Manitobans wishing for an early taste of Ukrainian Easter showed up in droves on Saturday to support a newcomer-based market.
“In the morning, when I came out to welcome people, I couldn’t keep my tears,” said event organizer Olesia Chychkevych, with a big smile.
“I started crying because first of all, I want to say, thank you for coming. Thank you for supporting our newcomers, because they start having new business. I can’t believe that whole day we have lines outside. This is great, really for me, it is the best gift.”
Chychkevych said 43 different vendors set up shop on Saturday at the Ukrainian Canadian Congress building on Main Street, bringing with them traditional Ukrainian food and embroidery for sale.
“It is important that they were doing the same in Ukraine, and they came to Canada,” Chychkevych said.
“They start their life like from the very beginning. It’s very important that here they have the opportunity to do what they love to do. To do what they put all their soul in it.”
“Easter in Ukraine is probably the biggest holiday in Ukraine,” said Anastasia Fyk, a Ukrainian dance instructor.
“One of the biggest things is going to bless baskets around that time. In the baskets, there’s always something specific, like a Paska, which is the traditional Easter bread.”
Many people purchased a Paska on Saturday to take home with them ahead of Easter Sunday.
Fyk, along with several members of the Ukrainian community, greeted guests with a performance of ‘Kryvyi tanets’ which means ‘crooked dance’ in the Ukrainian culture.
Fyk said it’s a dance typically performed to welcome the spring season.
“As we’re walking, we’re waking up the ground with our feet, which beats with each step, and calling in the elements of spring with our voices,” Fyk said.
“This dance was done around Easter time in Ukraine with everyone, young, old. It doesn’t matter, it’s a participatory thing and the living tradition. It’s really important for anybody’s real cultural identity, and to have it feel like there’s any roots really, especially for people coming from Ukraine now.”
Chychkevych, who moved to Winnipeg in 2022 with her family said the event was an opportunity to showcase the resilience of the Ukrainian newcomer community.
“We brought our tradition, not on the paper, we brought in our hearts,” Chychkevych said.
“I want these traditions to live, and it doesn’t matter that we are very busy having a whole life here. We have to find time to celebrate, to get together, to share how hard working and the rich traditions we have.”
Chychkevych said she is already working on planning another Ukrainian market. The next market is planned to be hosted outdoors close to Ukrainian National Independence Day near the end of August.
