Last weekend marked the end of spring holidays: Easter, Labor Day, Memory Day and Victory Day. Much like the beginning of the year, Ukrainians partied and celebrated. Easter is usually spent going to church to receive a priest's blessing for oneself and the food/water the person brings, and later in the day people have large Easter dinners. Maundy Thursday here is significant because many people believe that the water from a natural spring, taken on this day, has healing powers. Unfortunately, a few Christians follow this tradition. They will say that they do not believe the superstition, but they do it anyway, 'just in case.'
Memory Day, or Parents' Sunday, is the Sunday after Easter. The name comes from people remembering their parents or relatives who have passed away. They go to the cemetary to take care of their graves because there are no cemetary workers who do upkeep on the grounds. Cemeteries here are more like grave yards from Steven King's books. They look like miniature villages with streets and fences that surround graves. Some graves have tables beside the place of burial, most have fancy tombstones but some are simple. None look the same. Older cemeteries are wooded. People avoid going to cemeteries by themselves because they are known places of criminal activity - plenty of places to hide and not much light at night. Everybody usually goes on Memory Day and maybe another time in the fall. Last year I did not quite understand what was happening and maybe I still don't. Here is what I understand to take place. An Orthodox priest is hired (the Easter season and Memory Day is a very profitable time of year for the Orthodox priest with all the blessings that he gives) to perform a little ceremony. Some Scripture may be read and some prayers offered. Mainly the prayers center around helping the deceased in the afterlife and then blessing the things people have brought. People bring food and drinks for a picnic following the prayers. Of course, the drinks are alcoholic, typically hard liquor like vodka, and the picnic turns into a drunken bash. There is some singing - slow, mourning songs until enough alcohol has been consumed when the picnic becomes more lively. I was talking about this particular holiday with a lady from our church who is a forensic doctor, and she said that this particular day is notorious in amount of crime that will take place. She said that people usually start drinking by toasting to the memory of their deceased relatives and end up getting drunk and singing happy songs and even having dances at the cemetary. Some people will get so drunk that they will die. Others will be raped, and/or killed. This holiday even effects Evangelical churches as they struggle to have people come to church instead of the cemetary on this particular Sunday. Some of it is just following the traditions of the culture and some of it is not having the courage to say no to relatives who pressure them into going. Some churches start weeks in advance talking to their members about this in order to have some influence on their people.
Victory Day (victory in WW II) is still a big deal both in Ukraine and neighboring Russia. There was a parade in Kiev though I did not see it on TV to know of the scope but I doubt it competed with what I read about the one in Moscow. For the first time in years, Moscow rolled out some of their big weapons and is intentioned to boost pride and confidence of Russian people. This year it came right after the inauguration ceremony of the new President and naming Putin as the new Prime Minister. People's sentiments in Ukraine vary from very supportive to opposing the current leadership in Russia. Issues at stake are stability vs. freedom, and a strong hand in leadership vs. imperfect democracy.
Here, in Kherson, there was an open-air concert with fireworks at a nearby park. Our church had a cook-out with some of the most delicious shish-kebabs (Ukrainians have not discovered hamburgers yet, though I would personally root for shish-kebabs). It was a rainy day, and our plans to go to a park disolved, so we went with plan B and gathered at our one of our ruling elder's place. We had a great time, we were able to get to know some newcomers better. Afterwards we invited a young man over our house for some games and food.
Lastly, on May 10 we had a baby shower for baby Elizabeth (see previous post). We rented a van to take us across the river into the village where they live. We had a good turnout with ladies from both churches attending.
We are now on the other side of holidays, and it's good to be back into the routine and the schedule.
Natasha and Elizabeth 
Elizabeth, 6 weeks old
Ladies formed two teams to participate in the "Diaper the Baby" relay
Natasha opening the presents
As is the custom here, the table was full of tasty foods. Most everything was home made. We played a traditional game with Easter hard-boiled eggs. Two people hit each other's eggs to see which one cracked. The one that does not crack is the winner. He/she goes around the circle, hitting eggs with everybody else. The last person with an uncracked egg is the grand winner. Then everybody eats their eggs.
