REFLECTIONS: New Year's Eve now, and then

by Dzvinka M. Zacharczuk

PHILADELPHIA - The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center in Philadelphia makes good use of its large banquet hall. An appealing decor and its 10-foot-diameter chandelier with matching sconces give the hall ambiance and charm. For the New Year's Eve festivities, a lot of sparkles and balloons were laboriously arranged by the hard-working committee.

The orchestra came early, rehearsing and adjusting sound systems. This hometown Philadelphia orchestra with a great tempo has a wonderful American success story. A few music lovers, who recently arrived from Ukraine, got together and just made music at parties and weddings. The musicians were often referred to as "those from the Fourth Wave." Hence the name they adopted for their group was the Orchestra of the Fourth Wave, and they composed a beautiful theme song so titled.

On New Year's Eve the banquet hall sparkled and resounded with music as 300 guests arrived for the celebration. The guests were mostly all new Ukrainians, the Fourth Wave, with just a sprinkling of the "old immigrants," who now seem to favor private parties. For those who work so hard in the Philadelphia Ukrainian community, it was heartwarming to have the center all lit up and full of people having fun on New Year's Eve.

The admission included platters of snacks and appetizers on each table, a 10 p.m. dinner in the Gallery and "bigus" (sauerkraut and sausage), sweets and coffee after midnight. Included also was a bottle of champagne for the New Year's toast. Many guests still brought their little shopping bags with their favorite goodies. Some also came with school-age youngsters - babysitters are at a premium on such an occasions. The little girls were all dressed up in party dresses. Somehow these youngsters managed to amuse themselves. Those who had to pass up a fast polka, a twist or a fox trot due to arthritis and such watched and enjoyed the company.

As for those like myself, who by no choice of their own were born on New Year's Eve, there always is a tendency to reminisce, not just about the passing year, but about life as a whole. So, as I watched my fellow revelers enjoy a hot Hopak, I remembered such a celebration more than 50 years ago.

It was our first New Year's Eve in America. We were the new wave - "the Third Wave," in fact. The hall at the Ukrainian Home in Baltimore was not as big as the center's banquet room in Philadelphia, but it was full of Third Wave Ukrainians with just a sprinkling of the so-called "old immigrants" of that time. There was also a committee that donated time, effort and "torty" (those delicious home-made cakes).

There were also a few of us children, who had no one to watch us at home. I remember some boys brought checkers and were playing in the cloakroom. The girls, however, did not have fancy party dresses - ours was the epoch of pleated navy skirts and white blouses with sailor collars. I remember, too, some of the grown-ups also brought little bags with goodies.

Then, at midnight, there was a crescendo of sounds made by the "so American" New Year's Eve toys that the "old country's" professors and doctors blew and rattled with delight. And one heard "Happy New Year" in broken English from a generation of Ukrainians who actually never did master this "foreign language."

Not much has changed since then, I thought. Yet there are nice improvements. The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center in Philadelphia is far larger and richer in its facilities than the small Ukrainian Home in Baltimore was more than 50 years ago. People like me grew up, became professionals and married, and now our grandchildren speak both Ukrainian and English.

This New Year's Eve at the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center was merrier and lasted into the early hours of the morning. Not so much "Happy New Year" was heard as was "Mnohaya Lita" (Many Years), sung with heart and exuberance to all and by all. At one point, a toast of "Mnohaya Lita" was sung to a guest at the party who was celebrating his 91st birthday.

It was 3:30 a.m. as I drove my husband, Borys Zacharczuk, the president of the UECC's board of directors, home. He was brimming with satisfaction and tremendous gratitude to all those members of the board and other volunteers who worked so hard to make it all possible.

"It was a great party," I heard him say as we left the center, still brightly lit and sparkling, the dance going strong as the orchestra played its beautiful theme song:

The Fourth Wave now,
Wave after wave,
We're all waves from
The same beloved sea.

Happy New Year 2004 and "Mnohaya Lita" to all.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 25, 2004, No. 4, Vol. LXXII

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