Zelany Holidays

 Two weekends (better late than never) ago we went to Dobrovody, the village where Yarusia was born to celebrate the Zelany (green) holidays with her two aging aunts. As the village also celebrates their 'Prasnyk' or church name day on this weekend we had two reasons to celebrate.  Most celebrations are centered around the dining room table with eating and drinking (among some) lasting late into the night.
Traditionally, Zelany Cviat or Green Holidays  marked the end of spring and the beginning of summer and to celebrate this time the people decorate their entryways with greenery, usually with branches from trees.  At one time these were meant to be a place for the spirits of their ancestors to rest when they come to visit.

 Now very few people know why they decorate their homes but it is a tradition that almost everyone maintains throughout Ukraine.
An interesting word that is used to describe the greenery is 'May' and to decorate is called 'Maying '.  At one time I thought that this was a borrowing from the west but I'm not so sure. There are numerous words using the prefex May such as Maydan for village square and maynae which means to be covered in leaves. interesting!

 The next day we went to Zarvanetsia which was about a half hours drive from Dobrovody.
Zarvanetsia is a holy site where the Mother of God  appeared to a monk in the 13th century.  He found a miracle working Icon near a spring and decided to built a chapel to house it. From that time the Icon has had several miracles attributed to it.  In 1867 the Icon was crowned by Pope Pius IX and the village of Zarvanetsia was granted the status of sanctuary.
Today there is great interest by the Ukrainian Catholic faithful as well as the Ukrainian diaspora in building the site into a world reknown center.

along the road to the church

the usual trinkets for sale

getting holy water from the spring

the fountain

view from the front

entrance to the 'Stations of the Cross'

Stations of the Cross (under construction)

entrance to the Mother of God chapel

 Sorry for the abrupt change but village life seldom allows for such niceties.

butchering time

crops among the poppy fields ?

Spring retreat in the Carpathians.

Last weekend I attended a retreat and hiking trip into the Carpathians. The retreat was located near the village of Shepit about 40 km's south and west of Kolomaya.
This was more a getaway and relax weekend but it did include some discusions and lectures on  various subjects including; a talk by Vasyl Kobelukh a Professor of history and expert on Sanscrit, he spoke on the similatities of Ukrainian and Sanscrit languages. Another keynote speaker was Maria Chumara an ethnographer, philosopher and poet who spoke on how to live in harmony with the cosmos and on the value of honesty, to oneself and your suroundings. There were also a number of talks given by members of the organisation on other subjects including the use of pyramids for regeneration.




O. Polevchak (with the bag) discussing Ukraine's contribution to the space race.




A talk about the wonders of the Carpathian's.





Vasyl Kobilukh a noted Sanskritologist discussing the similarities of Sanskrit and Ukrainian languages.



Me and one of the guest lecturers, Maria Chumara, a poet and philosopher

a disussion about the use of embroydery as protection




supper time provided by a Kozak group


Another talk was given by Volodymir Pylat, a founder of  "Boiovey Hopak" or Combat Hopak, a form of martial arts training where young boys and girls learn discipline as well as how to become better citizens.



sunrise on our way to Mt Gregit, and behind us is the final kilometer left to climb

 Part of the weekend included a hike up onto Mt. Gregit which is only about 1472 meters high to greet the morning sunrise.  We began climbing before 4 am and arrived at the top at about 5:30 am. As you can tell the sunrise caught us part way up, but the experience was exileration and exausting.
We were lucky that we went up in the morning as the daytime temp that day reached 28C by noon.
Mt. Gregit is one of four pyramid shaped  Mt's in the Ukrainian Carpathians and is regarded as must climb for those who believe in the power of pyramids.


Mt. flowers




more flowers



because of the roads, we were spread out for several km's



the road to the top




view from partway up





more to climb



the highest of the two peaks was our final destination





relaxing and cooling off after a hot climb




falls coming from the side into the river. these falls are15 m ( 48ft.) high.