OUR TRADITIONS: Celebrating Andriyivskyi Vechir
by Orysia Paszczak Tracz
Do you have your hemp seeds all ready? What about the balabushky and the hungry dog? Is the kalyta all smeared with honey and tied up on a string? How about the melting beeswax? No, this isn't Madame LaRue's kinky weed and raunch emporium. ... It's just December 13, "Andriyivskyi Vechir," (St.) Andrew's Eve.
And even though it is the 21st century in North America, teenagers and young adults in Plast, SUM and other youth organizations will be celebrating St. Andrew's feast day with some strange - very strange rituals.
As with all Ukrainian "sviata" (no one English word conveys the sense of sviato - holy day, holiday, feast, festivity or a combination of all of these), they are a blend of very old and ancient, Christian and pre-Christian. Way before this became a Christian feast day celebrating St. Andrew, this day - the feast of Kalyta or Kaleta was a celebration of youth, romance, foretelling one's romantic future and honoring the sun (it occurs close to the Winter Solstice).
What is remembered and celebrated now in various Ukrainian youth centers in North America is the fortune-telling. Now don't get all fundamentalist and super-Christian on me and tell me how terrible and damning this is! It is all meant in fun, and carries no evil strings.
Long ago, young men and women would gather in a house for an evening of fun, a party, one of the attractions of which was trying to see who would marry whom. This seeing into the future was quite creative, with the help of animals, sounds, other people and many games.
The young women would arrive early in the morning to bake both the kalyta and little buns called "balabushky," "balabonky" or "korzhyky" (these are regional variations). Each knew what her balabushka looked like. Once the festivities started, the balabushky were lined up on the floor, and a hungry dog was let into the room. Whichever balabushka he bit into first, that young woman would be the first to get married in the new year. In some regions, it was a rooster who chose the bun. Sometimes the young men also had balabushky lined up. It was a sure thing if the dog or rooster chose both his and her, for then the couple was sure to marry.
The girls would also go outside to listen to various sounds. Depending from which direction a dog barked, or a bird sang, that's the direction her husband would be from.
Counting fence posts and marking every ninth one with a ribbon was another game - in the morning, the girl checked what the ribbon-tied post looked like. If it was old, ragged and crooked, she would marry some old geezer. If the post branched off into two, she or he would be married twice. If the post had no bark and was bare, her husband would be just as poor. If the post was very dry, she would marry a widower, and if it had small branches and bumps, he would be a widower with children. But if the post was straight and covered with bark, she would marry a tall, good-looking rich guy.
Girls would stop men walking down the village street and ask their names. The first would then be the name of the future husband. Pulling stalks of grain from the grain bin also foretold if you would marry rich or poor - a bare stalk vs. a kolosok, one with a full head of seeds.
On this evening it was OK to eavesdrop outside people's windows, because depending what words you heard, it indicated if you married or not in this year - "idy" (go) or "sydy" (stay or sit).
Pouring melted beeswax or lead onto cold water and then reading from the shapes formed also told you your future. You could toss your shoe or boot and depending on which direction the toe pointed, that is where your fianc� would be from. Girls played spin the bottle, but there was no kissing involved; the first to get married would be the one to whom the bottle pointed.
The fortune-telling continued, after the party because your dreams on this night also foretold the future. A falcon definitely told of a fianc�; a bridge across a river was the path to marriage.
On the next morning, St. Andrew's Day, the girls ran outside, pretended to dig in the soil (whether it was already covered with snow or not), sowed hemp seeds, and knelt down so that the skirt touched the soil, reciting, "Andriyu, Andriyu, konopli siyu, dymkoyu (or spidnytseyu) volochu, zamizh vyity khochu!" (there are many variants of this verse but, in essence: Andrew, Andrew, I am sowing hemp, tamping it down with my skirt. I really want to get married!) Much is lost in translation, if it makes any sense at all, but in Ukrainian - in context - it does pass on the wish of future marriage and happiness.
The kalyta/kaleta was a large round bread with a hole in the middle and various designs pressed into the dough. It was baked that day from the flour and water brought by all participants of the party. Once out of the oven, it was covered with honey and sometimes sprinkled with poppy seeds. The kalyta was strung with a red ribbon through the hole, which was then tied to a pole. Trying to bite the kalyta was the guys game, and this was not an easy task. One man held the pole, dangling the kalyta in front of another young man, "riding" on a kotsiuba (andiron). The rider tried to jump up and bite the honey-smeared kalyta, while those all around tried to make him laugh. If he did laugh, another participant would smudge his face with a wet soot-filled rag. Each young man in turn, tried to get a bite out of the kalyta. There are various explanations of this ritual, such as the round bread symbolizing the sun, with winter trying to destroy the sun (taking a bite out of it).
The dinner prepared for this evening was meatless (it was "pist" - Advent), but still satisfying. It was a pot-luck dinner, with all the participants bringing the ingredients for the kasha, holubtsi, varenyky, kapusta and various pastries.
There are indications that originally, the young women had their party on Kateryna's Day, just before Andrew's Day, but that later the two feast days were blended into one.
Today's young people, especially in urban areas of New York, Toronto, Chicago, Winnipeg and other centers in North America, never have believed in the magic and fortune-telling of Andriyivskyi Vechir - not any more than they believe that pouring water on each other on "Oblyvanyi Ponedilok" makes you healthy and all that - but it's a way of connecting to your ancestral roots, and, hey, it's just so much fun!
http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2000/500026.shtmlCopyright � The Ukrainian Weekly, December 10, 2000, No. 50, Vol. LXVIII
