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CHRISTMAS UNDER SOVIETS At rbhis joyous time when thou sands upon thousands of families throughout the free world are getting' ready -to welcome the birthday of Christ, some recollec tions come tback to my mind. It cannot be maintained that in the Soviet Union, where I used to live, the observance of Christmas had always been repressed. No, it was passing there in a variety of ways. At the very beginning, when the Soviet government had been gathering strength, it did not meddle in religious and ritual practices. H e n c e in -the first years we were observing holidays in ac customed traditional fashion. However, it was different in a way. For a slogan has been pourJ ed out that “religion is the opium of the people,” and an anti-religi ous movement has already been in the first stage of becoming loos ened. This was the reason that during the first years there could las brings gifts for good children on December 19. According to le gend St. Nicholas, a Greek Bishop dedicated his life-time to helping the needy without letting himself be known. Twelve days after Christmas the Ukrainians celebrate the feas't of Jordan, when the priest and all the faithful go to the nearest river or creek and bles'ses the wa ter in memory of the baptismal of St. John in the river Jordan. Then the homes are blessed with ho'ly water and the head of the house hold makes three -crosses over the doorway — a large one at the center and smaller ones on either side — to signify Christ on the cross between two criminails. Another custom followed by many Ukrainians is on New Year’s morning when each mem ber of 'the family finds in a wash bowl a handful of wheat for good luok and a handful of silver mo ney for the wealth dura nig the coming year. All these customs of the Uk rainian Christmas s-eason are a oart of the tradition we have brought with us to America. Ann Sywulak. be noticed more piety, more spiri tuality than before World War I. The fact that after the fall of the Czarist regime the Church in Uk raine became Ukrainian, likewise contributed to this change. This state of affairs served to draw still more 'people to the Church, and the Orthodox Church, the Communist regime notwithstand ing, was growing and •enfolding larger and larger masses. But as time passed by the bol shevik government was accentu ating more and more its anti-re- liigiou's activities. The organiza tion of atheists began to arrange for anti-religious demonstrations, to interrupt divine services. The anti-religious tendency began to manifest itself in the schools, and komsomol (youth organizations) was compelled to participate in anti-religious activities. Just imagine the enduring of a child or a youngster at that time. -The pupil who had religious train ing at home, heard in the school that it was an old prejudice, that his parents were “biased people,” that Christ’s faith was affirming the system of exploitation, and that only now a paradise of the working people has begun. No wonder the weaker children sub mitted to the pressure. And the other, the better part of youth, having acquired -experience that no one had the right to oppose in that land,^ was -silently -concealing their feelings. Here are some examples front the school practice. In one class a pupil made red circles around the holidays on a calendar, so as to better remember the days. This had been spied out by some of his schoolmates who reported him to the teacher, in anticipation of some favor for their zeal. The boy was punished. Another example. During a re cess a group of pupils was carol ing (it was yuletide). Some re ported against them and they were punished. In another school a boy tried to denounce a girl, his schoolmate, that she had been celebrating a holiday for be had noticed that at her home the family wore better clothes and there had been a table cloth on the table. The teacher, in spite of her preaching anti-religi ous propaganda, answered: It must have been Sunday, you pro bably made a mistake. In still another school a pupil- asked the teacher whether it is permissible to celebrate holidays. But before she could answer the question, another boy said: You are a fool. If she answers your question, she will lose her job. The Christmas tree likewise passed through varied changes. At .first it was tolerated, then pro hibited and since 1933 it has been again 'permitted for children’s en joyment on New Year. Thus Christmas and its customs underwent changes and persecu tion under bolshevik regime, how ever the communists were not able to destroy religion and its tradition. O. Trofimovska. IF I HAVE A BOOK: I may be lonely, yet have com pany and entertainment; I may be isolated, yet know great cities; I may be lame or bed-ridden, yet travel through the far-off lands: I may be ignorant, yet gain great knowledge; I may be poor, yet share the lux ury of kings in their palaces; I may be obscure, yet touch the minds of the famous and the experience of the adventurous; I may be unskilled, yet learn the arts from great masters; T may be confused and puzzled, but find guidance. Bertha Steitz. “God is in every tomorrow Therefore I live for today, Certain of finding at -s'unrise, Guidance and strength for the way; Power for each moment of weak ness, Hope for each moment of pain, Comfort for every sorrow, Sunshine and joy after rain.” (President’s Message, Inglewood Women’s Club, Inglewood, Calif.) Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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