“Svoboda. The newspaper of the Ukrainian diaspora”, 14.12.2023
A banner exhibition “Brazhnyky – Masters of Ukrainian Clothing” dedicated to the famous figures of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States was presented at the Museum of the History of the Bohuslav Region. The couple, originally from Medvyn, have been making costumes for the most famous Ukrainian emigrant dance, choral, and theatre groups and films for forty years. Among their clients were the Oleksandr Koshyts Choir, dance groups and actors from Vasyl Avramenko’s films Natalka Poltavka and A Zaporozhets Beyond the Danube.
“The future couple met at the Medvyn amateur theatre, where Fedir played in the 1910s, and Oleksandra, who was almost 22 years younger than him, played there in the 1920s. In 1928, at one of the performances, Fedir, who had just returned from America, met his future wife. They got married, but Oleksandra was not allowed to travel abroad with her husband, and they reunited in New York only five years later, after he literally had to purchase his wife from the soviet regime for $300, which was a significant amount of money then,” says the exhibition curator Maryna Hohulia.
The guests from Medvyn, Petro Hohulia and Oksana Zubchevska, also contributed to the Brazhnyky story.
Local historian Petro Hohulia spoke about the civic position of Fedir and Oleksandra, their support for Ukrainian cultural and educational institutions, the publishing of books (including Ivan Bahrianyi’s Garden of Gethsemane), and periodicals. Moreover, they helped bring Ivan Dubynets’s book Medvyn on Fire, about the anti-bolshevik uprising in 1920, to Ukraine:
“It was secretly brought to Medvyn. Fedir visited his relatives and he was wearing a suit with pockets sewn on the inside where he could put Ivan Dubynets’s book. I have seen and read this book, but it was a photocopy, and in soviet times such a pocketbook was distributed secretly in Medvyn. It was a relief to realise that no one has ever squealed on anyone else reading the book. Oleksandra brought the book with her, and there is even a photograph of her taken at the table in Medvyn during that historic visit. In the late 1980s, I met with an eyewitness and participant in the Medvyn Uprising, Krysantii Mykolenko, who managed to escape execution by the budenovets people. He told me about the Medvyn Uprising. We already knew a lot about it from Ivan Dubynets’s book.”
Oksana Zubchevska, a relative of Fedir Brazhnyk, remembers well how Oleksandra Brazhnyk came to visit her parents in the 1970s:
“I remember her perfectly well because it was the brightest memory of my childhood. I saw a beautiful woman, well-dressed, with a beautiful hairstyle. Although she was elderly, I did not consider her an old lady. She was the person who first asked me if I liked long hair, if I liked playing with dolls, why I liked embroidery, and if I knew how to cross-stitch. She sent some parcels for her relatives: for the blind Stepan Brazhnyk, for Horpyna Brazhnyk, who was the only Holodomor survivor in her family of seven. And the parcels contained clothing for me, clothes that they made for the theatre, and she sent shawls to her relatives.”
Students of the Bohuslav School of Arts, bandura players Kateryna Chori and Danylo Feokritov, performed the musical compositions during the event. A member of the “Around Us. UA” NGO, a volunteer of the Bohuslav Volunteer Headquarters, Victoriia Oliynyk, presented traditional Ukrainian girls’ apparel and a collection of paraffin wreaths recreated according to the models of old garments and decorations of the “Around Us. UA” NGO.
All participants to the event received a free copy of the booklet “Brazhnyky – Masters of Ukrainian Clothing”. Besides, everyone had the opportunity to donate to the army. During the event, the Bohuslav Volunteer Headquarters raised UAH 864, which the Bohuslav Volunteer Headquarters contributed to the repair of vehicles of the 126th Battalion of grenadiers, where our compatriot Oleksandr Voynalovych serves.
Originally published here: https://subscription.svoboda-news.com/2023/12/%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%B2-%D0%B7-%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0/
