By Walter Kish

Last weekend, for the first time in many years, my wife and I attended a Malanka dinner dance organized by the local Ukrainian church. The Malanka used to be a "not to be missed" event on our social calendar, but we stopped going regularly over a decade ago when we realized that this grand old Ukrainian tradition was becoming less traditional and even less Ukrainian.

My grown up children usually cringe when I start on one of my "In my day…" diatribes wherein I lament the passing of a happier and simpler time, but I make no apologies for it in this case. Today’s Malanka is not what it used to be.

Don’t get me wrong. The Malanka we went to this year was a well run and enjoyable affair. The food was catered and excellent. Prior to dinner, servers circulated with platters of bruschetta, shrimp, sate chicken, sushi and other delectable appetizers. For the main meal, one could choose between Roast Beef and Salmon Wellington. Dessert was a fancy pastry accompanied by a truffle arranged on a plate like a work of art. The drink of choice was a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay.

The hall was filled with a well-dressed, affluent looking crowd, the majority of whom were on the downward slope of fifty. Well cut suits, tuxedos and ball gowns were on prominent display.

Although the band was Ukrainian, its polkas and waltzes were played to a restrained tempo in consideration of the average age of the audience. Needless to say, "Blue Spanish Eyes" and the Chicken Dance were part of the repertoire. There were few teenagers and only a smattering of the twenties and thirties crowd. A good time was had by all, but to me it was not really Ukrainian, and a pale imitation of the Malankas of my youth.

Back then some thirty years ago or so, the Malankas may not have had the sophistication of today’s productions, but by God, as my kids might exclaim, they rocked! There were no hors d’oeuvres then, unless you count dill pickles and borscht as such. From the hall’s bustling kitchen, the local Ukrainian women’s organization produced mouth-watering platters and bowls of varenyky, cabbage rolls and patychky. Dessert was a large assortment of cheesecake, tortes and makivnyk. Wine was nowhere to be seen. Drinks meant rye, vodka or beer.

The band was usually an energetic group of youngsters who only knew one tempo – fast! The highlight of the evening was a revved up kolomeyka wherein the young folks took turns showing off their dancing skills encouraged by an appreciative, clapping audience arranged in a circle around the dance floor. In between band sets, impromptu choirs burst forth in loud and boisterous singing of old, favourite folk songs as well as kolyady and shchedrivky. Every age group was well represented in the hall, and a tuxedo was as foreign as an honest cabinet minister in Kuchma’s administration. By the end of the evening, everyone was totally spent and absolutely invigorated.

I guess the Ukrainian community has become more sophisticated and refined, and in most respects, this has been a positive thing. However, when it comes to Malankas and other such celebrations, I think we have lost some of that life-affirming energy and enthusiasm that have been the hallmark of our folk culture. In our desire to become part of a more advanced Westernized culture and civilization, we have curbed and repressed a lot of the Ukrainian character that took great joy in celebrating life in food, song, dance and unrestrained exuberance on those occasions when we could take a break from the hardships of immigrant life and just let loose. For a few hours, the Ukrainian hall would echo with the same sounds and feeling as were no doubt prevalent those many centuries ago in the selos of Halychyna or around a Cossack campfire somewhere on the steppes beyond the Dnipro. For a brief moment in time we were spiritually connected with our ancestors and our past.

No doubt, some of this is indulging in the past through rose-coloured glasses, but I really do miss those Malankas and dances at the Ukrainian hall those many decades ago. You knew you were Ukrainian then.