ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕС! KHRYSTOS VOSKRES!

Wishing all a blessed and happy and sunny Easter!

Among Ukrainians, the greeting long ago, under Russian Soviet domination was Khrystos Voskres - Voskresne Ukraina!    Christ is Risen -- Ukraine Will Rise [in freedom]!     Who would have thought that this greeting is still needed today, in 2014?

PYSANKY

Before I forget, here are some of my articles on pysanky, those gems of Ukrainian folk art.  There are some earlier articles, too, but I still need to extract them from earlier files.  

http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/1999/149921.shtml

Tracz,  Orysia Paszczak.  “A Pysanka Mystery Almost Solved”  Ukrainian Weekly  April 27, 2008: 7      A discussion of the (unacknowledged) influence of Zenon Elyjiw’s work on Erast Binyashevsky’s book about traditional Ukrainian pysanky.

http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2001/160119.shtml

http://www.artukraine.com/old/egg/pysankaex.htm    

http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2000/180013.shtml

http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/1997/179721.shtml   (part 1)   [still nee to finish the translation of this one!   Oy!]

http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2005/510523.shtml

http://www.artukraine.com/egg/pysankareq.htm

and more info on pysanky here:

 

http://www.pysanky.info/BOOKS/Bibliography.html

 

UKRAINIAN EASTER TRADITIONS

Goose pysanky (single and double yolk) from my collection

Hand-carved and inlaid Easter basket by Mykola Hrepiniak of Richka, Carpathian Mountains, Hutsul Region, Ukraine

I have been researching, writing, and speaking about Ukrainian traditions for a few decades now.  The subject fascinates me.  The origins of Ukrainian rituals and traditions start in deep prehistory (Paleolithic and Neolithic), and have blended with the new faith of Christianity from 988.  This blend is called dvoyeviria/two faiths, or dualism.  It just is.  Here and here are some of my articles on Easter traditions, published in The Ukrainian Weekly over the years.  

There are many more articles that I've written on Velykden'/Easter for The Ukrainian Weekly, but some are in Highbeam or Scribd.  If you Google my name and the subject, they're there. 

You can also check the archive of the Weekly:
The Ukrainian Weekly archive (1933-2010) is open to the public. The current year’s issues, however, are reserved for online subscribers. We invite you to subscribe and have access to the latest Ukrainian news.

                                                  Chicken egg pysanky from my collection

UKRAINIAN EASTER IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP, 1945

Time to repost this

 

 

A DIFFERENT EASTER - in 1945

I remembered that ten years ago I had translated a portion of a chapter from Ukrainian Political Prisoners in Nazi Concentration Camps by Dr. Michael Marunchak. It was published in that year's Easter Saturday edition of the Globe and Mail (Toronto). Afterwards, Dr. Marunchak heard from a number of colleagues from around North America who also survived the camps.   It was reprinted in The Ukrainian Weekly here

I was happy that Dr. Marunchak was still around to see and read the translation.  He passed away two years later.   He encouraged me to translate the rest of his book, to tell the world about Ukrainian sacrifice in World War II.