UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (03/14/04)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

A trip to Ukraine: learning about my heritage, and myself

by Roxanna Kobziar

She twirled the wool with her wrinkled hands, straightening and flattening each piece. She reached for another piece from the heap and did the same thing, placing it onto a pile of flattened wool. Two of her granddaughters were working the spindle, while another child took the pile of flattened wool and began to sort through it.

The elderly woman stood up from the chair, stretched her arms, and sat back down. She must have been about 90 years old and nearly blind. However, her eyes were wise and full of knowledge, and her hands were wrinkled and sore. She squinted at the wool which she started to smooth again; her hands shook as she handed it to her granddaughter.

I sat there in silence, as I watched her granddaughter begin to feed the wool through the loom, and manually stitch each intricate knot. I watched the older woman as she calmly and methodically went about her job. I couldn't help thinking that she would have been placed in a nursing home if she had lived in America.

I questioned my own work ethic as I watched the woman, doubting that I would ever work so hard and long on something. Wool weaving was, is, and will continue to be her life, until she is able to pass on her responsibilities to her granddaughters. They are youthful and energetic, carrying out the tasks their grandmother had assigned them. They know no other life. The Ukrainian people do not have many options.

The woman smiled proudly, as I took a few pictures. I should have asked her more questions, or told her that I have a few rugs like hers at home.

I should have asked her where I could find some perogies [varenyky]. If you don't know how great a perogie tastes, I suggest you drive right down to your local Ukrainian kitchen and try one. Those delicious, dumpling-type morsels were the original reason I agreed to go on a camping trip to Ukraine. I was hoping to eat them everyday.

My grandparents played a key role in my decision to go, talking about "going to see the mother country" and "seeing the land of your ancestors," words that I have been familiar with since I was a child. I contemplated for days whether or not I had made the right choice. I was worried that I would disappoint my family if I didn't see Ukraine in the glorified way that was expected of me.

I kept coming back to one single thought. If I was going to Ukraine, I'd be eating the trademark of Ukrainian food, right? But when I got there, I found no perogies. Apparently Ukrainians are not as fond of perogies as I am, and not only have they failed to construct perogie restaurants in Ukraine, but they have even neglected to incorporate them into a menu of an ordinary restaurant. Where in America could you go and not find a hamburger?

* * *

My grandparents had instilled in me an idealized vision of Ukraine, and that vision was nurtured over the years by the influences of my Ukrainian school teachers, and even my parents. When I finally arrived, my fears became a certainty when my impression of Ukraine was surely not that glamorous image everyone had hoped I would find.

I met many different people along the way, who taught me so much about who I am as a Ukrainian American. They made me question my priorities in life and who I was going to become when I grew up. My heritage is incredibly full of wonderful traditions, which I still uphold, and plan to continue to do so.

Though the world around her is changing, the elderly woman continues the tradition of rug making. We as Americans have become so influenced and consumed by television that it has taken priority over the real backbone of our country - the traditions and culture that make Americans different from the rest of the world. In Ukraine I had peered into the true Ukrainian lifestyle. I saw the poverty in the cities and the rich gardens of the cottages in the country villages. I saw suffering people, yet they didn't seem to be unhappy.

And, as I sit here typing on my computer, listening to music, with the TV blaring in the background, I can't help but think that the majority of the Ukrainian population has none of these things. I suppose it doesn't matter to them, the material things are not as important as most Americans would seem to think. Families, love, laughter, friendship, are important. I was really able to see what was significant in life, and what really matters to me.

I left home thinking about perogies. However, I left Ukraine thinking about who I was. Perogies didn't seem to matter anymore.

What did matter? It was me trying to go on with this trip by taking in everything I saw and heard. I felt as if I understood my heritage better, and finally understood why my grandparents taught me to be so proud of who I am. Perhaps I had interpreted that whole idealized view incorrectly - the view was not about the country itself, but more about the values and attitudes of the people.

I may have left Ukraine not eating a true Ukrainian perogie, but I left knowing myself.

Roxanna Kobziar is a senior at Pelham Memorial High School and a member of the New York branch of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organiza-tion. In the fall she will be attend Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.

Iskra Dance Ensemble performs at 13th annual International Dinner

by Karen Chelak

LIVINGSTON, N.J. - The Iskra Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Whippany, N.J., under the artistic direction of Roma Pryma Bohachevsky performed at the 13th annual International Dinner held at Newark Academy on January 30.

The gymnasium of the school, a private institution for children from the sixth to the 12th grades, was bedecked with flags from all over the world, including that of Ukraine. Iskra opened the entertainment portion of the program with the fast-paced "Bukovyna." As the dancers entered the gym, people's mouths dropped at the beauty of the unusual costumes. The headpieces, with their fringe and grass coming out of the top, dazzled the crowd.

After the crowd was entertained with Scottish bagpipes and African drum rhythms, Iskra returned to perform a rousing rendition of the "Hopak" in beautiful costumes from the Poltava region: royal blue velvet korsetky, billowing "sharavary" and brightly beribboned "vinky." It was pointed out to the crowd before the dance that the central region of Ukraine, from which the dance originates, was one of the hardest hit by the Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933, but the dance's joy and vitality shows that the spirit of the Ukrainian people has survived.

The crowd responded with thunderous and prolonged applause after the performance and many members of the organizing committee asked Iskra to please return next year.

The entire Ukrainian community should be proud of these dancers for helping to enlighten other Americans about the beauty of Ukrainian culture and its unique place in world history.

Participating senior Iskra troupe members were: Nicole Berezny, Anna Chelak, Lara Chelak, Deanna Rakowsky, Katya Syzonenko and Danny Walchuk. Special thanks to guest artists Yarko Dobriansky and Christopher Kovalchick, members of Syzokryli, who performed in the "Hopak."

Mishanyna

To solve this month's Mishanyna, find the words capitalized in the following text in the grid below.

MARCH is traditionally celebrated by Ukrainians around the globe as the month of Taras SHEVCHENKO. This year's celebrations are particularly noteworthy as it was 190 years ago that Ukraine's greatest POET, was born.

Shevchenko was born on March 9, 1814, in MORYNTSI, in the Kyiv region of UKRAINE, which was then under the rule of the Russian EMPIRE. He was born a serf - basically a slave who was owed by a landowner just like property - and grew up in POVERTY.

When his owner noticed Shevchenko's artistic TALENT he sent him to be an apprentice to an artist in St. Petersburg, Russia. As a result, Shevchenko met other artists and writers, including fellow Ukrainians. His new friends bought him out of serfdom, and Shevchenko was able to enroll in the Academy of FINE ARTS in St. Petersburg.

In 1840 Shevchenko published his first collection of poetry, the KOBZAR. Other works followed, for example, the EPIC poem "Haidamaky" and the BALLAD "Hamalia."

Shevchenko was able to travel back to Ukraine and these visits had a great influence on him as he saw the suffering of his NATION. He began to write more satirical and politically sensitive works.

In 1846 he joined a SECRET society called the Brotherhood of Ss. Cyril and Methodius and soon thereafter he was arrested by authorities of the Russian tsarist regime. The discovery of his poems, many of which were critical of the TSAR, resulted in him being sentenced to serve military DUTY in a REMOTE area near the Caspian Sea. But worst of all was the tsar's ORDER that Shevchenko be prevented from writing or painting. Nonetheless, Shevchenko continued to do both, although in secret.

Shevchenko was finally released in 1857, but he was not allowed to return to his native Ukraine. He was allowed to make one visit to Ukraine in 1859, but was once again ARRESTED and sent back to St. Petersburg, where he remained under police watch until he died on March 10, 1861.

Taras Shevchenko INSPIRED his contemporaries and those who came after him with his ideas about an INDEPENDENT Ukraine. He is known as the GREAT awakener of the people of Ukraine as his works raised the national consciousness of his people. That is why, each year in March we remember Shevchenko as the NATIONAL BARD of Ukraine.

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