Ukrainians Embrace World Community At Annual Festival

By Dottie Evans

For 27 years now, Ukrainian parishioners from the Holy Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Bridgeport, as well as Urkrainian Catholics from Ansonia and other towns in the greater Bridgeport area, have made their way north to Newtown on a Sunday in late August.

Their destination is the Hattertown Road farm of longtime Newtown resident and church member Olga Paproski.

More often than not, the sun shines on the festivities. Certainly, Sunday, August 24, 2003, was all they could wish for, weatherwise, as several hundred people of Ukrainian heritage gathered on Mrs Paproski’s shaded front lawn and in her sunny hay fields, to worship and play together, celebrating their common heritage.

Each year, they begin with the Celebration of the Divine Liturgy led by Father Stepan Yanovski. The service is followed by activities for all ages, and a hot picnic luncheon is served outside under the towering old maple trees.

On this last Sunday, the long serving tables staffed by church parishioners were positively groaning under the weight of a wide variety of tasty and hearty Ukrainian dishes. The traditional favorites included borscht, poppy seed pastries, pirogies, nut rolls, stuffed cabbage, blintzes, liver and bacon sandwiches, and prune donuts ––not to mention that perennial American duo, hot dogs and potato salad.

It is worth noting here that the Ukrainian version of potato salad was surprisingly light and flavorful, since it was made with onions, parsley, vinegar, and dill weed. For once, that popular picnic dish was totally unburdened by the least hint of the oily and caloric binding agent that somehow finds its way into so many all-American salads –– namely, mayonnaise.

While church parishioners and guests were eating and talking, playing chess, drinking beer, walking around the gardens, and listening to Ukrainian folk songs over the PA system, the children took hayrides and pony rides, played volleyball, and practiced their dance moves on the wooden platforms set up for the performers.

Everyone came together for songs and dances by the Ukrainian youth.

Ukrainians Celebrate

12 Years Of Independence

A more serious note was sounded when church parishioner Roma Hayda gave the keynote address.

She reminded everyone that this was the 12th Anniversary of Ukrainian Independence Day, August 24, 1991, and that modest achievements already accomplished by the fledgling Ukrainian state were “not to be sniffed at.”

“We have long had an aspiration towards freedom,” Ms Hayda said. Rebuilding the country “from the bottom up” was a mountainous task, she said, but they were moving forward.

Every year, Ms Hayda works with Ukrainian university students and she has noticed a “a tremendous enthusiasm” building among the young people. Much needs to be done, she said, with the infrastructure, with education, and in establishing the tradition of freedom of the press in the Ukraine, but they are making a beginning.

“In a generation or two, we’ll start seeing the difference,” she predicted, adding that already there has been a two percent rise in economic growth in that country, which she called “a positive sign.”

Another positive is the fact that there are 7,000 American Peace Corps volunteers in the Ukraine now, and soon that number may double. A Chernobyl Fund has been established in Connecticut, which is another example of an outreach program.

Ms Hayda urged parishioners to follow their home country’s lead and become engaged with the outside world.

“We cannot live in isolation,” she said.

“Any community that keeps contact with the home of its ancestors is doing something for all Americans. If we lock ourselves up in our houses, this is counterproductive. Of course, we need to take care of our own. But we also need to be aware of our surroundings, and reach out to the world community.”

The annual Ukrainian Festival held every August at Olga Paproski’s Newtown farm, and open to everyone, is a very good way to do exactly that.