The Ukrainian Studies Organization at IU and the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Central Indiana co-hosted a Ukrainian Independence Day picnic Sept. 21 at Winslow Woods Park in Bloomington. The picnic served as a cultural get-together for Ukrainians and had foods, handmade arts and crafts and Eastern European music.
The picnic has been happening for 10 years now thanks to Svitlana Melnyk, a professor in the Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures department, and Natalie Kuzma Kravchuk, a Ukrainian artist and Bloomington resident. They took the initiative to start the Ukrainian Studies Organization and held the first picnic right around the time of the Euromaidan Revolution in Ukraine, which began in November 2013.
The annual picnic celebrates Ukrainian Independence Day on Aug. 24, but the event is typically held in September to accommodate students.
“I think that this picnic is an exercise of unity of Ukrainian people and allies, friends and supporters,” Iryna Voloshyna, a doctoral student in folklore and ethnology and the leader of the Indiana Slavic Choir, said. “We just want to celebrate Ukraine as a nation, as a culture, together, with people who support us. It is not political — it’s cultural.”
In addition to leading the choir, Voloshyna is also a member of the Ukrainian Studies Organization. She said the event is open to everyone.
The Indiana Slavic Choir, based out of IU, had its first performance of the season during the picnic, performing traditional, Slavic music. Guests attending the picnic brought a wide array of Ukrainian foods and desserts. Dishes such as borshch and shashlik were served. Borshch is a soup made primarily from beetroots, and Voloshyna brought her own vegetarian borshch to the event, since she knew many others would bring the same dish with various meats. Shashlik is similar to what Americans call a shish kebab.
“The event also had home-cooked varenyky,” she said. “So ‘linyvi’ is actually lazy in Ukrainian, these are lazy varenyky. It means that you add the stuffing in the dough and boil it all together, instead of each one individually.”
A guest brought cupcakes to the picnic decorated to look like the Ukrainian flag with decorative sunflower toppers. Sunflowers serve as a part of Ukrainian culture due to their abundance in the fields there. According to the University of Navarra, the sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, is becoming a symbol of the Ukrainian people's resistance.
The picnic also functioned as a way to raise money for those fighting back in Ukraine on the front lines. The Ukrainian Studies Organization has a Facebook page where it posts updates on its latest events. It organizes a wide variety of events including exhibitions, art demonstrations and lectures.
