Traditions and Legacies

By Volodymyr Kish

I went to the wedding of a good friend of mine a few weeks ago, the first wedding I’ve been to in many years. Both the bride and groom were Ukrainian, so naturally there were many elements of Ukrainian tradition involved.  Nonetheless, it also incorporated many elements typical of modern Canadian weddings and it left me pondering about the role traditions play in our lives and the values we attach to them.  It also made me contemplate why I find it easy to relate to some elements of my Ukrainian identity and not to others.

When I was growing up, my immigrant parents observed most of the rites, rituals and ceremonies that were part of everyday life in Ukraine.  It gave a structure to their lives and, in a foreign environment and culture that was not always tolerant and understanding. It provided a sense of community with others who were in the same circumstance, as well as a much needed tie with the land and culture they had been forced to leave behind.

As a child of immigrants, I found myself caught between contending cultures and values – while strongly pushed to accept the traditions of my parents and ancestors, I was also driven by daily life and peer pressures to adopt the beliefs, conventions and values of the bilingual and multicultural society that I was part of.  Although I have not been able to resolve this dialectical cultural dilemma to this day, over the course of my life, I have developed a workable balance whose boundaries are ambiguous at best.

Some aspects of Ukrainian culture and tradition have been easy for me to accept.  I love Ukrainian music and dance, with its strong emotional and energetic character.  I am fascinated by the various Ukrainian holidays and feasts, which though ostensibly part of the religious calendar, mostly have their roots in pre-Christian pagan times, when our ancestors’ lives were ruled by the changes of the seasons, the unpredictable temperament of nature and a strong attachment to the land and the environment.

Those same elements that give both form and substance to Ukrainian music, dance and ritual observances also form the basis of most traditional Ukrainian art and literature. Who cannot look at a pysanka, admire a fine piece of embroidery or read one of Shevchenko’s poems and not feel the strength, energy and passion of our ancestors being reflected in artistic form.

And yet, there are aspects of our Ukrainian legacy, certain features of our culture and values that are a little more problematic.  This is particularly true when we start delving into our political legacy and values. We tend for instance to look at our kozak past in a hagiographic light – those freedom loving, courageous defenders of Ukrainian values and the Orthodox faith are viewed as a strong heroic symbol of all those things that we hold dear.  Yet, let us not forget that ultimately they failed to create and maintain an independent Ukraine.  Despite the fact that they were incredibly brave, passionate and courageous, they were also quite fractious, unable to maintain solidarity and unity amongst themselves, and prone to be argumentative and anarchistic.  Yes, they were early proponents of democracy, electing their own leaders, yet at the same time, they were unable to show the discipline and political maturity to create the political and administrative infrastructures that democracy requires to survive and evolve.  Let us not forget, that when Mazepa was defeated by Tsar Peter I at Poltava in 1709, there were as many Ukrainian Kozaks fighting for the Tsar as for Mazepa.

This tendency towards divisiveness and the inability to rally behind the common cause continues to this day, and is readily apparent whether we are speaking of the sorry state of contemporary Ukrainian politics or the divided state of the diaspora over the past century.  There is something in the Ukrainian temperament that has seriously hampered our evolution towards political maturity.  We seem to be incapable of compromise or finding the middle road that is the prerequisite to all progress.

Perhaps, that is why most of our younger generations find it so difficult to come to terms with their “Ukrainianess” – they usually have no difficulty accepting the more cultural aspects, yet when they look at the political and historical baggage that comes with being Ukrainian, they are turned off by our historical failures and the mindset and deficiencies of our political leadership.

We should all realize that not all of our traditions and values are worth preserving.