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Journey to the Borderland

May 9

Posted by Lindsey Whissel on 05/09 at 10:26 PM

An important day…

May 9 is Victory Day in Ukraine; it’s the day the country celebrates the end of WWII. I’m so glad our visit fell during this time because it was incredible to be able to participate in some of the festivities. We didn’t see the full parade, but we saw the various military units getting ready (there will be similar parades throughout the country). We were all given black and orange striped ribbons to wear, which I’m told are the colors of the Georgian (liberated) Russian flag. We were also given two carnations to place on a memorial to fallen troops. I learned you have to have an even number of flowers when honoring the dead (I’m not sure why exactly, I’m assuming an odd number is bad luck).

The celebration of Victory Day has been building since our arrival. I remember being surprised because, although we honor our WWII veterans in the US, the end of the war doesn’t seem to be given the same level of importance. One of my host mothers told me that every single Ukrainian family had someone in the war, so it had a huge impact on their lives. She told me all week, the TV stations play WWII movies to prepare for the holiday. It was very moving to look through the crowd today and see veterans giving and receiving flowers. Another interesting tidbit I learned is, if I’m understanding correctly, there is a sort of intranet or telephone service that allows veterans to call other veterans for free.

After the parade and placing of the flowers, we visited a Diorama of the battle of the Dnieper. At the diorama, we met a British veteran and he shared the story of his service with us (he’d served in the Falklands, among other places).

Next we went to a ceremony honoring civil workers (military, police, teachers, etc.). There was a very momentous event indeed- Mark officially became the first Pennsylvanian Cossack in Ukrainian history! It was a neat ceremony reminiscent of a knighting- he was tapped on each shoulder with a saber and then asked to kiss the saber, a cross, and the Cossack (I think) flag. Us ladies were bummed to find out later we could have participated and become Cossacks too (the invitation was lost in translation), but we were happy for Mark. There was a picnic after the ceremony where I watched the Orthodox priest who officiated the event down three shots of vodka in rapid succession- I don’t know why, but I found this very amusing.

In the afternoon, we visited an open-air museum of folk life and art about two hours drive from the city (Dnipropetrovsk). It was a lot of fun! We were taught how to do traditional Ukrainian folk painting. Back in the day, a woman’s painting skills were one of the factors in here attracting a husband (if this is still the case, my lack of artistic ability should render me single for quite some time). Another fun thing we learned is if a girl liked a guy, she gave him a towel (sample of her embroidery work), but if she didn’t like him, she gave him a cabbage. We were also given a chance to try our hand at archery and horseback riding (I shot but didn’t ride).

Tomorrow we have another busy day, then head out via a 1 am bus for Kharkiv.

Word of the day: вокзал (Vog-zahl) -  train station.