Our expedition did not finish in Deshky. After recharging our gear, we headed to Mysaylivka. The Rosynochka folklore ensemble was there to welcome us at the village club. And… a scheduled power cut welcomed us there too. But when on earth has that ever stopped us? Despite the lack of electricity, we managed to interview the ensemble, collect valuable content: songs, brand new carols and shchedrivkas. Soon we are going to share it all with you. Moreover, there we heard firsthand what it is like to sing with a high voice (“spivaty horyakom”).
“Oh, the waters of river were still, the Virgin Mary bathed her son there, and when she bathed him, she swaddled him in silk.”
Earlier in the day, we met with seven women: Tetiana Maibakh, Halyna Babych, Olya Zorya, Maria Shiyanenko, Maria Zaporiz’ka, Nina Dukhan and Tetiana Pivtoratska. Behind each of these names lies a great deal of life experience, a lot of things they have gone through, their own history, their own memories. But there is also something that unites them. Women say that it is impossible to live without a song. And for every stage in life, there was a song – Christmas, weddings, childbirth, love and, unfortunately, war… All the members of the group live in Mysaylivka, some of them were born there, some came to the village in their youth. But all of them have been connected with a song since childhood. Some sang because they wanted to and made up songs from everything they saw around them, others were forced to join the school choir. But in the end, everyone united in the village, in a group that has been around for over 15 years. They told their life stories, and most of them inherited their love of singing from their mothers.
“My mother used to sing a lot of songs. Back then we were poor, barefoot, hungry. There was nothing to bake or heat with. She used to get up early to the stove, and then they heated with pumpkins, and corn – whoever found what in their garden, she heated it and sang along. And I was lying on a bench under the blanket, and it all went into my head so deeply! I forgot what I did yesterday, but I still remember it, though it was ages ago,” says Maria Shyianenko.
Ms Maria from Mysaylivka also shared memories of her mother: “There was a headman in our village who betrayed my mother. They used to take food to the insurgents to eat. The partisans were hiding there nearby. They took everyone and transported them by car to Bohuslav, up there, close to the museum. They were sorting them: those who were to be shot were taken downstairs, and those who were to go home were taken to another room. They told my pregnant mother to go home. And she said: “Oh, I’m going with Maryna [Hryzun], because we share a food basket. Maryna was going to be shot, and they were pushing my mom out to go home, and she was still shouting that ‘Maryna and me, we are together’.
The women recalled how they used to go carolling and singing. On the old-style New Year’s Eve, they even scattered grain (tradition of blessing), but only when it was still daylight, as after 12:00 the boys would traditionally do it. Mostly they went in groups, two or four of them. However, some of them preferred to go alone, because then you do not have to share the rewards. They sang Christmas carols and shchedrivkas. They loved singing a lot.
At the club we visited yesterday, by the light of lanterns, we got to see handmade products from natural materials, such as straw. They were made by Kateryna Robak, a craftswoman from Mysaylivka. The club now runs an entire exhibition: there are motanka dolls, wreaths, didukhs, and toys. So we were able to experience art even without the light, and we also took photos for you.
Well, three villages, three expeditions, life stories of more than 10 people, memories of customs and traditions of Christmas celebrations, hours of recorded footage, carols which were new for us but traditional and authentic for Bohuslavshchyna, samples of traditional clothes, many photos, incredible emotions and the rich aroma of autumn apples – that’s how the team of the “Portal Through the Centuries: Bohuslav Carols” project spent the weekend.
We are grateful to Tetiana Pivtoratska for her assistance in organising the meeting.
