Dear Editor:
When I was a child growing up in Ohio, the Christmas Eve service at my mother’s church was always the best part of Christmas – I loved the Christmas Carols. Ever since then I have searched every year for a special choir to bring back that childhood memory. I think I have found that memory once more in the choir at the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Miami.
It doesn’t matter if I don’t speak Ukrainian – the beauty of the a cappella harmonies was so uplifting that I didn’t need to understand all of the words. The sweet soprano of the ladies contrasting with the resonant bass and baritone of the men, the blending of voices, the powerful swelling of meaningful moments, the softness of the spiritual – it was all so spellbinding to me.
And I love the little church. It is very Old World. I felt as if I had stepped back into another era, another continent, a world sculpted by hand and painted in an artist’s hue of celestial blue and vibrant images of Christ and Mary and the saints. A simplicity of architecture – nothing overpowering, but perfectly created in its message of adoration of the Divine. As was the music – the purity of the voice as the only instrument that lifts us higher and higher.
I have always loved Oksana Piaseckyj’s beautiful soprano – the clarity of her voice and the expression of emotion from her heart. She sang my favorite carol, “O Holy Night.” I loved the song in English and in Ukrainian, for her song filled me with the true meaning of Christmas.
And so I thank the Choir with its excellent choir director, Donna Maksymowich-Waskiewicz, the parish priest, Father Andrij Romankiv, and the Ukrainian Church for giving me once more that special memory of my childhood – be it in English or Ukrainian – the gift of Christmas carols and the love and fellowship this special evening created.
Miami
The letter writer is a teacher of English at Miami Dade College.