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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛИПЕНЬ - СЕРПЕНЬ 201 2 WWW. UNWLA.ORG 31 B irds in Flight by Olia Rudyk Flour??? For decades that used to be a very scary word as far as I was concerned. Fear enveloped me at the thought of baking a cake or , even worse, making varenyky . Whenever that five - pound bag of flour came out of the pantry, al l I saw was lots of clean up. It never failed to get into every nook and cranny of the kitchen and floor. I confess that my ch ildren grew up deprived of home - baked birthday cakes and I am grateful to Betty Crocker for helping me out when I had to save face on those rare occasions. Sometimes I had no choice and broke down to please my daughter and son. If it wasn’t for Baba’s vare - nyky , this traditional food would have been a fo r- eign dish to them also. Do n’t get me wron g! A yummy home - baked Ukrainian tort and potato and cheese varenyky are two of my favorite foods ... but when someone else makes them!! ! So you can imagine the astonishment and anxiety that overwhelmed me when one day my daughter, Adrianna, announced that she and I were going to learn how to make a korovai . What could I have possibly done to this wonderful child to deserve such agonizing payback? But I quickly calmed down when she explained that the lesson would take place at the Ukrainian Museum in New York. Phew!!! Someone else will have to worry about the flour in all those nooks and crannies...! Off we went on a beautiful fall morning to spend a day with Master k orovai artists Larysa Zielyk and Lubow Wolynetz. Needless to say, the room was packed with eager students wanting to learn the technique as well as the history behind the tradition. Ukrainian wedding b read, traditionally known as Korovai , symbolizes co mmunity and the circle of life. To quote Lubow Wolynetz, “Many cultures around the world include rituals associated with the celebration of the cult of bread.” No different are Ukrainians with their traditional bread rituals . Man cultivates the earth, plows, sows , and nourishes himself with the fruits of the harvest. Prior to Christianity, the gods were worshiped becaus e they were believed to protect the farmer' s fields. Customs, rituals , and folklore developed to exalt each changing season a nd , more importantly , to commemorate major events in life. Songs, dances , and myths were born from these ancient beliefs. Eventually, with the acce p- tance of Christianity , these customs became i n- tertwined with holy days such as Christmas and Easter. It is u nderstandable then that the wedding ceremony would have bread play a major role. The bride and groom cannot survive alone and their life is “cultivated” just as the grain of wheat. The korovai symbolizes a life filled with family, friends, children, health , and prosperity. The va r- ious components adorning the korovai represent these elements. Most importantly, the korovai is to be baked by happily married women who pray for a perfect outcome. They then present their korovai to the bride and groom as a blessing K orovai made by Olia Rudyk and Adrianna Odomirok.
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