NEWS AND VIEWS: Ukrainian traditions permeate the way of life in Winnipeg (11/24/96)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Ukrainian traditions permeate the way of life in Winnipeg

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

WINNIPEG - It all started on our very first visit to Winnipeg, a few decades ago, on a frigid late-December evening, on Portage Avenue near the old Birk's building. As this bear of a man approached us [later we learned the policeman was wearing a buffalo-coat], we asked him where the closest Ukrainian church was, since it was Christmas time, and we wanted to visit. With a big smile, the bear says, in Ukrainian, "Ta ya vam pokazhu!" (I'll show you).

This was the first person we met in Winnipeg and, for me, was an indication of what I would later discover - that Winnipeg and Manitoba were secretly Ukrainian!

Where should this list start? What about your neighbors, co-workers, or in-laws? Is there anyone out there whose family doesn't include at least one Ukrainian baba [grandmother] or brother-in-law? The one who cooks so well or who sings so beautifully, for any occasion?

In your daily walk around the neighborhood, you can usually tell it's a Ukrainian house because of the glorious flowers and the vegetable garden, instead of just greenery.

Have you been to a Ukrainian wedding recently, or wished you had? Not the 15-minute "English" one with the understated stand-up reception afterwards, but the minimum two-to-three-day party, with a full sit-down dinner, dancing, singing, and the reception the day after - you know, one of the "normal" Ukrainian weddings.

If you visit a Ukrainian home, are you ever not fed? The Ukrainian hospitality really hit home, because on that first visit to the city, my husband and I were simply not permitted to stay at the hotel, and were taken in for a few days, fed, driven around, and made to feel at home by people we had only met that day.

Now that we're on food, is there any Winnipeger who doesn't know what a perogy [i.e., varenyk] is? Or where to get the best ones? At the churches, of course, usually on Thursdays and Fridays.

(Do try to avoid the cardboard ones sold commercially.) Is there any time of day when Alycia's and Sevala's aren't crowded with diners? For Ukrainian Christmas, those not celebrating at home crowd these restaurants in shifts.

The city's Christmas lights don't get turned off until after "Ukrainian" Christmas (called this even though others also celebrate by the Julian calendar). Where else would you find wheat and poppy seeds at the check-out counter of any supermarket for Ukrainian Christmas? Paska and kolach (Easter and Christmas breads) are sold in every bakery and supermarket, and the customers are not just Ukrainian.

The intellectual, business, political, and especially cultural life of the city has been enriched by Ukrainians. What a treasure we have in Leo Mol (just spend a few hours in his sculpture garden), and in so many other acclaimed visual and performing artists of Ukrainian descent.

We have the Olexander Koshetz memorial choir, the Hoosli men's choir, Rusalka Dance Ensemble, the many other excellent dance groups, such as Orlan, Rozmai and Troyanda. The Hopak is a finale to any multicultural concert. Try buying dancing slippers for your child in the mall shoe store, and getting asked if you want the slippers for ballet, or for Ukrainian dancing.

The Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center, Oseredok, offers its exhibits, classes and lectures. Pysanky - the exquisite Ukrainian Easter eggs - are a normal component of anyone's Easter. The Kyiv Pavilion at Folklorama, with its vibrance and vitality, and the unbelievable zabava (dance) at the end are widely known.

Then there are the daily Ukrainian radio program on CKJS Radio, with its many non-Ukrainian fans; the late beloved Mayor Steve Juba; and Mayor Bill Norrie, an adopted Ukrainian, who wears his embroidered shirt with pride, and knows how to sing "Mnohaya Lita" (all two words of the lyrics). And without the domed churches dotting the horizon, the city would not look the same.

Wearing an embroidered Ukrainian shirt, you barely get a second look in Winnipeg. You have to be careful what you say in public, because you never know who's around and who understands Ukrainian - and at the same time, you'll sure learn a lot about others! "Chekai" [wait or stop], "dai Bozhe" [may God grant] and "na zdorovia" [to your health] are phrases most everyone understands.

From foreigners in sheepskin coats a century ago being admonished to "talk white" and change their surnames, Ukrainians have become an integral part of Canada, of that unravelable, spectacularly woven tapestry that especially makes up western Canada, Manitoba, and "Ukrainian" Winnipeg.