Christmas fabric (01/05/97)

Christmas fabric

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

In celebrating Ukrainian Christmas, we do many things that not only seem to be, but really are irrelevant to typical North American urbanites approaching the 21st century. Symbolism is the raison d'être of our annual and family traditions, and Rizdvo, Ukrainian Christmas, is especially symbolic. Family and annual rituals celebrate the most important events in the lives of family and nation, and it is the "how" of those celebrations that is symbolic. As to the "why," it all means something, and we go through the motions whether we ourselves know the meaning or not.

When we consider the traditions followed at Sviat Vechir (Christmas Eve), and consider how many ancient traditions have fallen away because of impracticality in present-day life, we are nonetheless left with quite a rich, symbolic, ritual evening.

Most of us do not live in rural areas, so the original farm setting is not there for us to continue many of the customs related to farm animals, bees, and the weather. In the city house or condo, maybe the family pets get a special treat before Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper), in place of the family sharing a portion of each dish with the animals in the barn before supper.

Instead of the husband and wife standing outside, holding a bowl of food, and thrice inviting the storms, lightning, frosts and wild animals for dinner - "and if you're not coming now, don't bother coming for the rest of the year" - the family could go out on the patio, or on the balcony, with a similar invitations. (As long as the neighbors don't call the police! "There go those Ukrainians again ... watch, pretty soon they'll start singing, as usual!")

The empty place setting is always there, the kolach (holiday bread) and candle, the embroidered table cloth, the 12 meatless and non-dairy dishes, and some form of a didukh is usually in the house year-round, even though it may be just some wheat stalks in a decorative vase. And, in communities with at least a few Ukrainians, the koliadnyky (carolers) visit and sing.

The rituals of Rizdvo (Christmas) harken back to earliest human memory, commemorating the origins of the firsts: the first foods, first crops, first people, as well as the coming together of the extended family, the "rid," or clan. The koliadky and schedrivky (ritual songs of the winter solstice and the new year) very clearly show how the earliest Ukrainians saw life and creation. Many begin with some variation of the phrase "Oi, scho zh tam bulo z pochatku svita?..." (Oh, what was there at the beginning of the world?) The various verses then mention the heavens and the earth, the first tree, the dove or falcon bringing clay or soil from beneath the waters to the surface, the first plants and the origin of grain, the first animals, the first humans, the first couple, and the first family. No matter what the region of Ukraine, variations on similar themes are present everywhere.

One, almost forgotten, custom commemorated a basic human need: clothing. The first fabric, hempen or linen, was essential for survival. Its importance is recorded in the koliadky, and in specific rituals of Sviat Vechir. Those of us who were fortunate to have heard stories about how it was "vdoma" (back home) in the village long ago may remember babunia or dido (grandmother or grandfather) sighing about the tastiness of the pampushky (jam-filled yeast-raised doughnuts) fried in konoplianyi olii (hemp seed oil). This oil in fact, flavored most of the dishes for Sviat Vechir, since no animal fats were used this evening. Ask anyone who grew up in a Ukrainian village about hemp seed oil, and you'll hear how this is the most delicious of all cooking oils, and how nothing, absolutely nothing tastes as good as something fried in it.

Hemp seed oil was used as the dressing for most of the 12 dishes not only for its taste, but for its symbolic value, as well as one of the earliest and most important plants in life. Poppy seed "milk" (from ground seeds) was also used as a flavoring for some dishes, again because of its fertility symbolism. Honey, fish fat and crushed garlic were the other dressings for specific foods. Ksenofont Sosenko (1928) notes that when foods were prepared with hemp seed oil or crushed garlic, the verb used was "riazhennia" or "zariazhennia," in the context of ritual. For example, a bride was "nariazhena do vintsia" (readied for the wedding), a groom "nariazhenyi" when he put on his hat, and a deceased person was "nariazhenyi" when prepared and dressed for the funeral. However, for everyday use, neither anyone nor anything was "riazhenyi/na."

Reverence for hemp and linen is also reflected in customs during other parts of the year. At Christmas, the koliadnyky are rewarded by gifts from the hospodar and hospodynia (host and hostess); he donates a kolach, and she presents them with a "povismo" a hank of ready-to-spin linen or hemp fibers. She ties this hank to the cross carried by the "bereza," the leader of the group.

Bread and fibers for clothing were the earliest "gifts," essentials for sedentary life. The priest was also presented with a povismo when he came to bless the house at Yordan (Feast of the Epiphany). In some koliadky, a soul is pulled out of hell by holding on to a povismo; the clothing fibers provide a person protection, warmth and salvation from shame. In other koliadky, gold and silver are spun and woven, as if they were linen and hempen cloth. Even the kolach in the center of the table is "pletenyi" - braided or "woven." Koliadky often sing about the clothing of the family, dressed for this evening in their finest white linen (later silk) shirts, and sometimes the spinning and weaving processes are mentioned.

As the table was set for the Sviata Vecheria, the embroidered tablecloth (of homespun linen or hemp) covered a layer of hay on the table. Garlic heads or cloves were placed under the tablecloth in each corner, to ensure good health, and especially prevent headaches, and with hemp seeds were sprinkled alongside the garlic. The garlic clove has dual symbolism: it represents medicinal and prophylactic power, as well as the importance of the moon to hunter-gatherers, as reflected in the clove's crescent shape. Seeds, especially hemp, flax, and poppy, represent fertility. The wild self-sowing poppy was especially productive.

The koliadnyky from your church or youth group would be grateful for the cookies and libations you serve them, along with the generous check for their cause. However, they would consider it odd if you presented them with a hank of linen or hemp fibers, even if you were able to find such a thing. After all, that was then, and this is the practical now.

Recently, I had the privilege of seeing and holding for the first time two linen povisma which were part of a donation to the museum of the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center in Winnipeg. They appear to be nothing special, just two hanks of shaggy dark golden fiber, almost like something Rumpelstilskin would spin. However, I held them reverently, because a Ukrainian pioneer to the prairies a century ago had brought them to Canada, and had treasured them. The povismo at Christmas - a tangible reminder of very long ago.

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Note from the author: While hemp and poppy were and are used medicinally, this writer has not come across any ethnographic sources at all indicating that these were used for any hallucinogenic purposes since at least the medieval centuries (the Scythians excluded). If anyone does have such sources, please let the author know.

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