We Were Here

Stone Baba
Velike/Velichne Art Exhibit
Kyiv August 2013amk

When Canadians see an Inukshuk, we are reminded of the ancient history of the Inuit people.  Their piled stone sentinels marked the Arctic landscape, sparsely populated but consistently inhabited for thousands of years.  Over the course of European presence in North America, these stone statues represent the lingering aspirations of a people, to be remembered. Reminders of the human hands that intentionally gathered, interpreted, shaped and piled the stones, their dreams of eternal memory linger. For Canadians, the Inuit inukshuk tells us of a people who were here long ago.

For the newcomer, the Ukrainian term Baba means grandmother.  Or rather, it is an honorific that is used when referring to an older woman, in this case a grandmother.  Baba, Babushka, Babusia,  Babunia, these are all endearments, all referring with respect and honor a woman of wisdom, perhaps but not necessarily older, representative of lineage, heritage, family, wisdom, care and love.  The term Baba is generously applied across the spectrum within the Ukrainian world, in Ukraine and in the diaspora.

stone baba
Odessa museum
July 2013amk

stone baba - Feodosia museum
July 2013amk

The storied history of the lands north of the Black Sea extends back thousands of years, many thousands of years into prehistory when preliterate cultures dotted the landscape.  Living full lives, and attesting to their very existence, they left stones of honor over kurhan grave mounds.  Whether simple, or carved, weather battered or protected under the soil, these stone Babas witness to the past.  And they are now protected in some of the great museums in Eastern Europe.

stone baba
Odessa museum
July 2013

Stone Babas, now battered and ravaged by weather, raiders, guests and colonizers once dotted the landscape.  Markers of ancient burial sites called kurhans, they protected the offerings of bone and wealth within, and witnessed the rising of the sun over the horizon, in anticipation of an afterlife for the souls released.  It is said that nothing goes wasted, so most of the stone Babas have put put to new use, recycled into the foundations of some temple to more modern ways.  The stone Babas that remain however, say "we were here" to anyone passing, even though now most of them stand lonely and silent in parks, museums and storage sites.

stone baba
Odessa museum
July 2013

I once mentioned the word Baba came from the east, from a time when languages were still young - and the word was an honorific. Today you can hear people of Hindi background refer to their honoured leaders, wise ones or valued life companions with the term Baba.  It makes me happy to know the rich, cultural baggage that comes with the honoured title Baba.  Baba - the guardian, the honoured one, the sentinel, the silent keeper of ancestral memory with but one wish - the hope that someone would notice - "we were here".     Eternal memory!

The Blessings of Baba

Photo: Oleksandr Dirdovsky

Did you know that among Ukrainians the term for grandmother is Baba?  While the name Mama is universal it seems, Baba is a special term, loved among Ukrainians for her empathy, care and love.

It makes me so happy to read that Ukraine is reinterpreting for herself, the archeological treasures scattered in museums of former colonizers.  Re-assessing the ancient stone steppe stelae called babas is an important step in reclaiming her mystical and unique past. 

At one time in history, stone babas dotted the horizon in Ukraine - standing as sentinels over mounded earth funeral structures.  From a time 5-6 thousand years ago, ancestral graves on the lands of Ukraine were marked with a limestone or sandstone slab, like the sentinels at Stonehenge.  The stone babas perhaps personified the deceased within the mounded grave, and standing to witness the sunrise, performed the same function for the souls of the dead as the pyramids in Egypt. 

With economic possibility came new technology, and after a time people started carving shoulders, heads and faces into the stones, the image of the person within.  Equipped with the tools of life, perhaps they indicated high status too. 

Do the stone babas reveal gender?  Not in all cases.  And because so much of Ukraine's archeological history is being re-assessed through contemporary thought, in a time of relative freedom, with increasingly more sensitive use of technology I would reserve judgement.  It is obvious that the material culture of the period would venerate the gift of ancestors.  It is also obvious that material affluence would indicate longevity.  Longevity would indicate women lived beyond their childbearing years, and would through their unique talents assist in the nurture, survival and education of children born to a younger woman. 

The ancient stone babas are authentic expressions of gratitude for some person's generosity of spirit in life.  I like to think that all the ancients, the ancestors, made a significant contribution to the world's cultural achievement.   From the very edge of archeological history,  here's a thank you for the BLESSINGS OF BABA.

Have a glance at this artcle about how the stone stelae are being appreciated as Art in Ukraine.  http://www.artukraine.com.ua/eng/articles/1051.html

Amd here the Smithsonian is also reconsidering the role and value of women, beyond their child bearing years. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/10/new-evidence-that-grandmothers-were-crucial-for-human-evolution/

Taxing Ukrainian Folk Songs

Interesting news from Ukraine lately about their need to fill the government treasury is puzzling and perhaps troubling - not sure yet.  It seems that with the rising popularity of Ukrainian folk songs, their government is eyeing opportunities to cash in.

Ukrainian folk songs express the accumulated wisdom of a people.  The rhythms of folksongs accurately represent syllabic stress in the language, subtle inflections in phrase, and the syntax is clearly expressed.  Over the years, the melodies of Ukrainian folksongs have evolved from a small range, with many repeated simple motifs, to a grander use of diatonic and altered scales.  The more "native" the melody, the more authentic it may be.  And authentic folk songs travel through the generations with ease, taking on the transitions of language, and subtle melodic influences in its vicinity. When you "straighten out" a folk song, you are messing with antiquity. 

Ukraine's young people are beginning to recognize the powerful truths jam packed into the folk songs of their ancestral memory, and enjoying their ancestral identity.  With available technology for recording, manipulation and marketing of their native folk music, Ukrainian folk songs are taking their place in the modern culture.  Their government has recently opined their desire to cash in on this national treasure chest - and I am a bit concerned, if not bewildered. 

There are international laws protecting authorship, composers, performers, etc.  Music over 50 years old is generally considered "in the public domain".  Copywrited music requires licensing, and the list goes on.   Even composed songs with authored lyrics can fall into the public domain but this is more touchy, again I am not an expert.  But Ukrainian folk songs are way older than that!  They belong to the people, shared from generation to generation,  primarily through an oral tradition.  So very much of the Ukrainian language, spirit and lifestyle is revealed in its folksongs - there is a song for every moment of one's life. 

Conceptually, the Ukrainian government taxing Ukrainian folk songs concerns me.  In conversation with a person far more versed than I, the question was - is this an attempt to limit permission or to censor the folk culture of Ukraine?   One can only wonder whether this is a truly benevolent attempt to honor and protect the cultural identity and ancestral treasury wantonly usurped by manipulators of history! On the other hand, is this another way of preventing wide consumption and access to tradition, culture and the place where authentic language has evolved as a descriptor of the people and her dreams?  Or, on the other hand is this a way to validate and champion, bringing recognition, legal support, and financial recompense to the keepers of the hearth, the keepers of ancestral culture?  The ancestral babas and didos who continue to live close to the land, authentically engaged in lifestyle practices foreign to city dwellers may be both a target and recipients of attention - gotta watch out for the tax man.

This is a bizarre attempt to fill the government treasury with the lifeblood of a nation in my eyes.  Can you imagine the government trying to license a community choir performance of Taras Shevchenko's The Last Testament?, and where do you draw the line between folk songs and communal singing at a liturgy?  Really?! Wouldn't it be better for Ukraine to tax real estate? or use some muscle to collect income tax first, especially from those who have hidden their billions in off shore banks? 

 

Spirituality and Symbols

Calgary is the home of three Ukrainian Christian communities - three Christian churches.  Since the building of the first Ukrainian church in Calgary in 1912, these communities have all served the spiritual needs of Calgarians, Southern Albertans, family and guests from far and wide.  The mission work of these congregations involves meeting the need to commune - to live together, think together, and pray together as one Christian family.

How fortunate we are to live in a democracy that guarantees the freedom to associate, freedom to believe, freedom to choose how we express our faith - things some Canadians may often take for granted.  From time to time, it might be good to recall some of the reasons why immigrants choose this democratic nation for a home!!  Good to remember why it is a place we cherish and pray to preserve for generations to come!

How fortunate for spiritually thirsty Ukrainian Canadians that communities continue to congregate together, use the ancestral language and traditions, honor the saints and Saints of our ancestral homeland, and pray that our comings and goings will be judged favourably by eternity.   

What is a Ukrainian church?  What is a Greek church or a Bulgarian church or a ......whatever ethnicity you choose?  Ukrainians have choices it seems.  Or perhaps, the world is trying to decide what to do with Ukrainian choices.

I truly believe that knowledge is essential for self understanding.  Unfortunately, knowledge itself doesn't always equal insight.  That is, perhaps, why the Ukrainian Christian world continues to ponder its future.  Historic documents speak volumes, but in every re-reading, with every new context, they deliver a richer picture.  Some people drink wine, some become overly engaged in wine drinking, but then some become connoisseurs - people who understand the subtle notes, the fleeting flavour, and the enduring end note - whose opinions are valued and considered - for their insight. For it is true that every good thing comes with a cost.

In following Uke Tube, some of these topics of interest are discussed. 

Ethnicity, Symbolism and Orthodox Christianity

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1jJ6yB2A4Y

Canonical Territories & the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQhVJrxGbpw


Chambésy & the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPFTxR4lCy4


Canonicity & the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3I5NKrCXMI

Remembrance, Analysis and Problem Solving

What are you hungry for?  Most of us have simple needs.  We need to belong. So where is the meeting place in Calgary for Ukrainians seeking belonging?

Calgary's Ukrainian churches serve more than Liturgical services, the Spirit is an energy, energy for fueling community.  And the community is always active.

Calgary's Ukrainian Community hosts seniors clubs, choirs, dancing organizations, language schools, cooking teams, bazaar events, political activist groups, teen clubs, scouts organizations, Christian catechism programs, book clubs, libraries, museums, programs for every age, outreach groups, visitations for the needy, fundraisers for worthy causes, authors, painters, sculptors, weavers, and builders, connections to international groups of similar purpose, the list goes on.  You belong!

And the unifying constant, the signpost that identifies Ukrainians of all stripes, the symbol that says "we were here", "we are here", in my humble opinion is the pyrogy пиріг (also referred to as the varenyk вареник).

Varenyk - pyrih, is a boiled dough wrapped morsel of deliciousness. Comfort food at its best - a reminder of times past, hard times, survival, family and ancestry, loving hands.  The pyrogy/varenyk is an example of remembrance, analysis and problem solving, thoughtfulness and consideration, speed, suppleness and flexibility. The pyrogy is ancestral memory all in one delicious morsel, it is part of a  mystical connection to something bigger than all of us.

Danny Schur of Winnipeg produced this documentary of interest to all Ukrainians in all parts of the Ukrainian community. He wrote, directed, shot, edited, created music and produced this documentary at Winnipeg's Holy Family Ukrainian Catholic church. With Danny's best, here is the link.http://youtu.be/CM4JIBqjAZA