THE THINGS WE DO...: "That's bull*#^@!"

THE THINGS WE DO...

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

"That's bull*#^@!"

I'll agree with you, dear readers, that not every one of my articles is as great as it could or should be, but getting the above reaction to my Christmas traditions series of articles was a bit mind-boggling - especially since it came from an elderly, grey-haired tiny Ukrainian Canadian baba. True, she didn't tell me directly, but expressed it to her daughter. And, to this babunia, what I write about our traditions does sound like a load of bull.

While so far only one person has expressed his doubts quite gently to me in person (and he is leaning toward my views), and a few others shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes as they look away, there have been others who regard me as, if not armed and dangerous, then at least "a few pyrogies short of a banquet," as they say here in Winnipeg.

Let's rewind. I didn't start out consciously trying to be the "guru of Ukrainian traditions," or the "oracle of things Ukrainian," as some have called me (whether seriously or in jest, I have no idea and it doesn't matter, since they still refer questions to me). Quite a few decades ago, rather than just wonder about why we do what we do as Ukrainians - especially in our customs - I began finding out. The information is there, in many scholarly books and articles (although very little is in English). And once you have the background information, Ukrainian folklore (ritual, folk and historical songs, proverbs, customs) and the material culture and folk arts do show and explain the origins and symbolism of our traditions.

The major problem for many Ukrainians in North America is accepting the pre-Christian - actually non-Christian - origin of our traditions. "What do you mean, the hay and straw don't signify the manger? Who said the 12 dishes of Sviat Vechir don't represent the 12 apostles? Of course, the pysanka [Easter egg] symbolizes Christ's Resurrection! Christian is always better than non-Christian!"

When my very first article on Ukrainian Christmas traditions appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press back in 1973, the reaction was mixed. People were pleased that "Ukrainian" Christmas was featured on the first page of the Saturday paper's magazine (in those olden days, there were no Sunday papers in Winnipeg), but for some my explanation of the traditions was embarrassing.

People seemed to have read only what they wanted in the article. I ended the two-page feature with the comment that we, as Ukrainians, no longer believe in these rituals the way our prehistoric ancestors did, that our traditions now celebrate the birth of Christ, and we respect the richness of what was passed on to us by our ancestors. But that didn't count.

"She made us sound like pagans!" This was the reaction of a well-educated, professional Ukrainian Canadian couple at a Christmas dinner that a good friend of mine attended. She told me how these people complained on and on about how embarrassed they felt having the whole city read about our Christmas traditions.

My friend then asked them how they celebrated Sviat Vechir the night before: did they serve the 12 meatless and non-dairy dishes including kutia and uzvar, did they have a kolach and candle on the table, was there an empty place setting, was there a didukh [sheaf of wheat] in the corner? Well, of course! My friend's question to them was, "So what are you complaining about?"

In curating a major exhibit on the pysanka for the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center (Oseredok) in the late 1970s, Vera Senchuk and I tried to cover all aspects of the symbolism and art of the Ukrainian Easter egg. Much thought went into the text and illustrations for the captions of the exhibit which filled the Oseredok art gallery with thousands of pysanky. One small glass case featured pysanky with Christian themes, while the majority of the cases on symbolism showed their pre-Christian meanings. An erudite elderly gentleman, a pillar of the community, took me aside the day before the opening, and asked - seriously - if we could tone down the pre-Christian emphasis of pysanky. After all, the bishops and priests would be there for the opening, and what will they think?! The exhibit stayed as it was, and was a great success.

I get invited to many cities for workshops and lectures on these topics, and I never know what the reaction will be. In one city, the community invited me for a Kupalo workshop. Without ever meeting me or hearing what I have to say, one of the priests in the city forbade the distribution in his church of the flier announcing the workshop, and prohibited his parishioners from attending because he didn't approve of "the propagation of pagan rituals." In another city, members of the audience at a lecture on the origins of our traditions asked me to talk about our koliadky [carols], because their priest had said that only Christian carols can be sung in church, and the other kind only in the church hall. This attitude seems to be ecumenical, because each of our Ukrainian Churches was represented by these priests.

I passed on the reply that the fathers should immediately stop blessing water on Yordan, blessing Easter baskets, fruit (for Spasa), and flowers (for Matky Bozhoyi), stop blessing and distributing pussy willows on Palm Sunday, and should not benefit at all from the money collected during carolling - since these are all pre-Christian, i.e. "pagan," in origin.

I don't go looking for controversy. Honest. But sometimes folks just can't accept a new, even though very old, explanation to what they have known differently all their lives. The Church has indeed been efficient in its teaching over the last two millennia. Whether in Ireland, Mexico or Ukraine, the missionaries and Church authorities banned and deemed "pagan" the non-Christian beliefs and rituals of the now supposedly converted populations. The formula: Christianity = good, "paganism" = evil. In Ukrainian, it is very close from "pohany" [pagans] to "pohanyi" [ugly], a remnant of that time. If only it were so simple.

Tradition does not burst forth suddenly: it is something that grows and develops, and originates from the basic beliefs and way of life of a clan, community, tribe and nation. Why should something new be accepted outright, just because some stranger says so, when the ways of the ancestors have been just fine as they are? In time, there was compromise on both sides, but the old ways were not forgotten by the people, even though they now attended church. Nor did the clergy completely accept the strange heathen rituals, and well into the 15th-16th centuries fought the blessing of Easter baskets, hahilky (ritual spring dances) and carolling. The Feast of Kupalo certainly was unacceptable.

By combining the old feasts with saints' days and other Christian holy days, and by finally accepting some of the ancient rituals into those of the Eastern Christian faith, the church unofficially achieved compromise - dualism ("dvoieviria", actually "two faiths"). If local beliefs had not been accepted, the Christian Church would have uniform rituals all over the world, and this it surely does not. Most Roman Catholics do not bless Easter baskets, although the Poles do, because their earlier Slavic beliefs have remained. But in that pre-Christian basket of sacrifice foods, there is a Polish compromise - a butter or cheese Lamb of God.

In describing the conflict between Christian and pre-Christian at one of my lectures in the "Let's Talk Culture Series" at Oseredok, I inadvertently offended a contemporary pagan. A large group of young Canadians had attended my "Feast of Koliada" lecture at the center; they were from across Canada, part of a government program for youth. I had never seen such an assortment of pierced faces at the center before. In explaining the Church's stance on everything non-Christian as "pagan," I said that the word "pagan" in this sense, to the Church, denoted something negative, i.e., "bad" or "evil."

During the break, a young man approached and complained that I had offended him, because he was a pagan, and into all the old Celtic things. I explained myself, and later reiterated to the whole group that what I meant was that, in the Church's eyes, pagan meant bad, not that I was saying it was bad. The young pagan smiled and waved. I prefer the term "pre-Christian," which is not subjective, although I realize that many people accept "pagan" as meaning "non-Christian," to them also non-subjective.

I have no hidden agenda in selecting this or that topic - I just try to cover "all that old stuff" that people ask about. In the words of that great mind of the 20th century, Dave Barry, "I am not making this up." Even if I tried, I couldn't.

Would any of us have come up with kutia (the special food of Sviat Vechir - cooked wheat grains, ground poppy seeds and honey) as a food? Why were cloves of garlic placed in the corners of the Christmas Even table, under the table cloth - why not onions or parsley root? Why don't other Christians have a meatless, non-dairy menu for Sviat Vechir?

How about the periwinkle and myrtle wreaths for the heads of the bride and groom, instead of ivy or creeping Charlie? Why a korovai (wedding bread) with wheat stalks and poppies decorating it, instead of roses or lilacs?

Why not a fancy cake for Easter instead of a rich bread with over 12 egg yolks and in a special shape? Why go through all the painstaking trouble of writing in melted beeswax on the surface of a raw egg - and only certain designs and not others? For example, why are there horses and deer and rams on pysanky, but no cows or bulls? From a utilitarian point of view, that pysanka is a most impractical, really useless object. Why are certain quite strange designs embroidered and woven, and not others, maybe more pleasant or artistic ones? Why do we...? Why don't we...?

What we do and don't do is part of our heritage, our traditions - not from a few centuries ago, but from 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. (There they go rolling their eyes again!) We did not select certain things and rituals, they were just passed on through family and community. And they were important enough, even vital, to have survived all that the Ukrainian people have endured over the centuries.

In a contemporary world, in a different way of life, with different beliefs, we don't need to do the things our distant ancestors believed they had to do in order to survive in nature. But as Ukrainians dispersed around the world, most of us emotionally need that connection to whatever it is that makes us what we are. Tradition can't be enforced, and it cannot be taken away that easily. Our stubborn dualistic ancestors saw to that.

If you don't believe me, try serving a stratta for Easter breakfast or some Chinese food for Sviat Vechir instead.

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