UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (01/18/04)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

St. Nicholas hosted by children (and adults) in Hillside, N.J.

HILLSIDE, N.J. - On Sunday, December 7, 2003, St. Nicholas made a special visit to the children and adults here at Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Parish. He was especially pleased to have the children visit with him despite the significant amount of snow that fell only hours earlier.

As an expression of their love for St. Nicholas, several children and adults presented a bilingual holiday entertainment program. Children's performances included the following: sopilka (Danylo and Nadia Szpyhulsky); poems (Krista Erakovic, Thomas Feld and Nadia Szpyhulsky); and the famous Ukrainian schedrivka "Carol of the Bells" on the flute (Rebecca Shatynski).

Several children (Rebecca, Sarah, Lisa and Gregory Shatynski) creatively brought the song "The 12 Days of Christmas" to life. The children researched the religious symbolism of each of the items mentioned in the song. The "12 days of Christmas" refers to the period from December 26 to January 6.

The song begins "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me..." The "true love" represents God and His love for us. The "partridge in a pear tree" symbolizes Jesus Christ, who died on a cross for us; "two turtle doves" symbolizes the Old and New Testaments; the "three French hens" symbolizes faith, hope and love, which are referred to as gifts from God in 1 Corinthians 13. The children then used audio-visual tools to encourage the audience to sing and reflect on the religious aspects of this song.

The children asked the audience to reflect on the following thought, "The world celebrates Christmas for 12 hours, but the Church celebrates it for 12 days because the gift of Christ is with us for 12 months of the year!"

Odarka Polanskyj Stockert further nurtured the Christmas spirit by playing several international Christmas carols on the harp. She also led the audience in singing several koliady.

Mike Szpyhulsky served as emcee. Russ Pencak served as liaison to St. Nicholas. Julianna Shatynski, and Sophika and Ariadna Stockert served as helpers to St. Nicholas.

Hillside's energetic new pastor, Father Andriy Rabiy, was present to lead the group in prayer and song. Father Andriy asked everyone to welcome Christ into their hearts during this blessed Christmas season and throughout the upcoming New Year.

Hartford's SUM members honor youth organization's patron

HARTFORD, Conn. - The Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) branch held a commemorative program on December 2, 2003, to honor SUM's patron saint, St. Michael the Archangel, and to mark the 70th anniversary of the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine. The gathering also provided an opportunity for the branch's SUM youths to be recognized for their accomplishments and achievements during the educational year. Seen on the right are members of the SUM branch in Hartford.

UKELODEON marks its fifth anniversary next month

Dear Readers of UKELODEON:

Next month marks the fifth anniversary of UKELODEON, a special section of The Ukrainian Weekly that was created in February 1999 to serve as a forum for young readers, by young readers and about young readers. UKELODEON was envisioned as a space where our youth, from kindergartners to high schoolers, could come to learn, to exchange information, to relate their experiences, and to keep in touch with each other. Its contents were to be shaped by the young readers of what we call the "next generation" of our community.

The name UKELODEON rhymes with nickelodeon. Yes, you probably know that as a kids' network (spelled with a capital "N"), but the original word referred to an early movie theater that charged a nickel for admission. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the root of the word, "odeon," is from the Greek "oideion," a small building used for public performances of music and poetry. Thus, our UKELODEON is public space for the youth of the Ukrainian community.

Though UKELODEON is prepared by the editorial staff of The Ukrainian Weekly, its main contributors are you, its readers. That is why we are thrilled when we get stories written by kids and teens - whether they live here in the United States, or Canada, or Australia, or ... anywhere around the world.

Consider UKELODEON your space - your space to fill with your contributions, whether they be articles, or poems, or photos, or drawings - anything you'd like to share with your peers. Surely you enjoy reading and seeing what other kids and teens send in. So, why not let everyone else enjoy your submission?

Thus, we repeat our invitation to all you members of the "next generation": Don't be bashful! Send in your stories and your observations. Share your experiences with fellow readers. And if you have any questions about sending materials, call us at The Weekly, (973) 292-9800, ext. 3049, or send a message via e-mail to staff@ukrweekly.com. (You may send in your materials to the postal address or e-mail address given on this page.)

We hope to hear from you in 2004!

Petro Pytaye: 2004 and you

In an attempt to get more UKELODEON readers involved and onto the pages of this special section for "the next generation," our reporter, Petro Pytaye, is asking you to reply to the following questions in time for our next issue.

What New Year's resolution did you make for 2004?

___________________________________________________________

What are you most looking forward to in 2004?

___________________________________________________________

Please fill out:

Name:_____________________________________ Age:_______

School:_____________________________________ Grade:_____

Address:_______________________________________________

Please clip out and send to: The Ukrainian Weekly, UKELODEON, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ, 07054. Deadline: January 30. If possible, please include a photo of yourself that we can publish along with your response. PS: You may also e-mail your response to staff@ukrweekly.com.

Mishanyna

The theme for this month's Mishanyna is the rulers of early Ukrainian states - its "kniazi," or princes, its grand princes, and its "koroli," or kings.

Below is a list, in chronological order, of the most prominent rulers of the principalities of Kyivan Rus', Halych and Halych-Volyn (Galicia-Volhynia). The reigns of these rulers span the period between 862 and 1308. To solve Mishanyna, look for the capitalized names you see below in the puzzle grid.

ASKOLD, DYR, OLEH, IHOR, OLHA, SVIATOSLAV Zavoyovnyk (the Conqueror), VOLODYMYR Velykyi (the Great), YAROSLAV Mudryi (the Wise), Volodymyr MONOMAKH, YAROPOLK, VOLODYMYRKO, ROSTYSLAV, ROMAN, DANYLO, LEV, YURII

CKECK IT OUT: On page 2 of this issue read about the Ukrainian translation of the latest book (No. 5) in the Harry Potter series, which was released in Ukraine in November. The Ukrainian version of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" was the first translation to be issued in Europe.

OUR NEXT ISSUE: UKELODEON is published on the second Sunday of every month (there are exceptions, such as this month's UKELODEON, which was published a week later due to The Ukrainian Weekly's regularly scheduled "Year in Review" issue, which appeared last week). To make it into our next issue, dated February 8, please send in your materials by January 30.

We especially encourage kids and teens to submit articles and see their names in print. And don't forget to send a photo or two. Plus, photos of UKELODEON reporters - that means any of you young readers who submit a story - are welcome.

PLEASE DROP US A LINE: UKELODEON, The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054; fax, (973) 644-9510. Call us at (973) 292-9800; or send e-mail to staff@ukrweekly.com. (We ask all contributors to please include a daytime phone number.)

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