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- Ukrainian W oman - Ukrainian Easter Traditions F or m an y A m erican s of U k rain ian d escen t E a ster is a sso ci ated w ith th e trad ition al U k rain ian E a ster eg g , th e “p y sa n k a .” M any o f us rem em ber h ow our m oth ers placed one or m ore of th ese colorfu l E a ster eg g s in to th e carefu lly prepared E a ster b a sk ets, w h ich w ere to be b lessed in ch urch by th e p riest. P erh ap s som e o f us even had th e oppor tu n ity to see how th ese “p y sa n k y ” w ere decorated. L ittle M arya in M . H alu n -B loch ’s book “M a ry a o f C lark A v en u e” describes how sh e liked to w a tch h er fa th er d ecoratin g th e E a ster eg g s. T h ere are, h ow ever, a num ber o f oth er eq ually im p ortan t cu s tom s and tra d itio n s w h ich h ave th eir origin in th e joy o u s holiday o f E a ster. A m on g th ese are th e “p a sk a ,” and th e cu stom s a sso ci ated w ith E a ster M onday, know n in U k rain e as “O blyvany P onedi- lok .” “P a sk a ,” is an E a ster bread, w h ich is baked once a year in ob servan ce o f th e R esu rrection . T h e “p a sk a ,” m ade fro m w h eat- en flou r, is a h ig h , round bread, decorated w ith a cross, ro settes, and sp irals m ade from p a stry . T h e “p a sk a ” m ay be eaten only a fter it h a s been blessed . A s th e m ain E a ster food , it is placed in th e cen ter o f th e h olid ay tab le. T h e e g g is th e sym b ol o f life. T h e cu stom o f d ecoratin g it w ith g a y colors and sym b olic rep re sen ta tio n s is a v ery an cien t cu s tom . O ur an cestors decorated eg g s w ith sp irals, w aves, and m eand ers to rep resen t th e sun, h ap p in ess, and fe rtility . T h e g ift o f an E a ster e g g sym b olized th e b est w ish es o f th e g iver. “O blyvan y pon ed ilok,” or S p rin k lin g M onday, so-called b e cau se o f th e cu stom am on g y o u n g m en and w om en to “sp rin k le” each oth er w ith w ater, h as now becom e a lm ost a practical jok e, still a ttem p ted b y som e ad ven tu rou s y o u th s on th e g irls’ E a ster fin ery . T he cu stom , h ow ever, h as an old trad ition , d atin g back to th e p agan w orsh ip o f w a ter, as th e life-g iv in g elem en t. In th o se d ays, a b ath tak en in th e sp rin g sym b olized an em er gen ce from w in ter’s sp iritu al im p rison m en t. A m on g m an y p eo p les th is ritu al o f sp rin g b a th in g h as rem ain ed to th is day, w h ile our people h ave su b stitu ted th e cu stom o f “sp rin k lin g” for th e to ta l su b m ersion . In add ition to th e cu stom s a l read y described, th ere are still oth ers, w h ich are closely linked to th e h a rv est and fe r tility ritu als o f th e an cien t w orld. M any o f th ese ritu als are eith er un know n or u n fam iliar to us. H ow ever, th e “h a iv k y ,” trad ition al sp rin g gam es and son gs, h ave rem ain ed a fa v o rite E a ster cu s tom to th is day. T h e “h a iv k y ” are ga m es and choral com p osition s p erform ed b y y o u n g g irls and o ften ch il dren. T h ey con tain m an y elem en ts o f th e round dance and m i m icry, closely com bined w ith in terp retiv e son g, and th eir th em es are m o stly concerned w ith th e w elcom in g o f th e sun, th e burial o f w in ter, and th e callin g upon o f th e forces o f n atu re. L ike m an y o th er trad ition al sp rin g ritu als, th e “h a iv k y ” d ate back to p agan tim es, w h en our an ces tors w orshipped N a tu re, and so u g h t to ap p ease th e variou s N a tu re god s. In la ter tim es, th e “h a iv k y ” b egan to in corp orate m an y p an tom im e scen es from U k rain ian h isto ry , su ch as th e T artar a tta ck s, and th e ex p ed i tio n s o f th e U k rain ian forces. T h e m ain th em e o f th e “h a iv k y ,” how ever, con tin ued to be th e jo y and h ap p in ess a sso ciated w ith th e ea rth ’s reb irth a fter a lon g and d reary w in ter. T h ere are also m inor cu stom s. F or exam ple, th e candle, lig h ted d u rin g ch urch serv ices on H oly T h u rsd ay, is k ep t th ro u g h o u t th e year, and lig h ted on variou s im p ortan t cerem onial occasions. In add ition to th e “p y sa n k y ,” “k ra sh a n k y ” are also decorated. T h ese are eg g s dyed in one solid color, u su a lly red to sym b olize C h rist’s P assion . T h ese eg g s are prepared on Satu rd ay, w h ile th e “p y sa n k y ” are decorated du rin g L ent. W e shou ld m ake an e ffo r t to becom e acq uain ted w ith as m an y o f th ese E a ster cu stom s as w e can, for th ey are n ot only b eau ti- bul, but are also sym b olic o f a sp iritu al union w ith th e w orld of our an cestors. S U R V E Y OF U K R A IN IA N G R A D U A T E S T he su rv ey o f college grad u ated g irls in 1964 is now b ein g com pleted in “0 . L .” S even of th em received M aster d egrees and 96 th eir B .A . or S.A . T he list is n ot com plete as m an y B ran ch es did n ot report. B u t even th is num ber is en cou ragin g. M ost o f th e g irls ch ose th e tea ch er’s p ro fessio n . Som e ch em istry gra d u a tes w ill en ter re search w ork, b u sin ess ad m in is tra tion gra d u a tes w ill join eco n om ic en terp rises. A few w ere stu d y in g art or m u sic, hom e eco nom ics or n u rsin g. N O T E W e reg ret th a t in our ack now l ed gem en ts, w e n eg lected to sa y th a t cred it fo r th e B ran ch 72 M u sicale p ictu re, w h ich appeared in th e D ecem b er issu e o f O U R L IF E (V ol. X X I, N o. 11) shou ld h a v e been g iv en to M r. N ick Sa- w ick i. Editor НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — БЕРЕЗЕНЬ, 1966 19
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