"Obzhynky": Ukraine's version of the Thanksgiving holiday (12/03/00)

"Obzhynky": Ukraine's version of the Thanksgiving holiday

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

You just celebrated a really traditional, old-fashioned Thanksgiving, with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, cornstalks, the Pilgrim hats, and all the other fixings and decorations of the American kind. So when would a Ukrainian Thanksgiving happen? Too late for this year - you would need to move it back from late November (on the second Monday in October for Canadians) to mid-August, to the general time when harvesting ends in most temperate climates.

And while we are moving the time of celebration, we might as well move back the origin of Thanksgiving, from the 17th century of the first Pilgrim-Native American feast, to a few millennia before Christ, to the Neolithic period, when agriculture began. Now we're talking turkey!

"Obzhynky" is the Ukrainian Thanksgiving, and the culmination of the harvest. The basic word is "zhaty," to reap, to harvest. From it we have "zazhynky" - the first reaping, "zhnyva" - harvest, "obzhynky" - the harvest feast and "zhentsi" - the reapers.

The root of the word means "to cut." If we were to transport ourselves to early pre-industrial agricultural times, before combines and other modern farm equipment, we would know that the harvest cannot be completed in a day or two, especially when you're reaping with sickles and scythes. The result of the harvest is and was so important - food itself - that, as with all Ukrainian traditions, the harvest rituals are recorded for us in the early oral literature, the "obzhynkovi pisni" (harvest songs) and in some unique items of material culture. The ritual songs accompanied practically every action of obzhynky; much of what is mentioned is no longer carried out - only remembered in songs.

Zhnyva, the process of harvest, was long and hard, with only hand implements with which to work - the "kosa" - the scythe, and the "serp" - the sickle. Men used the former, women the latter. People wore loose white clothing to work in the hot August sun, with wide-brimmed straw hats for the men and kerchiefs for the women. Ritual songs were sung about the sun, the grain, the implements, the birds living in the grain, about being tired and aching backs, about the abundant harvest for this year and next, and about wreaths ("vinochky") for weddings.

The last day of the harvest was the holiday, obzhynky. The last sheaf of the best grain, "ostannii snip," was ceremoniously reaped, tied and decorated with flowers and ribbons. This became the "didukh" for "Sviat Vechir" (Christmas Eve). Along with the sheaf, in some regions of Ukraine a large "vinok," or wreath of grain stalks was also prepared and decorated with field flowers. In the Poltava region a large cross, the "obzhynkovyi khrest," was woven out of grain.

The major ceremony in the field centered around the last clump of uncut grain. The spot was located near the boundary or dividing furrow between two fields. These stalks ("kolosky") were tied and braided in such a way that even though the roots were still in the ground, the braided stalks no longer reached up, but faced down, towards the earth. This clump of still-rooted grain formed an enclosure, like a short tent with a flat roof, at the front of which was an opening, with the braided stalks hanging down over the opening. This living structure had many names, depending upon region: "Spasova Boroda," "Didova Boroda," "Tsapova Boroda," "Vlasova Boroda," "Velesova Boroda," "Illi Boroda," "Boroda," "Koza," "Perepilka," "Perepelytsia," Prokipia." Most of these names have the word "boroda" (beard), recalling that the braided stalks hanging down look similar to an old man's or a goat's beard.

Into this enclosure the "hospodar," the owner of the particular homestead, placed a round loaf of bread, salt and water. He knelt before it while the women reapers recited, "Rody Bozhe, na vsiakoho doliu - bidnoho-bahatoho, vdovytsi i syroty ..." (God, let the earth provide for all, the poor and rich, the widows and orphans ...) The hospodar stood up, bowed to the Boroda and to the four directions of the field, and blessed the field. He took a few grains from the Boroda and sowed them into and around it, reciting: "Siisia, rodysia, zhyto-pshenytsia, vsiaka pashnytsia, krascha nizh toi rik." (Sow and grow, rye and wheat, and all grain, even better than this year.) Games were played and other rituals were carried out by the zhentsi, to ensure a good harvest next year and to foretell the yield.

During this time, in addition to plaiting the grain wreaths and crosses, the female zhentsi picked a "kniahynia," their queen of the harvest. She stood in the center of their circle, placed a sickle on her left shoulder, and held a "iurok" (a short stick used in binding sheaves) in her right hand, and bowed to the people. The oldest male zhentsi tied a "pereveslo" (a band of straw used to tie sheaves) around her waist, and crowned her with the wreath of grains and flowers. She bowed again, and led the procession back to the hospodarstvo, carrying the didukh. Everyone followed, the young women first, then the other zhentsi, all with their harvesting implements decorated with grain stalks and flowers. The harvest songs continued.

At the gate to the house, the zhentsi were welcomed by the owners. Now they were not field workers, but guests. Outside, in the yard, the table was set with white tablecloths, bread, salt, water and horilka (Ukrainian vodka). After the welcome, the table was moved closer to the house. The kniahynia stepped forward, bowed, and said: "Dai Vam, Bozhe, schoby ste schaslyvo dochekaly na toi rik siyaty, oraty, a my, zdorovi, zbyraty." (May God grant that you happily live until next year, to sow and plow next year, and that we may harvest for you.) The hospodar replied: "Dai, Bozhe, dochekaty v dobrim zdoroviu! A ty, moloda, Boh Day, zdorova rosla i shliubnoho vintsia dorosla!" (May God grant that we survive in good health. And you, young lady, may God grant that you grow healthy and get married!) The words varied from region to region, and village to village. The kniahynia gave the hospodar the vinok, which he hung in the house on a peg at the "pokuttia" (the central and ritual corner of the house). The didukh was ceremoniously carried into the home, placed on the pokuttia, along with bread, salt, water and honey or horilka. Then all sat down for a well-deserved meal, which had to include varenyky.

So what does all this mean? In Ukrainian traditions, some of the basic elements are the ancestors, nature, holy mother-earth and bread. The belief is that every aspect of nature has a soul and is part of the clan, the extended family. In prehistoric times people believed that if they carried out certain actions and rituals, chanting or singing specific words, then they could have an effect on the world of nature around them, and ensure that what they say will happen will actually come true because of their actions. The sun must be praised and reminded to return every spring. Mother earth must be thanked and praised for her bounty, and entertained and honored so that next year the harvest will be even better. The ancestors who have departed stay around protecting and helping the living, and they, too, must be praised and thanked.

In the rituals of obzhynky these elements are obvious, as they are in other rituals of the yearly cycle. In the harvest songs, the sun and rain are praised and thanked. Ritual prayers and incantations are offered for future bounty and fertility, and for protection from hail, fire, drought and flood. Veles is an important god, the protector of cattle and other animals - hence one of the names for the clump of grain, Velesova Boroda. To the people it was obvious that where the animals were, through natural fertilizer, the grain grew more bountiful.

The sun and rain were not the only powers responsible for a good harvest. Some of the souls of the ancestors who had departed this world lived in the fields. They protected and nourished the "nyva" (field), they ensured that the crops grew well. The souls also had to be thanked. In the songs and in their actions, the zhentsi pay homage to the departed. With the end of harvest, the souls go in different directions, some into the rivers and lakes, some into the woods and forests. Some become birds - that is why the "perepilka" (quail) is mentioned so often in the harvest songs. The souls closest to each family came home in the didukh - that is why making it, decorating it, and carrying it home in a procession was such an important part of obzhynky.

The Boroda was another vital aspect of this feast, and is a custom that reaches into agricultural prehistory, when humans first realized that seed from a plant will grow into another plant. This realization, this paradigm shift marks the beginning of agriculture, in the Neolithic period, approximately 7,000-3,500 B.C. (depending upon the region). While most archaeologists consider the Near East the cradle of agriculture and the source of its spread into Europe, there are some indications that there were local discoveries of agriculture and animal domestication.

At present, we have no way of knowing whether some agricultural discoveries happened on the territory of Ukraine. But the continuation of the rituals of obzhynky, especially the Didova Boroda, indicate that the birth of agriculture was remembered by the population on Ukrainian territory, and that these rituals were so important that they were passed on to future generations. There is still no indication of if or how these Neolithic residents were ancestors of the later Slavs, and then Ukrainians (with DNA analysis, we may know soon enough). By plaiting the rooted grain clump in a way that the stalks point downward, the Ukrainian farmer of a few centuries ago echoed the prehistoric realization that grain actually seeded itself. A continuation of this symbol is the tree of life (so elegantly and simply depicted by the late Jacques Hnizdovsky in one of his woodcuts), with the seeds falling to the ground, sprouting and growing into a plant that blooms and produces flowers, then seeds - which fall to the ground.

When the hospodar symbolically sows a few grains from the Boroda around it, we have reinforcement, and the progression from the seed seeding itself (as it did in the Paleolithic) to agriculture (Neolithic). As a beard/boroda, it also took on the symbolism of the old respected members of the family, the ancestors. (I had tried to envision what the Boroda really looked like, and had a vague idea based on the descriptions in the various books. But it was only during my visit to the museum located within the fortress at Kamyanets-Podilskyi that I saw an actual Boroda in the obzhynky display. [The members of my tour group could not figure out why I was so thrilled about seeing a clump of wheat!]

The vinok/wreath has a double meaning. Along with its meaning of eternity, honor and glory, it also signifies goodness, beauty, chastity, purity and innocence. Standing under a vinok means to get married (the Ukrainian word for the church ceremony is "vinchannia" from the root word, vinok). That is why the hospodar tells the kniahynia that he hopes to see her in a vinok next year - he wishes she will marry then.

With the harvest came the end of the hard field work. People had more time, and fall was the time of "vulytsia," "vechornytsi" (matchmaking) and "vesillia" (weddings). Blended into the Obzhynky songs are many references to being under the vinochok. The procession back from the fields takes on the appearance of a wedding procession, with "druzhky" (bridesmaids). By blending the obzhynky and vesillia motifs (the latter motifs appear in all annual rituals), people wished bliss and fertility to both the fields and the families.

The obzhynky songs are special. They recreate what the people believe. I especially like the wishful thinking - by singing that the stodoly (barns) are full, the zhentsi are hoping they will be.

One harvest song that has become a regular folk song is "Oi litaye sokolonko po poliu, tai zbyraie cheliadonku dodomu. Idy, idy cheliadonko dodomu, vyhuliala vse litechko po poliu. Vyhuliala vse litechko, sche i zhnyva, zabolila holovonka sche i spyna. (The young falcon is flying over the field, and calling his family home. Come home, family, you spent all summer and the harvest in the field. The head hurts, and so does the spine.) Symbolically, this shows the ancestors being called home from the fields.

In other songs, the singers sing about their aching backs, about the moon and stars (indicating that they worked well into the night), about the number of sheaves, the girls in their vinky, the field birds, the farewell to the fields for the winter, and the high hopes for good fortune and a full harvest next year.

There were even special songs for the road they walked along going to the hospodar. As they got closer to the house and to the gate, the lyrics turned to more basic things: We're tired, we're hungry, pay us, feed us and give us horilka to drink.

The pioneers who settled the Canadian prairies celebrated just as they did back home, although in a much harsher climate. For those who came to the cities, the harvest holidays were the first to be forgotten, because they did not have relevance in an urban setting. The National Ukrainian Canadian Festival in Dauphin, Manitoba, at the beginning of August, still has obzhynky rituals as part of the opening ceremonies.

Nonetheless, while urban Ukrainian families are not that close to the rural soil, the didukh of Ukrainian Christmas is a reminder of harvest, its bounty, our ancestors and the beginning of agriculture.

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