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 ?