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CONFESSIONS ABOUT SUPERSTITIONS AND EQUALITY This month I would like to share with you a letter I received from a young friend. What sh e d escribes occurs often in various forms in hom es, clubs and organizations. ”... remember when my daughters were one and two years of age, I always insisted that I would bring them up on an equal basis with their older brother. I have personally w itnessed too many illogical and unfair family d ecision s in the matter of education and other child-rearing problems. Moreover, I myself have suffered unfair treatment in our society. When it co m es to electing a presiding board for a meeting, usually a man becom es the chairman, but the secretary's position is usually offered to a member of the "fairer se x .” So with a gentlemanly gesture you are shown your place! "How I wanted to defeat this inequality! You’ll remember how at our house my son and my daughters took turns setting the table, washing the dishes, vacuum-cleaning etc. All three learned to cook, to mend their clothes etc. I thought that maybe I’ll be able to instill in the children the feeling that they are all equal. And to think that this egalitarian atm osphere that I had labored so long to maintain could be destroyed by a single incident. And all b ecau se of the holidays. "We try to celebrate all the religious holidays in the tradi tional way. On Christmas we put hay under the table-cloth, a didukh in the corner, and garlic on every corner of the table; we even walk arond the borders of our property with honey and wheat to insure that good fortune and happiness continue to dwell with us. We sprinkle bad poppy se e d s at all entrances to our home, so that ill fortune would eat its full of them and go away. In short, we do it by the book. "Before the New Year our son mentioned that he was laying som e wheat aside in order to spread it around the house on New Year's morning and ceremonially wish everyone a Happy New Year. He even looked up various traditional New Year’s greetings that he could use. "Early on New Year’s morning I heard a rustling in my room. Grains of wheat poured over my bed. I awoke and when I saw who it was that was sprinkling me with all this good will I leap't from my bed. " ’Be quiet dear! Don’t say a word. It’s the boy who must give the traditional greeting first.’ "What did I say— The shocked look on my daughter’s face woke me up completely. What had I done! After all that talk about equality, here I was like a narrow-minded, backward townswoman repulsing the girl’s sincere greetings. "Tradition won out. How many polite older ladies had at one time or another carefully asked, ’Has anyone wished you well yet? Is it alright for me to greet you?’ before wishing me a safe trip or a happy birthday. All this to make sure that the first greeting did not com e from a woman and thereby bring bad luck. "And here I was doing the sam e thing, reserving the right of first greeting for my son. The superstition of prior generations arose in me instinctively. After bringing up my daughter to belive that sh e had the sam e rights as men and was their equal, I scare her with the superstition that a woman’s greeting can bring bad luck. How can I now erase the incident from her memory!” I thought about this letter for a long time, and sin ce then I catch myself doing things like making sure I step out of bed with my right foot first. Well, at least my feet can ’t develop a complex of inequality. L; Kalynovych Translated by M-o T. Branch 32 Irvington, New Jersey As Branch 32 enters into its secon d decade, it enters into a whole new era of involvement, Under the leadership of its new officers Olga Smook, President, Anne Kalba, Vice President, Albina Lucyszyn, Treasurer, Stephanie Brenycz, Recording Secretary, and Gail Wislocky, Corresponding Secretary, a change is taking place. In looking over the activities of past years we can note the annual bazaar, the binnual fashion show and several small projects that becam e annual' affairs — all money-making events. We have now put aside the bazaar and no one mentions having a fashion show. Over the past year we have b ecom e more involved in the Inde pendence Day activities, exhibiting and, in general, promoting the ideals of the organization. Although we still have small fund raising events, they don ’t seem as im portant as our activities th ese days. We have taken more interest in the Ukrainian Museum. Our flag raising in Union, N.J. brought out many community-spirited people and press coverage. An up coming cultural exhibit in the Wood- bridge Library is geared to educate the non-Ukrainian public. In the past year, never have so many letters, newspaper articles and thank you notes been written by our Branch. Thank you notes are mentioned b ecau se this is proof to us that not only are we reaching out into the Branch 72 of the U.N.W.L.A. is having their gala dinner-dance weekend at Soyuzivka In K erhonkson, New York on O ctober 2Bth and 29th, 1978. Reser vations m ust be m ade early as this popular event Is quickly sold out. The nominal charge of $35. per person covers a w eekend at the lovely Soyuzivka and includes a cham pagne cocktail hour, dinner and dance on Saturday and breakfast and dinner on Sunday. Checks and requests for reservations should be sent to the Chairlady of the dance, Mrs. Nancy Marko, 8 Tanw ood Court, Bethpage, New York 11714. community for support, but they are helping us also. Money plays an important part in the growth of activities in any organization and it probably w on’t be long before we start dusting off th ose white elephants again, but for the time being, it’s a good feeling to look at the objectives of the organization according to the by-laws and know that Branch 32 is doing her best to fulfill th ose objectives. HEADQUARTERS NEWS: International Women’s Council is convening in Oslo, Norway, June 5-9, 1978, in celebration of its 90th anniver sary. Representing us at this meeting will be Iwanna Roszhankowska, UNWLA Pre sident. General Federation of Women’s Clubs will have its convention in Phoenix, Arizona, June 5-9. D elegate to this convention will be Chrystyna Nawrotska, vice president of UNWLA. НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ, ЧЕРВЕНЬ 1978 21
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