www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall 24th Annual Carpatho-Rusyn Festival

St. John Byzantine Catholic Church, 201 Main Street, Uniontown, PA will hold their 24th Annual Carpatho-Rusyn Festival from Noon - 7:00 pm on Sunday October 30th, 2005. Rusyn and American crafts will be on sale. The Carpatho-Rusyn Society will staff a Rusyn display and a sales table. C-RS President John Righetti will speak at 2:30 pm on the evolution of Rusyn ethnicity. Carpatho-Rusyn folk art demonstrations and Childern's activities will be on going through out the afternoon. The Slavjane Ensemble from Mckees Rocks PA will perform Rusyn songs and dances at 3:30 pm. A Rusyn sing-a-long will also take place through out the day with music provided by Mr. Jerry Jumba. For more information, call Bonnie Balas at (724)438-8412.

post script:

A Church Slavonic Divine Liturgy will be celebrated by Rev. Thomas Wesdock with responses being lead by Mr. Jerry Jumba and his Rusyn Prostopinije Chant Class students (from Mckees Rocks PA) at St. John Byzantine Catholic Church at 11:15 am. for those interested.

Ungcsertezs

CarpathoRusyn? Congratulations, at least out in Western Pennsylvania you know who you are.

Out here in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York State, these same wonderful people call themselves
CarpathoRussian. Since when have the Carpathian Mountains in Stari Krayu been in Russia?

I would imagine your Festival is a smashing success. Best wishes!

While we do have a substantial number of Galiciany (my Dad said that's how the Lesko/Sanok and farther east Rusnaks called themselves) here in West PA, most of us here are the "Magyar-Orosz" variety.

Dobryj Den'!

Ungcsertezs

Rusyne Me Ye i Rusyne Me Budem!

"Ja Rusyn Byl, Jesm i Budu..."

Ungcsertezs

Will there be food at the Festival?

Habibi:
Such a question? What's a Greek-Catholic festival with no food?

Incognitus

Hopefully I can attend!! That would make a nice Sunday... perhaps I may attend.

Hope there aren't any Byzantine pyrohy!
LOL

I don't get it..byzantine pyrohy? For some reason that went right over my head. :p

???

Ungcsertezs

Dear Ung-Certez:

A few years back, at the local Byzantine Catholic Church summer picnic, the menu included "Byzantine pyrohy".

It clearly pointed out how uninformed so many "Byzantine" parishioners are about their ancestry.

Got a good laugh and we Ukrainians won't let them forget it.

Hope your Festival is a big success. Too bad we're not closer, we'd certainly be there.

Smachnoho! Bon Appetit!

Sincerely, Pavloosh

The explanation above was also meant for Mr., Ms., or Mrs."Pyrohy".

Ah yes, ask someone now in the Byzantine Catholic Chuch what their ethnicity is and they say "Byzantine" as if they are the ancient inhabitants of the city of Byzantium! :rolleyes:

Ungcsertezs

I'm trying to decide what "Byzantine pyrohy" might be (I have seen a few restaurants which claim to serve "Chinese perogies").

Perhaps the cook might shape the individual pyrohy in imitation of a Byzantine dome?

I'm open to suggestions!

Incognitus

If someone says they are "Byzantine", is that the same usage as someone who says they are so "Bohemian"?

Ungcsertezs

I understand it to mean, that they are pirohi "of the true faith". It is a way of avoiding controversy, and it also distinguishes them from orthodox pirohi.

Byzantine pirohi are filled with spinach and feta cheese. No, wait, those are "Hard Greek" pirohi, opposed to the "Greek" (Catholic) pirohi filled with potato and cheese.

Would Byzantine pirohi now be called Turkish pirohi?

Dave

Yummy!!!

Let's also have some Byzantine borshch, varenyky, holubchy, kapoosta and don't forget the shkvarke.

Those Byzantines really know their stuff including the fact that most of their ancestors came from the region of Eastern Europe known as Byzantynshka.

Dave,

Don't get that language confused with "Kitchen Russian", as that is nothing but a bad Caughey accent (aka Liza Doolittle!).

Ungcsertezs (The rain in zem-PLAIN stays mainly in the Hungarian Plain!)

Huh?

I thought they came from Byzantistan. You know, next to Ukrainistan.

That's funny!

You're my kind of guy.

Thanks for the laugh.

No-no-no. You mean Khakhlandia, which is located south-west of Katsapstan.

(I've 'offended' both groups, so nobody can complain about discrimination. :p )

Σώσον, Κύριε, καί διαφύλαξον η�άς από τών Βασιλιάνικων τάξεων!

Is Katsapistan next to Hoholistan (Gogolistan for our "northeastern" brothers) or Celbatistan? :p

Ungcsertezs

STOP THE COOKS! Inspiration has struck!

Byzantine pyrohy: these are made by taking shelled pistachios and wrapping them with marzipan, which is then molded in the shape of the dome of Agia Sophia. Delicious. The authentic tradition remained alive in Aleppo.

Incognitus

OOOOOOOOOOOOH wonderful drool drooooooooooooooooool

I want - gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme

Anhelyna - who adores pistachios

Dear Anhelyna,
Yes they are delicious. Making them is no trick at all: roll out some marzipan to the desired thickness (you must experiment a bit to see how you prefer the thickness). Buy the pistachios already shelled, and make certain that the skins are off the actual nuts. Cut the rolled marzipan into the sizes and shapes that you prefer, put some pistachios in more or less the center (this does require experimenting - and I recommend underestimating the quantity), mold the marzipan around the pistachios, and there you have it! Arrange on a suitable platter or dish and serve (if you're really going posh, you can supply paper trimmings for each piece - or if you're determined to look like the utter Chef of All Chefs, you can make them to size and then put each one in those cute and delicious little chocolate cups that a good chocolatiere will gladly sell you). For that matter, you can jazz up the pistachios if you are so inclined (a drop of liqueur (pronounced lick-her, accent on the second syllable, please), perhaps. Or I suppose you could use chopped macadamias if such is your pleasure.

Actually if you really want to go to a lot of bother the possibilities are endless.

Meanwhile, though, for no bother at all you have a desert or sweet which your friends will envy forever. When they ask how you learned, tell them the Great Pumpkin gave you private lessons!

Incognitus

oh yum !!

I can see some fun ahead

And my husband hates marzipan and Pistachio nuts - I'll have to make a GREAT sacrifice and eat 'em myself

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

Anhelyna

I couldn't allow you to make such a sacrifice. Please send me half the output!

Incognitus

Hahahaha

Sorry Incognitus - you are NOT on - they will be for me - all mine

We are not into a fasting season yet - so marzipan is still OK

Dear Anhelyna - watch out; the Great Pumpkin may get you!

Is there something in marzipan that one should avoid during a fasting season?

Incognitus

Well - proper marzipan is made using egg white or so I was taught by the nuns .
There are 2 recipes for making marzipan/almond paste

1) uncooked -- 1/4 pound ground blanched almonds
1/4 pound powdered sugar
1 egg white
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix well together then knead it well until absolutely smooth , put in a covered airtight container and place in Fridge till next day - then knead again and use as you wish

2) cooked --3 cups sugar
1 cup water
4 cups ground blanched almonds

this is actually more difficult to do since you have to make a light syrup with the water and sugar , then add the almonds and cook it till it no longer sticks to the pan Remove from heat and pour onto a flat cold surface and knead till smooth [ warning - this can take some time - I've done it ] and then store as the uncooked one.

OK -- yes --you can use the cooked one in fasting seasons - but the first one tastes better.

We did actually make both varieties at school - we used the uncooked one for our Christmas cakes [ and they were really alcoholic I can tell you ] and the cooked one in the Simnel cakes we made for Easter.

Here endeth today's Cookery lesson by Courtesy of the Nuns of the Ursuline Order

Kudos to Fr. Thomas Wesdock and his parishioners of St. John Byzantine Catholic Church for having a successful 24th Annual "Rusnak Fest(sic)"! Not only did you get a beautiful day, it also coincided with a Steeler-less Sunday afternoon !

The singing at the Church Slavonic Divine Liturgy
was incredible. I haven't heard that kind of authentic Prostopinije and natural harmonization since my '01 trip to Uzhorod. Thank you Jerry Jumba for your on-going dedication to authenic Subcarpathian-Rusyn plainchant preservation. While the Ruthenian Metropolia doesn't appreciate your years of chant study, the faithful oldtimers all know what you have done for the Ruthenian-Byzantine Catholic Church in America for the past 35 years!

May God grant you many happy and blessed years! Mnohaja i Blahaja L'ita!

Ungcsertezs

Ung--

Did you record the Liturgy???

John K

Byzantine pierogi is similar to a Charles Ponzi scheme. Pretend you didn't see or hear about it. The labrynth of politics gets nasty. So do the prune ones.

Joe

John K,

I didn't, but someone in the choir loft did. Contact Fr. Thomas Wesdock or Bonnie Balas at St.
John's and maybe they know who the person was. I'm guessing it was a parishioner.

Ungcsertezs

Ung--

Thanks! I will contact the church. This is the kind of stuff that needs to be recorded for posterity (and distributed now!).

John K

J Thur:
Politics or plain old ignorance?

Just plain ol' Pierogi!
Joe