“It is almost impossible to reach me by phone, as if you are calling to a minister,” laughs Maria Yakivna, whom we spontaneously visited on a Sunday morning.
We spent a good part of the day in Deshky. Ms Maria has lived in the village for a good part of her life. The Bohuslav Carols (or Bohuslavska Kolyada) project team visited her to see a very valuable exhibit – an ancient coat (kozhukh) that is over a hundred years old. We wanted to see the design and cut out a pattern so that it could be recreated. However, the team received a lot more than expected: the coat was donated to the ethnic centre at the Museum of the History of Bohuslav Region. We also received an ancient shirt and a kersetka. Maria also showed us some old pictures of girls wearing traditional clothes and wedding wreaths.
Maria Yakivna also shared many stories about her family, the customs and traditions they observed, including Christmas festivities, shared with us the recipe for the famous beetroot and viburnum pies, and told us some interesting stories from her childhood: “I was in the kindergarten for one day only. I came there and saw they were making dumplings. I was about 4-5 years old, about that age. I came up and said: “Our mum doesn’t make dumplings like that, this is how you should do it!” And I showed how to make those dumplings right. I got slapped on the wrist and went home.”
Despite this, Maria’s love for cooking remained. She worked at a bread factory for many years. Today, together with her fellow villagers, she actively helps the army, cooks and sends homemade treats to our defenders.
“When we were little kids, we used to go scattering and carolling for festivities. The girls would do more carolling and singing, and we, the boys, would go scattering… Once we went to an old lady’s house to scatter at night, it was still dark, and knocked on the door. The old woman came out:
– Who is there?
– Scatterers.
– There is nothing to give, she said, God bless you, please leave.
So we left. Other people, the ones who were in the times of the Germans, they were born even earlier, before the soviet regime, so they knew everything [about Christmas] – they had a big party and a harmonica! These people gave us quite a lot of money. Some of them also gave us sweets,” Mykhailo Fedorovych from Deshky generously shared his memories of Christmas and the celebration of the holiday.
When the WWII broke out, he was 13 years old. He says he remembers everything perfectly well. He may not remember what happened yesterday, but he can recall everything about the war, the post-war period, hunger, and working on a tractor.
“I know everything about the war. I know how the Germans came and how they fled. Well, you see, they were nasty, they were fascists, but they were not like these russians… Those are burning villages to the ground. There is nothing left there! They just destroy them so that Ukrainians would not exist as a nation.”
We will undoubtedly return to Deshky again! And today we would like to thank Halyna Zabashta for helping us arrange the expedition! We are sincerely grateful for the professional advice on traditional clothing, valuable memories of people and stories about the history of the village, and, of course, for the very warm welcome.
