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Rushnyk with design of the highly stylized Goddes Berehynia. From ethnographic collection of the Ukrainian Museum in NYC Рушник, на якому зображена стилізована богиня "Береги ня". Експонат з УМ в Нью-Йорку. cloths show a series of pictures of Berehynia, one figure above another, so that it looks like a tree with two or three pairs of branches spreading sideways.” (“ Rushnyky: Ukrainian Ritual Cloths” by Lubow Woly- netz in the Goddess exhibition catalogue.) Mrs. Woly- netz writes that the best examples of the Berehynia motif are found on ritual cloths from Krolevets’, a city in the Sumy region of Ukraine, which in olden times was a large weaving center and “an important stop on the trade routes between Ukraine and Russia.” Natalie Moyle, Professor of Folklore, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA., offered an excellent intro duction to the exhibition with her article in the cata logue entitled "The Goddess: Prehistoric and Modern.” Ms. Moyle traces the development of the ancient god dess figure, the significance of her powers and the implimentation of the figure in every ritual in the cycle of life, the most important being in the reproductive capacity. In embroidery, the goddess figure is two dimensional, unlike the clay figurines which can show anatomical pregnancies. Therefore, the Great Mother called Mokosh — the wet earth, or Rozhanitsa — the giver of birth, in other countries of eastern Europe sports exaggeratedly huge skirt. “ From it, consistent with the symbolic system observed in the preshistoric figurines, emerge not only “daughters,” smaller versions of the Goddess, but horses, birds and assorted vegeta tion. Also consistent with this symbolic system, the use of the cloths extends beyond the rites of pregnancy and birth and includes harvest and other rites of the agrarian yearly cycle, as well as the healing and protection of cattle.” Ms. Moyle makes a very positive distinction between the Goddess as seen in contemporary art objects, such as in embroidery executed by women, and the Goddess figure represented in men’s art. Women portray the Goddess “very much like the one in Neolithic art.” Men, both in pictures “ (wood painting and wood carving) and verbal, (tales and memorates)” make her “wanton and destructive, though irrisistably attractive (Moyle). This is consistent with the theory that Goddess worship was suppressed by patriarchal groups.” In Ukrainian folklore, an excellent example of this is the rusalka, who is probably a descendant of the God dess. She is a beautiful water creature, associated with trees and crop fertility, who is devastating to men, yet created by them. The Goddesses and Their Offspring exhibition offered an unusual opportunity to reevaluate an art form, em broidery, which today we appreciate mainly for its aes thetic quality. It would be well to remember that the patterns and designs which give us so much pleasure carry stylized reflections of very real cultures that thrived ages ago and whose beliefs were so strongly ingrained in the fabric of their existance, that they withstood the purges of time and have filtered down to us. That is something to reflect upon. AN ANNIVERSARY OF SADNESS... On a rainy, dismal March day in 1986, on a road between Frankfurt and Marburg, Germany, Juliana Ra- tych lost her life in an automobile accident. Death is always unwarranted and horrid. It is particu larly difficult for those who have to deal with the pass ing of a loved one. But it is a tragedy of the utmost pro portions, having to deal with the death of a young, vibrant, beloved person. It is a fact that is unacceptable not only to the family of that person, but to friends, acquaintances... to everyone. An individual’s attainments in life are not only mea sured by the length of their success, but by their sub stance. The relatively short life lived by Juliana Ratych was distinguished by its positive and constructive activ ity, achievements in the education field and by her broad interests. She was raised in a family which stressed education, and where sacrifice and devotion to the causes of her ancestral homeland was a tradition from generation to generation. Juliana was the only child of Dr. Oleh and Dr. Iwanna Ratych. Juliana distinguished herself in education. She was a Rutgers College honors graduate, Class of 1981 with a 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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