film maker? Commission a performance group to put on a show about something Ukrainian. Sponsor the purchase of new music for a choir in Calgary, or pay for the guest artists so they will perform some expensive Ukrainian repertoire. Reward local young musicians, Ukrainian bands, with visible and active support through their social media sites - invite them to perform for important community gatherings to mark the Holodomor, Shevchenko, Carol Festivals. 

The key here is communication and marketing. Relationships! Aspiring artists need to feel supported. Capturing them early in their career paths creates synergies that always pay back. Investing in them, is investing in us! Funding the business of culture provides more return than money. 

I am promoting a cultural shift that moves our community agenda forward. With such a fast growing population, Calgary's historical cultural stereotypes are falling fast. And though Ukrainians are the roots of Canada's multiculturalism, Canada's cultural identity is still forming, evolving, coalescing and defining itself every day. There is a diversity of talent with lots of confidence, an unconventional mix of traditions and new ways. 

Everything is connected in some way, and Calgary is transforming itself into a more cosmopolitan city. The village ways are full of beautiful scenery, and resources, however there are compelling reasons for Calgary's changes. The city is attracting and keeping big talents. The creative class is developing faster here than in any other city in Canada. It is time to ask Calgary's young people how their Ukrainian roots could give them wings! Check with the very innovative young ones, and ask how their Ukrainian community could help them reach a particular goal. Where is the Ukrainian family power? 

Is the Ukrainian Community part of their roots, or the wind beneath their wings? Looking back or looking forward?

Canadian Author, and a Kobzar?

Each new Canadian arrives here with some experience of the ancestral, the cultural, language and traditions of another home - an older world. Leaving the older world gives way for exciting synergistic energies, the melding of old and new, the fusion of ideas that draw the world to our shores.

Perhaps it is too early in the evolutionary curve to see the unique trajectory Canada's culture is taking, however some subtle hints can be gleaned. Ideas like the rule of law, ethical standards, younger economies, respect for nature and care for her health all have some resonance.  Some of these values are cumulatively different from the lives in ancestral homelands, but the older lands are also deep wells of accumulated wisdom.

Thank heavens for the Ukrainian experience of of Taras Shevchenko - Ukraine's Great Kobzar (bard). Twice recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural leader - his work continues to be a beacon of truth and hope. Reading Taras Shevchenko's poetry, whether in English or in the original Ukrainian is such a grounding experience. The words written over a hundred fifty years ago still ring true. Learn, he says, all the languages of the world, and get to understand people around you! Learn from their wisdom! Look forward and plan using these things you have learned, but always remember whence you came - and whisper a thank you, acknowledge those whose steps led you here.

Because of this terrific perspective, the Ukrainian community has for 8 years running, honoured Canadian writers who have used the Ukrainian Canadian experience in their literary work, with a Kobzar Literary Award. Who are are these Canadian bards - kobzari?

Larissa Andrysyshyn wrote Mammoth (2010)- a debut collection of poems celebrating life and loss, tragedy and beauty. 

Rhea Tragebov wrote about the sometimes difficult immigrant/emigration process in Knife Sharpener's Bell: A Novel (2009).

Shandi Mitchell's Under the Broken Sky is an engaging read about Canadian pioneers, farm life, survival and loss.

Myrna Kostash's strong voice in depicting the Ukrainian Canadian experience is again taking us on an epic journey through the Prodigal Daughter: A Journey to Byzantium.

Myroslav Shkrandrij's Jews in Ukrainian Literature is a refreshingly warmer assessment of this interesting relationship.

So here is a recommendation for the reader on your Christmas list. Try these nominees, or opt for the winner of the 2012 Kobzar Literary Award - Shandi Mitchell's Under the Broken Sky. At least you know what is on my list for the holidays!

The Year of the Girl

Рід Родина Нарід Народ Народні Народити Народження Рождество Рідне

Protect the little ones!  Ensure their future!  These are the thoughts of billions of mothers world-wide, in the light of the recent violent acts directed at children.  We all pray for the peace of the world!

And millions of Ukrainian women worldwide are, everyday, protecting the Ukrainian family, protecting the global Ukrainian community.  There are a million ways Ukrainian mothers ensure their children's survival, and none more powerful than the everyday lessons of our ancestral life.  Foods of survival, symbols of hope, dreams for the future.  Diversity of course, but with in this diversity, a common hope for peace, dignity and honor.

But with the care and conviction with which women care for their families, they themselves sometimes fall through the cracks.  Women continue to be vulnerable members of society, some circumstancially trapped in poverty, in risky "employment", in lives that serve other priorities than their own.  The World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations Світова Федерація Українських Жіночих Організацій  has for 65 years joined forces to address these and other concerns.  Speaking with one powerful voice, WFUWO СФУЖО is a Non Governmental Organization with consultative status addressing the United Nations on issues such as Human Trafficking, the Holodomor, and cultural/linguistic rights.  As you may already recognize, there has been much international movement on these issues over the course of these last 65 years of WFUWO service!

This year has been declared The Year of the Girl by the United Nations, with a focus on meeting her needs, her place in society and opportunities for education. This is our time!

It is time to be bold and proactive initiating programs and activities that help women in their pivotal role in family life, her opportunities for education and healthcare, her relationships with peers, her opportunities in public life, her religious and human rights freedoms.

Ukrainian women everywhere have the tools to help Ukrainian girls everywhere!  It's the little things, and the powerful messages we know are embedded that can change the world.  Family - this is what all Ukrainian culture and traditions is all about - dignity, truth, wisdom, and above all, survival.  Can we collectively move this issue from "survival" to "thrive"?  The future depends upon us.

For more information about the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organization go to  www.wfuwo.org/about.html

The newly elected President is Order of Canada recipient + Orysia Sushko - also former President of the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada.

Kutia - Ukrainian Wheat Berry and Poppy Seed Pudding

amk2012

Ukrainian Christmas Eve Supper, Святя Вечеря,  is a feast beyond one's imagination.  Layers and layers of history, from times of antiquity give meaning to each and every aspect of the meal. Imagine preparing meals in times long past.  Imagine drawing water, harvesting each nutritious morcel from nature, waiting, the pace and rhythms of life.  Imagine the "shadows of forgotten ancestors" as they return for the feast!

Kutia  кутя is a very primitive dish.  Essentially boiled wheat, sweetened with honey and dressed with poppy seeds - it has acquired a mystical symbolism. The creamy, milky, earthy liquor of the boiled wheat is the juice of earth's fertility.  Each grain lives to maturity, is sacrificed and consumed to provide life anew.  Honey-bee spun sunshine,  jelled nectar of the flowers is sweetness, love of life, promise and fulfillment.  And the alluring, almond scent of sweet creamy ground poppy seeds hints of dreamy sleep, deep dark and mysterious repose, the door to eternity.  

The intimate, rich and embracing flavor of this prehistoric pudding is a mystical veil of tradition that hovers between today and the ancient past - how many generations?  One part physical nature, one part sweet spiritual joy, and one part dark night - kutia symbolizes a lifetime!

Kutia  кутя is traditionally the first course in the Ukrainian Christmas Eve meal Святя Вечеря after a fast of 40 days.  Even in pre-history before Christianity, there was a Winter Feast that featured Kutia.  Even then, fasting was a proper way of preparing oneself for a feast - reserving the most important foods to share the magical moment of feasting together as a family!  Even then, a variant called kolyvo коливо without the bitter-black poppy seeds was served at funeral gatherings - but sweeter, joyfully anticipating the life-after.

Delivering a Love Letter-Koliada 2013

The candle is lit, the table is set, the family welcomes the "diduch дідух - spirit of the the ancestors" and sits to a Holy Supper much like the Jewish Seder - Sviata Vecherya Святя Вечеря.   Feast on kutia кутя, the mysterious, sweet pudding of Neolithic origin or earlier? Rejoice, we continue to survive! We have lived to see the light of eternity in the darkest night of winter - and rejoice!

By the Julian Calendar, January 6 and 7th each year are the dates of Eastern Orthodox Christmas.  For the one quarter of Albertans for whom Ukraine is spiritual, ancestral homeland, it is Rizdvo Різдво, here on the prairies again!

After a forty day fast, a ritual feast of ancient dishes remind the family of past challenges, threats to survival.  A menu of "hard-time" foods, meat-less, dairy-less, nothing hunted, no bloodletting, but the incense of innocence, a New Baby Born.  Let's feast on the Good News!  Life is now better!   The Lamb will be fat!  We will drink the cup of eternity! A life of milk and honey is upon us! Even death will be filled with a satisfying aroma of anticipation!   Sing!  Isn't that Good News?

Christmas Carols tell the story, carolers arrive at the home.  If He knocks, will you open the door?  The ritual song, a recited greeting , and the hosts share their feast of food and drink with the travelers.

Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Ensemble is ready to carol in your home on the evenings of January 6, 7, 2013.  For more information please contact  info@tryzub.ca.

Some carols to enjoy in the meantime  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpK_QxMfwvc

YALYNKA MALANKA in Strathmore 2013

Just east of Calgary is a lovely community called Strathmore, where it turns out there is an active Ukrainian community who are again hosting their annual YALYNKA MALANKA!  Ялинки-Маланка! They certainly have a great band, one of Alberta's best Dance Bands - absolutedanceband.com.  And I can personally attest to some of their strongest culinary traditions in Strathmore - delicious! 

For a late season MALANKA on February 2, 2013 - make sure to book tickets to the YALYNKA MALANKA in Strathmore, Alberta.  

Prairie Dreamscapes: Reimagining Your Roots

The Alberta Council for the Arts are very please to invite guests to a new exhibit this December. From December 7, 2012 to January 19, 2013, a special show entitled Prairie Dreamscapes:  Reimaginging Your Roots can be viewed at St. John's Institute in Edmonton.

Featuring Ukrainian Canadian and Ukrainian artists of several disciplines, the exhibit premiered in September at the Ukrainian Festival in Toronto - there were rave reviews.  The dreamscape concept is coming to the prairies, to its roots!

St. John's Institute on Whyte Avenue near the University of Alberta is a welcoming university residence that has a great Ukrainian Canadian heritage.  Founded originally as a Bursa, a bursary residence, under the name Hrushevsky Institute, the residence is a wonderful community!  Over the years many generations have attended St. John's Institute and built great relationships - life long friends.  It is time for your visit!

St. John's Institute are glad to welcome new thoughts, dreams and visions - and a providing a warm, generous and hospitable welcome for this beautiful art exhibit entitled Prairie Dreamscapes:  Reimaginging Your Roots.

As the poster indicates, there will be wine and refreshments for the opening night ceremonies - hope you can join the Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts and join the community for this lovely art exhibit!!

Puschenia Fall 2012

Puschenia is a pre-lenten celebration (in anticipation of the lenten periods before Christmas and Easter).  Puschenia is a party!

In Canada it involves a supper and dance, a last opportunity to indulge before the 40 day fasting and prayerful preparation for the Feast. Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Lent encompasses the 40 days of preparation for Christmas. Those who celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar on December 25th, will have Puschenia by the 15th of November. Those who celebrate Christmas by the Julian calendar, on January 7th, will have Puschenia no later than November 28th.

Ukrainian Christmas traditions are really an accumulation of hopes, dreams and prayers, all transmitted in symbolic form to the present. The ancestral agrarian relationship with nature, the physical reminders of the cycles of life, and the seasons of living are evident in almost all the Ukrainian Christmas traditions we know today.

Ukraine was welcomed into the kingdoms of the Christian world in 988 AD, and the people whose pagan practices and traditions filled every breathing moment,  increasingly came to understand their world through a Christian lens. Already understanding the multi-layered nature of life, ancestral Ukrainians were simply sophisticated enough to see how the culture they were already living, had prepared the way for the Christian story - an evolution of values, beliefs and credos.  Their relationship with nature, expressions of life, cycles, seeding of good will,  had already instilled in them a bone-deep appreciation for deferred gratification.  With the Christian message of the "world to come", Ukrainians, a patient people, prepared for the "Good News" - for the joyous Feast of the  Birth of Christ - Christmas!