The Winding Road

photo by Lorraine Alford

A while back when I started this blog, before any of the UkrainianVancouver, or UkrainianChicago blogs were up and running, I felt an urge to write.  There seemed to be so much information emanating from the north of Ukraine, and very little cross-North America news.  I know that Bohdan at Yevshan started a Ukrainian community events calendar shortly after, but there wasn't anybody just chatting about stuff. So I found my niche.

Father Taras Krochak

Meandering thoughts about community, connections, long tendrils of acquaintance-friendship-relationship circled in my mind.  It seemed that so many of the people in the Ukrainian community knew each other!  Sadly, across time and distance we would mostly say - haven't heard about them for a long time!  Quiet moments full of rich memories....where are those formerly dear friends now?

My dearest friend, Mom, is up to her eyeballs in garden, grandchildren, and genealogical studies. I took a photo of her glorious bar-v-nok to use as my blog's calling card.  Long, tender yet resilient vines of green bursting out of the ground and reaching with their endlessly beautiful periwinkle coloured blossoms - stretching across the garden path.  Seeking what? Seeking the future?

Korovai by Luba Macewko

Preparing for my daughter's wedding last summer, many dear friends contributed their garden bar-v-nok, to braid and curl, twine and twist the pliable filaments for the traditional regalia to be used at their Marriage Sacrament - the Crowning.  I couldn't believe how long the vines stayed beautifully green!  No wilting, no drooping, the crowns retained their vitality well into the second week after the wedding and further!  I am reminded that they are evergreen, but wow do they stay long!

When I got married, my grandmother had laboriously tended and babied a myrtle plant in her house in Manitoba to use for my wreath! Smaller vines, grown on a firmer stock, but equally beautiful, if more fragile looking.  She watered the vines judiciously to exact the precise firmness - not too tender and slender, but not too tough or impliable - retaining the family wisdom about a proper match, of course.  Then my friend Ken, the florist thought to apply gold leaf to the myrtle leaves, which Baba, in all humility thought would be too ostentatious. Ken did apply miniature white blossoms though - the wreath was simply stunning.

The resilient vines of barvinok in my garden took on a deep, thick green over the winter, but now their gyrating filaments are warmed and nourished in the spring rains. It is hard to tell where one slender shoot ends and another begins.  Life is like that too.  Grafted onto the vine of life, the barvinok reminds us to stay connected to the vine, even in the cold of winter because the spring will return with its luscious growth, time, after time, after time.......

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! 

 

 

 

Ukrainian Wedding on the Prairies

zazzle.com

Crops are off the field, harvest is done, time for a feast - time for a traditional Ukrainian wedding!  Where are the besotted love birds?

Traditional Ukrainian weddings on the Canadian prairies have always included elements from the ancestral home and a lot from the new Canadian surroundings.

Today North American brides have so many choices - dresses, flowers, and all the details.  But in times long past, the wedding party was the most important detail - gotta get food, drink and a band - a good dance band!!

Planning for a Ukrainian Wedding - what do you need? 
First, a svatannya - the ritual asking parental permission to be married - arrange for food, drink and party!
Then, plan the day - service, photos, supper, and party.
Invite guests - make a long list, laughingly negotiate on a list, and party.
Vinkopletennia - just go out into the garden and gather some periwinkle (barvinok), weave wreaths while singing, and partying.
Call auntie to gather the ladies to make bread - a wedding korovai complete with a zillion pretty little bread doves (Ukie version of a wedding cake), and then party.
Cook a great Ukrainian prairie meal, Canadian version - Ukrainian holubtsi, Ukrainian cornmeal nachynka, gravy, chicken, pickles, and what for desert? 
Wedding day, getting the blessing from parents, and off to the service.
First the vows.  All the nervewracking concentration is over, and celebration day has arrived! Party!
Reception and meeting the guests, remember to toast the bride and roast the groom! 
Don't forget to plan for perepiiy - the reception line where everyone takes a drink as they personally wind past the wedding party, leaving an extra something in the basket for their new home.  Then the popravini (usually a day later, making things right, cleaning up and making sure nobody took offence at the dancing lamp shade).
A traditional Ukrainian wedding usually takes about three days, an elaborate one, possibly more!

It used to be so simple then - everyone played their part in the wedding plans, and things happened quickly - no bride or groom ever waited long for their wedding!

Some things do change though.  The white bridal gowns are marketed so heavily, and now food trucks serve up cultural variety at weddings.  Nonetheless, there are some ubiquitous elements - things that don't change. 

One of these is the music - and there are a huge variety of renditions of the Ukrainian Wedding March -

Zirka band plays a great Ukrainian Wedding March - it goes a bit fast for my taste but it is effective.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmRvFL5TqSY

Tommy Buick - of oldtime prairie wedding fame has another Wedding March to enjoy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inQgEUM5Wkg&feature=related

And the Kapusta Kids do another rendition -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w8Zl1SECYM&feature=related

Eugene and his accordian do another worthy rendition at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrM6NMGmiiY

Toronto's diaspora Ukrainian community enjoys this version at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGoqdXJPLWk

Toronto's Ukrainian Festival 2012 was an opportunity to enjoy it again at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8S7BpQdNR4&feature=watch_response

Music lingers in the mind, the melodies come from ancestral places deep in the family memory.  Let the dance begin! 

 

Wedding Vinok Instructions



The Ukrainian wedding wreath is called a vinok. The word is related to the Ukrainian word for a marriage ceremony - vinchannya. It is a lovely symbol of everlasting love to wear a wreath of evergreen periwinkle - barvinok in Ukrainian. Even in the autumn and possibly under the snow in a protected area you may find periwinkle growing, protected by its mystical evergreen properties. The amazingly delicate strands of this prolific ground cover are gathered, and wound together to form a wreath.

The actual process is rather simple. Take two longish strands and cross their ends. Taking a third strand, place it between the two strands. Using one of the outside strands, simply wind the barvinok a couple of times to bind the three. Hold the bound part closely in your fingertips. Repeat the process with more strands, step by step, binding each individually. The closer you place the leaves one to another, the more lush the wreath, however the green strands woven together this way look beautiful too.

The vinkopletennia event is traditionally a collaboration of women who beautify the wreath for the bride. Remember to pass the wreath through many hands, pinching the last twining.




 The young bride will appreciate the many hands, young and old, who witnessed her transition through the marriage preparations, and the vinchannya.  In this case, the bride's baba played a very important role.  The entire vinkopletennia was beautiful however BABA's blessing, wisdom and loving welcome made it perfect.

My gentleman florist friend believed that the evergreen wasn't beautiful enough and tried to hot-glue on little white baby's breath flowers - didn't work. Then he did some research and discovered individual sheets of gold leaf to overlay onto the leaves - which might have worked on hardier leaves or perhaps a dry product - not worth the bother. Then a young bride mentioned that a bit of gold spray paint might shine up the leaves - but the concensus among the ladies was that the barvinok itself was beautiful enough.

Gather enough long, long strands for the wreath. Keep them clean and cool in a bowl. When the wreath is measured correctly to fit (remember to make two to fit the married couple's heads), you need not crush the strands too harshly with bobbypins.

Storing the wreath(s) between weaving at the vinkopletennia and the vinchannya (marriage ceremony) is important. Keep the wreath cool, wrapped to prevent it drying out, possibly misting the leaves to make them shine.

A vinok, made by many hands, together at a vinkopletennia is a beautiful gift for a bride.  The ceremony, the tradition, togetherness, life, love and hope everlasting - what a way to start the next part of her journey through life!

http://ukrainiancalgary.blogspot.ca/2012/08/flowers-family-future-vinok.html

http://ukrainiancalgary.blogspot.ca/2012/07/vinkopletenia-in-calgary-2012.html


  

Vinkopletenia in Calgary 2012

Weddings are wonderful, and Ukrainian weddings are even more special, especially in Calgary.  The colors, traditions, the layer upon layer of symbolism in all the events around the wedding just boggle the mind.  It was just so at last night's Vinkopletenia for a beautiful Ukrainian Calgary bride-to-be.  A Ukrainian vinok, the wreath for a wedding is very special.  Though in a religious ceremony of the  Byzantine rite, they will be crowned in glory with golden crowns in church, the traditional vinok for a wedding is evergreen (not like a tree!) from the periwinkle plant called barvinok. 

Barvinok is a low ground covering vine that is very delicate.  The shiny little leaves stay green even in winter, hence the ever-green category.  The fine springs of barvinok are woven together intricately.  Nature crowns the couple, granting them a love that is "ever-green" and ever new.  Makes me think of Barbra Streisand but....

How lucky this young bride had her baba there to bless the ceremony - to pass the traditions of pra-baba's home onto another generation of lovers.  Isn't that the best gift? Time!  Time to learn, time to appreciate, time to share and time to plan the future. Friends and family joined in to wish the "moloda" every blessing upon her new journey.  Life is a circle, everything dependent upon what came before!  And the fruits of time also enter into the circle of life.  Wow! 

The songs of the vinkopletenia ceremony were chosen specifically for this event - Ukrainian folk songs telling of love, stories of nature, the seasons of love, water, moon, stars, roses, kozaks and maidens.  A tradition as old as time, and new as young love. 

Before the event was over the guests all participated in a wish giving standing before the "hiltse" or tree of life, just like the fairy godmothers in Sleeping Beauty.  Thanks to all the lovely musicians who sang with their hearts, revealed the nuances in lyrics and shared the stories of their loves.  May the "molodiata" keep the traditions of their ancestral homes for generations to come.  Mnohaya lita!!