I can't believe it's true

The final part of the Teachers' contest (Stage II) was held in a beautiful Riasne-Ruska secondary school on Thursday, 28th. 

The third place is a very good result for a young teacher like me. 

It was worth trying

  

Teacher of the Year 2016

                                                



Dear Friends, 
We've made it!!  
Twelve best teachers of English in Lviv Oblast have done great job and shared their experience in project work at the Stage II of the competition.
We've learned a lot, had fun and and got inspiration for the second term. 
Students, be ready to enjoy your English lessons even more :))

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

                                               

   Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday observed on the third Monday in January

Epiphany

                                               
                

Epiphany is a religious feast on January 19, popularly called Vodokhreshcha (Blessing of Water) or Yordan, which completes the winter festivities cycle. The Eve of Epiphany is called "the second Holy Evening" or "Shchedryi Vechir". The principal ceremony of Epiphany traditionally consists of the solemn outdoor blessing of water, usually at a river or at a well, where a cross is erected out of blocks of ice. But nowadays water may be blessed inside the church. After the blessing of the water everyone drinks it and also takes some water home to be kept for a whole year.

Happy Old New Year!

         Malanka — a feast that has come down to us from the distant past  

                                    

                                

No matter how hard the soviet authorities tried, they failed to uproot “this relic of the past” which persisted despite all the pressure the Ukrainians were subjected to. It’s very difficult to give Malanka a proper definition — it’s a sort of performance, Ukrainian style, which is so much older than what modern artists call “performance.” It’s a festival of folk humour and spontaneous jesting. It’s a ritual some parts of which defy any explanation — a ritual of such a long history that it would be futile even to try to establish when it started. There are some elements in it that suggest that the Malanka festival may be thousands upon thousands of years old.

 Malanka is mostly a rural feast but lately it has begun to make inroads into cities as well. Basically, Malanka is celebrated — or performed, or whatever other verb would be proper to use — in accordance to a set pattern which differs in certain details in different parts of Ukraine.

The celebrations of the Feast of Malanka begin on the night of January 14 (which happens to be the New Year’s Day by the Old Style Calendar). The central character in the celebrations is Malanka, “a girl of many talents and of exceptional beauty.” Who actually this Malanka girl was, and what she did to earn a public celebration, nobody knows for sure.  

There were times when Malanka was celebrated in virtually all the villages and towns of Ukraine but these days only some places have managed to maintain the traditional Malanka celebrations.  Malanka has begun to gain in popularity.

 It is in western Ukraine that the Malanka traditions have been preserved best. Malanka is also called there Pereberiya and has acquired features of a true folk carnival. The climax of Malanka celebrations is best to be watched — or participated in — in the city of Chernivtsi. Hundreds if not thousands of people wearing masquerade costumes of Devils, Gypsies, Bears, Goats and other creatures pour out into the streets engaging the passers-by and spectators in their boisterous and sometimes wild fun. The participants and spectators let themselves go — but there is never any violence or “violations of public order” to such an extent that it would require the police interference. 

According to ethnographers though, the most interesting celebrations of Malanka are held in the town of Vashkivtsi, in the Land of Bukovyna. In my humble opinion, Malanka in the village of Horoshevo in the Land of Ternopilshchyna is as good. In recent years, both Vashkivtsi and Horoshevo have begun to attract a lot of tourists, both from Ukraine and even from abroad, who come to see Malanka celebrated there. 

However, there are many places worth going to see Malanka celebrated. In every one of them you’ll see something different. In the village of Horbivtsi, for example, a very old tradition of “horse visits” has been preserved. Two young men, wearing the horse costumes, several other people posing as “warriors,” Malanka herself and a band of musicians go from house to house, greeting the hosts; if they come across an unmarried girl of marriageable age, they engage her in dancing, and keep dancing until she “buys her freedom” with candies, cookies or money. 

In some villages of the Land of Vinnychchyna, people cook a dish which they call “malanka” and bake ritual bread which is called “malanka” and “vasyl.” During the celebrations, the villagers go around their gardens at night asking the trees to bring more fruit. It is believed that the plants understand human speech during the Malanka night, and animals can talk. Incidentally, if you do not treat your pets well, they may complain to God about the mistreatment during the Malanka, too. So, beware!

In some villages, women tidy up and whitewash the pich (the traditional Ukrainian pich is a special place in the house — it is much more than just an oven and stove combined; it is a brick platform, on which you can rest or sleep) because it is believed that on the Night of Malanaka the pich will want to join a dance. One must not lie on it during the Malanka night; some oats should be put on the pich for it to have what to feed the horses with; horses will take the pich to the neighbouring town for it to have fun. 

Though the basic “moves” in any Malanka “performance” are approximately the same, no matter in which part of Ukraine the celebration takes place, there is a lot of improvisation too, and watching the Malanka “performance” you never know what to expect next.

Preparations for the Malanka celebrations begin long before the actual date. Costumes and accessories have to be made and it may take quite some time to do it. Some of these accessories are funny enough in themselves — for example, necklaces for the Gypsies or other female personages can be made of potatoes or beans; the tails for those who are supposed to sport them can have prickly sections to prick the hands of those who might have a wish to grab and pull that tail.

Some of the costumes in some of the villages are passed from generation to generation — the bear skins, for example, which are worn by those Malanka “performers” who impersonate bears. The strongest and most robust young men are chosen to play the role of the Bears who are to protect Malanka and defend her dignity.

The Malanka performers hide their faces under the masks that make them unrecognizable, and in order to completely conceal their identity, the masked performers speak in voices that are changed. Those who are nevertheless recognized by the onlookers have to stop their performance and abandon their direct participation — they can continue taking part in the fun but only in the status of viewers.

The masks and personages that take part in the Malanka performances often reflect the recent happenings, current political events, or fads. Politicians or prominent figures can be made fun of; the masks and costumes can ridicule or represent pop stars, protagonists in popular films, or well-known television presenters. That makes no two Malanka performances alike — every one of them will have its own distinctive features.

Malanka performances start with the coming of the dark. The first to be paid a visit are girls who are of the marriageable age; but the households where someone has died within the last year are avoided. While Malanka is carolling, someone from her crowd makes some mischief, hiding things in the house they come to, or misplacing them, or overturning things. But everything must be done “within limits of decency” so as not to offend the hosts. After the songs are sung and jokes are told, the Malanka performers are treated to food and drink. As the Malanka company departs, good wishes are exchanged and sometimes fireworks are set off.

Depending on the size of a village, Malanka performances can go on through the night until midday the next day. In some villages, the Malanka performers make a big bonfire into which they throw the spoiled masks and straw which was used for stuffing the hunches of “hunchbacks,” and then they, one by one, jump over the fire in an age-old ritual.

                                                                                        

                                                                                         www.wumag.kiev.ua

Christ is Born!!! Glory to Him!!!

  
                                                           БОГ ПРЕДВІЧНИЙ

                                                          ETERNAL GOD

                                            Ukrainian Christmas Carol (17th century)
Eternal God
Has been born today,
Came from Heaven tonight       2x
To save all human kind,
So rejoice we may.

In Bethlehem
He was born to us,
True Messiah, our Chris            2x
Our Lord for all the times
Has been born for us.

Good news announced
An angel of peace,
To poor shepherds at first,       2x
Then to kings, astrologers,
And to the earthly beasts.

Three eastern kings
Bearing rich gifts come,
To the town of Bethlehem         2x
Where Saint Mary in a den
Gave birth to Her Son.

“Glory to God!”
Let us sing in praise!
Honor to the Son of God One,   2x
Our Lord, the Most Divine,
Let’s render these days!

Christmas in Ukraine

Among the Ukrainians wherever they may be Christmas is the most poetic and colourful festival. Christmas, which takes its name from Christ’s Mass is a joyous day on which Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The Christmas festive days are observed according to  the Julian calendar, starting on January 6^th, Christmas Eve and ending with “Yordan” (Epiphany) on January 19^th.

    Christmas Eve is the most important part of Christmas. Its main feature is the evening meal called “Holy Supper”. According to the customs all members of the family should be at home that night for a family reunion.

    The supper on Holy Night greatly differs from other evening meals: it has 12 lenten dishes, in honour of 12 Apostles who gathered with Jesus Christ at the last supper. The dishes are prepared with a vegetable oil, omitting all animal fat, milk, because Christmas is preceded by pylypivka – a fasting period which ends after Christmas midnight.

   The family table is set according to time-honoured custom. It is strawn with a small handful of hay in memory of Christ Baby born and laid in manger and all over it is spread the best tablecloth. The hostess wakes up very early that day to prepare twelve Lenten dishes for the Holy Supper.

     As soon as the first star appears in the sky which symbolizes the journey of the Three Wise Men, the master of the family brings a sheaf of wheat called didukh, greets his family and places it in the corner of the room. It remains there till the end of the holidays, then it is burnt. The family gather around the table. Holy Supper begins with the Lord’s  prayer. The host says traditional Christmas greeting “Khrystos rozhdayetsya” (Christ is born) which is answered by the family with “Slavite Yoho”( Let us Glorify Him).  

The first dish is Kutya (a preparation of cooked wheat dressed with honey, poppy seeds, raisins and chopped nuts). Kutya is followed by such dishes: mushroom soup, borshch, holubtsi(cabbage rolls), potato and cabbage dumplings, stewed dry fruit, fish, beans, cabbage, garlic, vushka (mushroom dumplings), pampushky (doughnuts). Every one must have at least a taste of each dish. After the supper has been eaten the hostess has to leave some meal on the table because souls of dead relatives might come to taste it. 

     There is a custom of visiting close and distant relatives bringing them Christmas meal. Christmas Holidays are celebrated during 3 days. Children go with vertep (a play about Baby Christ Born), sing Christmas songs, carols. Groups of young men move from house to house performing vertep. Hosts treat them or give some money.  People go to church at Christmas to a midnight mass on Christmas Eve or a morning service on Christmas Day.

      

New Year Cheer

At the sound of the tolling midnight bell 
a brand new year will begin. 
Let's raise our hopes in a confident toast, 
to the promise it ushers in. 

May your battles be few, your pleasures many, 
your wishes and dreams fulfilled. 
May your confidence stand in the face of loss 
and give you the strength to rebuild. 

May peace of heart fill all your days 
may serenity grace your soul. 
May tranquil moments bless your life 
and keep your spirit whole.