Mother's Day in the US, Victory Day in Ukraine

I woke up early. I was not going to miss Victory Day.

I feel so privileged to be in a country when it is celebrating 2 awesome holidays. The first was International Women’s Day, and now, Victory Day.

Victory Day celebrates the surrender of Germany to the Allies in WWII. Germany and Romania were not always kind to Chernivtsi. Neither was Stalin, but I guess that is a different story altogether. These people had it rough. The entire demographic makeup of Chernivtsi totally changed during WWII. The Jewish population, which comprised 32% of the city’s population, was largely removed, although the Romanian mayor fought to save Jews from the ghetto. Another 20 percent or so was Romanian, 20 percent was German, 20 percent was Ukrainian, and the leftover was Russian, Polish, etc. During the war, Chernivtsi changed from being part of Romania to being part of Soviet Ukraine (1940…secret clause in Molotov-Ribbentrop gave Romanians 48 hours to get out), then Romania again (1941, during Operation Barbarossa), then once again part of Soviet Ukraine (1944). It remained part of Soviet Ukraine until 1991.

When leaving the train station, one of the first things that greets you before you get to the city center is the first Russian tank that came into Chernivtsi in 1944 to take the city from the Romanians.

I threw on some clothes and walked briskly up the hill towards Place Soborna. I had been told that there was going to be a parade and someone thought it would start around 9. I found some info on a website (thank you google translater) and was only about to find out that the Mayor had closed Place Soborna to traffic until 10:30. On my walk up I noticed my body temp was way off….looking back I now realize this was a sign of things to come. At the time, I shrugged it off bc nothing was going to stand in the way of Victory Day and me. Given that a big chunk of my life for the past 3 years has been geared towards researching and writing about WWII, this was a big day for me.

I passed a WWII vet in his uniform on the walk there. I went up to him, marched a little, and pointed, and he smiled and nodded. I continued heading in that direction. Then I saw a group of army guys marching in formation in the other direction. Uh oh. I continued towards Place Soborna anyway.

 

I saw that police were directing traffic and also saw more veterans.

Then I saw a HUGE crowd of people. I could barely see the parade bc of all these people.

I went up to some of the vets and shook their hands (yes, we did fight on the same side, funny as it sounds since WWII gave way to the Cold War).

I watched some of the men place flowers at the WWII memorial.

Lots of activity on Place Soborna early on this Sunday AM.

Some of these men had lots of medals. One of the things that I found most touching was that all these babushka were in attendance, wearing their deceased husbands’ medals. So sweet.

I loved how multigenerational the crowd was. Some much of this day reminded me of the celebrations we have for Veterans Day at the Upcountry History Museum. If you’ve never been to one of our annual Vets Day weekends, please come this year.

I enjoyed seeing this outdoor exhibit. The pictures reminded me so much of the photos that are taken at our events.

Then I asked around about what was going on next. It seemed that the events were moving to Taras Schevchenko Park. I didn’t have my map so I had to ask directions. We started walking, and walking, and walking. On the way, this gold SUV honked at me repeatedly, and I looked over to see Mykola!

Finally we reached the park. This park is great! I can’t believe I haven’t been here before. My students had told me about the circus here and the local football (soccer) team, Bukovina, that plays here.

I really couldn’t believe it I’d never been here after we exited from the other direction and saw how close it is to Olga K. Just a few blocks beyond Olga and then a left onto Vul Holovna. It certainly doesn’t have paths smooth enough to jog, but there were tons of people hanging out, walking around, having coffee, etc. It looks like a great place to take a book on a weekend.

There was a huge crowd gathered for the ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier. It lasted a long time, which is great, but I couldn’t see that well bc of how big the crowd was and obviously I can’t understand anything.

So after a while, we walked around.

The flowers I'm carrying were given to me by the veteran who is in the picture with me above. A man came over to give the flowers to him, and he immediately gave them to me. So sweet.

Perfect shoes for a stroll in the park, don't you think?

We saw the amphitheater where concerts are held. Then, we found the stadium. After looking around, I saw that the ticket booth was open and went in. It just so happened there was a match that afternoon. The next one isn’t until May 23rd, when I’m hoping we will be visiting Steve and Alissa in England, so we opted to go ahead and go that afternoon.

Football (or soccer, as we know it) is SERIOUS around here. The match provided a good opportunity for people watching. The stadium was loud, the fans were boisterous, and the atmosphere was highly spirited. We were surrounded by smokers in front of and behind us. Supposedly Ukraine made laws providing for non-smoking areas in restaurants and outlawed smoking in public places. No one seems to pay much attn to this law, however. Some have even acknowledged that the law means nothing.

The game was fun. I’m glad we got a chance to see this side of life in Ukraine.

Go Bukovina!

Oh, yes. This guy had a really good time.

Today was really special. I enjoyed seeing these vets and I loved seeing the babushkas with their husbands’ medals on. I loved that it reminded me of home and all that we do to honor the WWII generation. They don’t have their own holiday in the US, but those of us at the museum have tried to do our part to make them feel honored in the twilight of their lives.

After soccer we went to Koleso for holubsee. Then I called my family to say Happy Mother's Day. Loved being able to talk with them. Great day!