University of Illinois students learn about Chicago's Ukrainian culture (04/19/98)

University of Illinois students learn about Chicago's Ukrainian culture

by Lynne A. White

CHICAGO - When one imagines Chicago, one thinks of the Sears Tower, Wrigley Field, or the Michigan Avenue stores. However, our trip organized by Dr. Dmytro M. Shtohryn for his course of Ukrainian Culture (UKR 115) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign helped me discover the Ukrainian culture that exists in the heart of Chicago. Communities like the Ukrainian area make Chicago the diverse city it is.

The churches we visited were among the most beautiful I've ever seen. The Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir was our first stop. St. Vladimir is really astounding because of its ornate Baroque decorations including the wall of icons, the flags, the crosses and chandelier. The services are conducted in Ukrainian only, and the church follows the old (Julian) calendar.

Then we visited St. Nicholas, the Ukrainian Catholic cathedral that follows the new (Gregorian) calendar adopted by Western countries in the 16th century. St. Nicholas is a very large church built in the Kozak Baroque architectural style with a neo-Byzantine iconostasis. A large chandelier imported from Greece hangs in the center, and a beautiful gold wall of icons stands in the back of the sanctuary, separating the church from the holiest place at the front of the main altar. Services are in Ukrainian and English. In addition, the priest informed us of the Ukrainian tradition to always stand during services, a tradition of which I was unaware before our trip.

Our last church visit was to Ss. Volodymyr and Olha. Its building is in pure Byzantine architectural style. The exterior has a beautiful mosaic of the baptism of the Kyivan people in the Dnipro River, along with a mosaic design that has the dates 988-1988, signifying a millennium of Christianity in Ukraine that started with St. Volodymyr the Great baptizing Ukrainians in 988. Inside is an exquisite neo-Byzantine interior, with icons that were painted by an iconographer and a priest in the 1960s and also other decorations that covered the walls. Ss. Volodymyr and Olha follows the old (Julian) calendar in church services.

At the Ukrainian National Museum, our class learned about other aspects of Ukrainian culture. In the museum we were introduced to an exhibit of Ukrainian astronauts, followed by a room of Ukrainian leaders and Kozak awards. Next we saw Hutsul costumes of the Carpathian mountain region and traditional eastern Ukrainian outfits. All the clothing in the museum was amazing due to the hand embroidery and meticulous sewing that created them. We also viewed traditional Ukrainian folk instruments, like the bandura and the kobza. In addition, a display of Easter eggs that were painstakingly handcrafted with dyes and an exhibit of traditional wedding breads were seen by our class. We also were introduced to the money of Ukraine, both currency and coins used in the Ukraine.

Our guide informed us that the museum's library contains over 1,000 titles of periodicals and over 16,000 titles of monographs. The library in the museum is one of the largest collections of Ukrainian literature in Chicago.

Also on our itinerary were the shop and the offices in the Ukrainian Cultural Center. The store is unique in the fact that it sells books in Ukrainian, jewelry (which our class compared to the look of many Native American designs), and elaborate ceramic and wooden plates. We visited the headquarters of the Encyclopedia of the Ukrainian Diaspora project and the office of the Ukrainian Medical Association in North America.

During the Ukrainian meal in the Cultural Center, I tasted food I've never tried before: varenyky (potato dumplings), holubtsi (cabbage rolls), borsch (beet soup), meat pastry rolls, kovbasa (sausage) and kapusta (a sauerkraut-like cabbage). I most enjoyed the varenyky with sour cream, the borshch, and the holubtsi.

During our trip to Chicago I learned quite a bit about churches, Ukrainian life, and Ukrainian food and tradition. The trip was an opportunity for our class to really experience and see for ourselves more of the Ukrainian culture we had discussed in class. The trip was educational, and a great time as well.

Lynne White is a student at the University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign.