Bread and Water

I think it would be cool to have a post called “The Lion and the Cobra” or “The Serpent and the Rainbow” or maybe “The Dragon and the Tiger” but today’s post is merely called “Bread and Water”

Water came before bread so that’s where I’ll initiate this blog post. The water situation is a little out of the ordinary in Ukraine. I haven’t really had any tribulations in Kharkiv brushing my teeth with the tap water but I did have one bad case of Montezuma’s revenge during a trip to Odessa, (I’ll spare you the details). I use water straight from the faucet to make coffee/tea and occasionally during cooking but this has caused frowns among the locals. I have noticed the shampoo receptacles in my shower develop a white coating on them after a few weeks so I’m confident that I don’t want to be drinking this mysterious liquid, (Or even put it in my iron). So like most expats I just purchase some bottled water at the grocery store. This is a little odd for me because I never buy bottled water in the United States. I have always lived in a area where it was fine to drink the water that comes out of the public pipes. If I was going to be “out and about” especially hiking I would just put some iced tap H20 in a hard plastic reusable water container. I hate the idea of all those empty plastic bottles ending up in a landfill or the ocean. Never the less, today at the supermarket, I bought some more water for about eighty one cents apiece. Strangely enough a chilled Budweiser (a recent discovery for me in Kharkov maybe because of Euro 2012?) could be bought for the same exact price. I’m drinking some of that cold water as I’m writing. The thought that I might want to run in the morning is keeping the King of Beers at arms length. Of course, .81 cents is a lot for water so there is another option for the thrifty. From time to time a water truck will pull up to the apartment building while beeping his horn. This is a sign to bring your empty bottles down to get them refilled for about half price. The only time I think these trucks are used in America are at oil drilling sites or if the National Guard needs to distribute water due to some emergency. I only live on the third floor but still I’m not going to refill my bottles to save forty cents. Then again, that would give me more money for beer and be better for the environment. Too bad I can not use the savings to buy a Colorado Silver Bullet.  

A water truck outside my apartment

When I go out to dinner with people that are new to Ukraine, I always have them try the Kvass (квас) if it is on the menu. At my favorite Ukrainian restaurant in Odessa I usually order a pitcher to start the meal. Kvass is a fermented drink that according to the modern recipe is prepared from rye bread. To me it sort of tastes like watered down apple juice. It may have a slight alcohol content and is usually flavored with fruit or herbs. Kvass has been an accepted drink in Eastern Europe (including Russian, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Belarus) for over a thousand years and has been mentioned in books like War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Some of my ancestors came from Lithuania over 100 years ago and I’m sure they were disappointed that it was hard to find in America. Maybe they made a homemade version for years until that skill was forgotten in my family. During my earliest trip to Ukraine, I was possibly the first person in my family to consume it in eighty plus years? Kvass used to be only available in the summer but now you can find bottles of it in the stores year round. A sure sign of spring is when the venders start selling it on the streets.  Coca-Cola and Pepsi have their own brands of Kvass in Russia so McDonalds isn’t the only blue chip trying to vacuum up some rubles. Most of my friends appreciated the fact that I had them sample this drink. However, I told one friend about it that arrived in Ukraine to teach before me. He bought a cup from a street vender, tasted it and then promptly but the cup on the ground next to a wall. I guess it is an acquired taste? 

A Kvass street vender near my metro station

Posted by John

Easter

Today is Easter Sunday in Ukraine. This may seem out of the ordinary to Westerners that celebrated this holiday last week but this is a result of the difference between calendars. The West uses the Julian and the east uses the Gregorian. (Next year the days will be celebrated over a month apart but then in 2014 they will occur on the exact date.)

There are some similarities in the celebrations between the two cultures but there are also some major differences. In the Roman Catholic Church, (and also with some Protestant religions), Easter week really starts with Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday before Easter when the churches in the west will distribute palm leaves. The Friday after this is called Good Friday. The more religious may attend a performance of the “Stations of the Cross.” These are religious holidays in the US and not usually secular ones. However, strangely enough the US stock markets are closed on Good Friday and it is a holiday in twelve states. In the United States on Easter morning children will awake and try to locate their Easter baskets. The previous night they were left out empty but by this time they should be filled with jelly beans, chocolate eggs and marshmallow bunnies or chicks by the nocturnal and legendary Easter Bunny. Adults may also exchange Easter candy and the test of true love is not to bite the ears off of your sweetheart’s chocolate, (hopefully solid!), Easter rabbit.  Many people will attend church on Sunday and later have a big dinner at home (usually a ham or some lamb) or at a restaurant. Easter morning sunrise services are very popular. Other events planned for the day/week may include the New York City parade, Easter egg hunts, decorating eggs, or just showing off your newest spring clothing. Even the President of the United States gets into the act by hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn.

In Ukraine things are a little different. First of all Palm Sunday is Pussy Willow Sunday probably because palm leaves were hard to obtain in the east. Good Friday has a different name as well. It is known as Great Friday or Passion Friday. In the Russian Orthodox Church Easter mass is celebrated on Saturday night and it lasts ALL night. As far as I know there isn’t much of a candy exchange or egg rolls but egg decorating is very important. My understanding is that the traditional way to dye the eggs is by using the skin of an onion. The chief color for egg dyeing is red, (this symbolizes the blood of Christ); so perhaps they use red onions?

One thing that definitely is different is that the Russian people will make Easter Cakes (AKA as Easter Bread), which are called “kulich”. This cake is baked in tall tins almost like coffee cans. They usually have raisins inside and have a white icing with the letters XB on them. XB is represents the Cyrillic letters for “Christos Voskres”, Christ has risen. These are brought to church with other food such as eggs, to be blessed by the priest. Many people will bake their own but it is simple enough to buy them in the supermarket or on the street. Also there may be a competition of banging eggs (egg tapping) together to see who has the strongest. People also drink a wine called “Kagor” that they obtain from their church. The Monday after Easter is usually a non-working day. The following Sunday people will visit cemeteries for the Commemoration of the dead.

I’m not sure about a custom in Ukraine of showing off new spring clothing but as the weather got warmer I started to spot the return of the T-Shirts that girls wear that have the English message, “Say Me Yes”. When I first saw these during the summer, I thought maybe it was the name of a local band when in fact it is just bad grammar.

Let the Good Times Roll

It was very interesting last week in Ukraine.

For the practicing Christian (including Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists) in America, last week saw the start of Lent. The Lenten season starts with Ash Wednesday. This is a odd religious holiday where ashes are placed in the sign of a cross on the foreheads of the observers. The ashes come from the burned palms that are used on Palm Sunday. For the uninformed this can be an unusual day because you see people walking around with what you think is common soot on their foreheads. The date of Ash Wednesday can change from year to year because it is based on when Easter is celebrated. Most people think of Lent as being from Ash Wednesday until Easter but it is actually really up to Holy Thursday (the day of the Last Supper). The days before and including Easter are part of their own mini-season rather than a component of Lent.

Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday, is also celebrated during this week. (More precisely it occurs on the day before Ash Wednesday.) This day is also known as Shrove Tuesday and is the date when you should confess all your sins before the start of Lent. This is more of a cultural celebration prior to the fasting season of Lent. Mardi Gras can be celebrated over a few days with parades and parties that include the wearing of masks, costumes and beads. If you see a woman with a great number of beads you might ask her how they were obtained! This holiday is not traditionally observed in North America other than in ethnic French cities like Quebec and New Orleans. Of course, the worlds most famous Mardi Gras is celebrated as Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Let me get back to the wonderful week in Ukraine. First of all we are still talking about Lent but in the Eastern Orthodox religion it starts on a Monday. This Monday is called Clean Monday because on the day before, Forgiveness Sunday, you should have asked for absolution for all your sins. This period in Russia and Ukraine is called pancake or Maslenitsa week. This was originally a pagan ritual that became a Christian holiday. Be aware that we are not talking about the same pancakes that are found at IHOP. These are called bliny and except for the potential to have yeast, they are thin and similar to crepes. These can be topped with caviar, jam, sour cream, meat and butter. In fact, the word Maslenitsa comes from the Russian word for butter. In the distant past the pancakes were eaten to celebrate the passing of winter and the coming of spring. They are said to represent the sun because they are warm and round. As part of the religious celebration they are eaten to fatten up on the meat, dairy and eggs that you should not be eating during Lent. Maslenitsa is becoming a bigger and bigger holiday in cities such as Moscow. I was told by my students that something is actually supposed to be celebrated each day, such as one day where men are fed pancakes by their mother-in-laws, one day for sleigh riding and another day to visit god parents. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be able to come up with a complete list of these special days. I was surprised because I actually was given the impression that I  knew more about this week than some of my students but that may not be that unusual because of the suppression of religion during Soviet times. The week ended on Sunday when a large Maslenitsa doll was burned to say goodbye to winter. Additional Maslenitsa events can also include group fist fights, performing bears, singing and fireworks. Of course there is also plenty of vodka to go around.

There was a bonus holiday during this week in 2012. The week of Maslenitsa like Ash Wednesday can change from year to year but The Motherland Defender Day is always on February 23^rd which fell on Thursday of last week. Some people like to call this former Soviet Army Day as “Men’s Day” but other than some presents from women or maybe some special activities at work it can not be compared to International Women’s Day that falls on March 8^th.

Posted by John

This is the End!

The Holidays are finally over in Ukraine. This may seem odd to Americans because they were concluded two weeks ago in the USA. So maybe I should give a little more detail.

While Christmas is celebrated in America on December 25^th, this is almost a non-event in Ukraine for two main reasons. Ukrainians have a tendency to be aware of the American Xmas but sometimes they are uncertain of the exact date. (I was given some Christmas wishes and or presents by some of my students.) Americans celebrate Christmas based on the calendar introduced by Pope Gregory in 1582. The Gregorian calendar replaced the old Julian calendar because of an eleven minute error that causes a three day difference every four centuries. A handful of countries adopted the new calendar at first and ultimately the rest of the world accepted it as well. The United Kingdom, including the American colonies, agreed to the change in 1752. At that time, 11 days had to be eliminated because of the accumulated difference. Russia and Greece were two of the countries that held out until the 20^th century. They eventually had to drop 13 days from their calendar. So the first reason that December 25^th is just another day on their calendar is because the church decided to still use the Julian calendar for Christmas which is about two weeks after the American one.

New Years is on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Russian Empire followed the Orthodox Church which was part of the Roman Catholic Church until it split into the western and eastern versions. However, after the revolution, the secular communist government wanted to eliminate religion from the country. Because of this, the population was unable to celebrate Christmas openly so New Years became the big Holiday of the Year. Ukrainians celebrate New Years with fireworks, exchanging presents, parties, champagne and lots of vodka. It is like Christmas, New Years and the Fourth of July wrapped into one night. It is strange because this season I saw Christmas tree lots established after December 25^th. But they were not selling Christmas trees; they were New Year trees!

On January 7^th Christmas is celebrated as a lower key event because it was suppressed under the Soviets. Many of the religious aspects are the same as in the west because they have the same origins.

The last (actually not true because Epiphany is on 1/19) holiday of the season is Old New Year on January 14^th which as you may have guessed is the New Year Holiday following the Julian calendar. They do have one odd tradition on this day. For the last two years I have had someone knock on my door and when I answered it there were two young boys. They come in and sing or chant in Ukrainian and then toss cracked wheat on the floor. I think this is called the Posevaniya ritual? I’m not sure what they are singing but the wheat must mean that I will have a good harvest in 2012. Since I’m not raising crops maybe this means I will have a child?  Last year I gave the boys some candy but this year I provided them with a little money. I vacuumed the carpet before they came over and now I trying to figure out an acceptable time to sweep up the wheat.

Posted by John