Victory Day!

Between the Ukraine Orthodox church's sacred days and the Ukraine government's celebrations it seems there are more holidays than work days.  If you are bored, just wait a few days until the next holiday!  And since the Orthodox church has an unlimited permit to produce and sell vodka, they are a great contributor to the major part of a sacred day or a holiday which is drinking -- one big merry (or sad) spiral downward.

The granddaddy celebration of all is Victory Day.  It kind of combines our Independence Day and Memorial Day, and commerates especially the victory achieved when the agressor, Germany was pushed out of Ukraine.

Our experience celebrating Victory Day went like this:

The street we live on, Sovietskya, is the main street in Lugansk.  The day before Victory Day in preparation for the great parade that would be forthcoming, many military units participated in "warm-up" marches while official and military vehicles with loudspeakers passed by again and again, proclaiming the coming events.  Early the next morning we noticed that the sidewalks on each side of the street were lined by festively dressed young women acting as the posts holding up ropes along the many blocks of the parade route. 

The streets were filled with young and old in their finest dress or wearing full or partial uniforms. Women with tear-filled eyes and flower-filled arms and children dancing impatiently with blossom bundels presented somber-faced old soldiers with their boquets.

 This was a day for wearing badges. Military men with a history of valor in many campaigns had badges covering their entire front. Men and women wore their coveted "party" badges earned by being a "good jobber", or the women wore their fallen husband's badges.

Flags -- mostly the yellow and blue Ukrainian flag-- but also a surprising (to us) number with red hammer and sickle -- floated everywhere.  Special permission had been granted to fly the red and yellow symbol of the Russian-Ukrainian victory over Germany here in Lugansk -- just for this one day.  (There were occasional cries and signs calling for a return to the Soviet Union and a strong display of loyalty to two opposing views.)  Military units marching with a high step and army trucks, tanks and vehicles almost completely dominated the parade.

At Red Square (every city has a Red Square) in front of the statue of Lenin, everything stopped, the parade giving way to pretty dancing and long, long speeches.  I enjoyed studying the individuals in the mass of people around us.
 

Our guide for the day was Amy, a young woman from Portland who is here in Lugansk with the Peace Corps and who is a member of our church.  She and her Peace Corps friends know the culture well, since that is a big part of their preparation to come.  We felt like we had alot of things in common and we spoke alot of English.

Shashlik!
Accompanying Amy was her friend Yuri.

Yuri is a young Ukrainian doctor finishing his internship in a psychiatric hospital and he speaks quite good English.  The week before they had joined us in our apartment for dinner.  After the parade we were invited to his home where he lives with his mother, Lida, to celebrate with them at a Shashlik, or a Ukrainian barbeque.  Yuri and his mother do not live in an apartment, but in a chasnee dom (single family dwelling) on the edge of the city.  At the gathering were Yuri and Amy, Yuri's Mom and her friend Svetlana, Amy's Peace Corps leader, Caroline, and two other young doctors ( one with a girlfriend.) 

We began with food as we sat under the shade in the back yard at three in the afternoon and continued to eat until 10 pm.  While Yuri was digging the fire pit and lining it with bricks, the appetizers were brought out --- and drinks.

 It is polite to always bring a gift when visiting someone.  We took a very "Americanski" gift -- potato chips.  They were delighted, but to our surprize the chips were transformed under the hand of our hostess from a very casual picnic food to a most elegant side dish, presented -- with drinks.  Shashlik is usually pork...sometimes chicken... marinated in onions, garlic, lemon juice and seasoning, then skewered on long metal kebob rods and grilled over coals. 

During the afternoon as the shashlik was being prepared, then grilled, Yuri's Mom brought out pictures of fallen relatives -- her father, grandfather, uncles...She would tell about them and their sacrifices.  Then we would 'toast' them.  We, of course, toasted with "Бриз лемонад" (a soda like Sprite only better).  Of course this led to talking of famly history which evolved into work for the dead in temples and the plan of salvation. 

A glorious evening (despite the drinks) ensued.  I wish you could have listened in.  I sat by Yuri at one end of the group teaching the gospel.  He was eager and receptive.  Mom was at the other end answerinig a barrage of very good questions from Yuri's mother.  The young doctor sitting between them was a Russian speaking Ukrainian of Korean descent who also spoke English and interpreted for them, from time to time interjecting questions of his own.  Midway between us near the middle of the table sat Amy and Caroline who punctuated the conversations with comments about the beautiful temple in Kyiv or the amazing gift of 279 wheel chairs gifted to needy recipients in Lugansk from our church (she was involved in their distribution), or how absolutely perfect the used clothing is that is sent here from our church, arriving in big cargo containers, then distributed by Peace corps volunteers.

After the other guests left we were invited into the house for dessert --- and another round or toasting with drinks.  We don't know what the future holds for this nice family, but it was a great Victory Day for us to have such an opportunity to share and bear testimony.