From the Heart of a Woman

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For an afternoon of Christian fellowship, heart health information and a hands-on Ukrainian "bake and take" activity women of all ages are invited to a very lovely afternoon event called "From the Heart" on Saturday, February 1, 2014.  The Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada, Calgary Branch invites you to register or seek more information from Marla don.belsheim@shaw.ca

or Lori lorichomik@gmail.com. for the event. 

I remember being at their last event a couple of years ago and fascinated at the mix of lovely people there - the room was filled from edge, to edge to edge.  Such a very warm, intelligent, and community rich experience! Clearly the women of Calgary enjoyed the event, and UWAC Calgary has planned another women's day!

Bring $5 for entry, knowing all proceeds will be donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Alberta. You can help women in need by bringing sample sized hand lotion, perfume, shampoo (etc), and new women's socks and underwear, to assemble Valentine Gift Bags for our Southern Alberta Sisters in Need.

Saturday, February 1, 2014
St. Vladimir’s Cultural Center
404 Meredith Road N.E.
1:00 p.m.

Remember to bring a friend!

Good News Red Deer!

The Good News is that people who dream big can bring fields of opportunity to bear much fruit. And in this great Nativity season, while Christmas Carollers in the Ukrainian tradition may sprinkle wheat seeds to ensure successful crops and prosperity for the host family, more seeds are being sown in Red Deer's Ukrainian Orthodox Community - and soon to bear much fruit!

The Red Deer UOCC Parish has grown from its hopeful mission status and now the physical task of Church Temple Building has arrived. With hope, faith and charity, the good people at St. John's Cultural Center (Edmonton), Viter Ukrainian Dancers and Folk Choir and special guest artist Theresa Sokyrka are enthusiastically contributing to this important fundraising evening. For more information call 403-700-9942 or contact orthodoxrd@gmail.com.

Perhaps you will agree that in Canada, this wonderful land of opportunity, all of Ukrainian Alberta truly stops being strangers to one another's needs, and contributes to days of promise, faith and community.

Calgary Rizdvo 2014

The Ukrainian Idea thrives on ritual, tradition and faith, and bridges connections with family, homeland, identity and ancestry.  The faithful of Ukrainian Calgary join with the entire Ukrainian diaspora in celebrating the Nativity of Christ this January 6th and 7th, 2014 at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St. Volodymyr in Calgary, 404 Meredith Road NE.  http://stvlads.com/files/Holy-Supper-Poster-Jan-6.pdf

Ukrainians the world over honor the December 25th Christmas as well, with Christmas trees, possibly a turkey supper, and probably a visit from Santa Claus, gifts decorated with red and white candy canes, and of course a feeling of civic unity with the innumerable people of diverse culture who await light and peace in the dark of winter.  But Orthodox Christians, whether they are Ukrainian, or of other ethnic origins have stayed on the old calendar - and it actually feels good.  And there are a lot of us!

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgary/Many+Calgarians+celebrate+Christmas+January/9346920/story.htm

The December hustle and bustle is over.  The non-God carols in the mall have faded, and Jingle Bells is a faint memory.  And in my home, like in many others, the three braided kolachi breads which are to be my Holy Eve centerpiece are baked.  The varenyky, and holubtsi are prepared.  Beans and other legumes are on the counter, awaiting their turn at the stove.  The ingredients for borsch are finding their place near the cooking pot.  Wheat has been pounded to remove the bran, and will soon head for the boiling pot, too.  In short, a meal of twelve lenten foods will soon be ready for the Holy Eve- Sviat Vechir  - to mark Rizdvo.  My family will gather around the table, and sing the prayers of old, softly, with no commercial jingalings to jazz up the sound. The vertep, a manger scene will grace us with peaceful images of a cave, where the lowly animals warmed a place for the baby, a place where Hope was born.  My family will speak softly, and reverently. A deep and filling peace will pervade the room when we remember the loved ones not with us anymore.  In this happy embrace of melancholia, tinged with hope, the ikon of peace will flicker.  What will be tomorrow?  We can only put forward one foot at a time, but we aim for the good.

Suspend time for a moment and notice the Bethlehem star.  It marks the transition from darkness to light! It's time to be exquisitely alive and passionately engaged with Hope - the gift of the season!

May the pure love of Christmas reign in your hearts this Rizdvo 2014!  Good health, happy times, peaceful dreams full of hope, optimism and joyous fulfillment to you and yours! Khrystos Razhdayetsia!

Lighting Calgary in Blue and Yellow

Elena EV Skorokhod, Calgary's Langevin Bridge Jan 2, 2014

Well, Calgary it is our turn to light the town in blue and yellow! The Ukrainian community of Calgary and Southern Alberta graciously invites all supporters of the Ukrainian Euromaidan idea to a special event in Calgary Thursday, January 2 and 3rd, 2014! Thursday, January 2nd, and Friday January 3rd, Calgary's Langevin Bridge going into downtown Calgary will be lit up blue and yellow. This bridge is on Edmonton Trail going into downtown.

Lighting the Calgary Langevin Bridge in the colours of the Ukrainian flag is a symbolic act of solidarity with the mass demonstrations currently in their 5th week or more on the streets of Ukraine's cities, especially Kyiv.

Thanks to the excellence in civic involvement here in Calgary, and an international promise to uphold the democratic principles of this great Canadian land, the City of Calgary Municipal Land Corporation is supporting the request to light the town in blue and yellow. Actually it will be the bridge from Edmonton Trail going downtown - the Langevin Bridge!

Some Calgarians of Ukrainian origin will know that the Bridgeland area was essentially Calgary's Ukrainian downtown area for a long time, starting with the earliest immigration here in the late 1890's. It is still home to two Ukrainian churches serving Calgary's Ukrainian diaspora.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress and its advocates invite you to meet at the Holodomor Monument on Memorial Drive on Thursday, January 2, at 7PM! Participants are invited to wear blue and yellow regalia to support the democratic aspirations of the Euromaidan.  

Thank you to Elena Skorokhod for inquiring and City of Calgary Municipal Land Corporation for supporting the UCC request. Guests can join the event on facebook at www.facebook.com/events/548937555196515/

MEET AT THE HOLODOMOR MONUMENT AT 7 pm THURSDAY EVENING!  

Here are some interesting links about Canada's Niagara Falls which was lit in blue and yellow in support of Euromaidan Ukraine.  

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2013/12/29/niagara-support-for-ukrainian-protesters

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine-abroad/cnn-niagra-falls-was-blue-and-yellow-334535.html

Pillow Talk

“1,000 PILLOW PROJECT”

Alberta artist, Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn, is embarking on a new art project which she has titled “1000 Pillow Project.” Her aim is to gather 1,000 cushions/pillows (embroidered, woven or other handwork), or photographs thereof, and to create a painting and multi-media presentation of this massed collection. This project is part of her work towards her Master’s degree in Ukrainian Folklore at the University of Alberta, and would be part of her thesis presentation. She is kindly asking members of various organizations, who are willing, to help her amass such a collection, either by submitting to her the pillows/cushions themselves and/or photographs thereof. Many of these cushions/pillows have been in families for years, and many of them have a story to tell. Larisa would very much like to hear of these stories. She has a form which could be filled out, which would relate your pillow’s story. In a great many cases, the stories are long forgotten but Larisa would still like to see the pillow/cushion or photo thereof. She can be contacted directly at artbylarisa@shaw.ca.