Ukrainians from across philadelphia’s domain will gather for a birthday party of their homeland’s art, music and classical dance later this month.
The roots of the festival go back more than 3 decades. It was first organized to celebrate Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union, which it received on August 24, 1991.
But this is the first time it has taken a stand since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Much has been repositioned in Ukraine since then.
Organizer Eugene Luciw told the reporter that while this year’s occasion is fun, it will be extended through a “veil of tears” because of the Russian invasion.
There will be recreations of vital episodes in Ukrainian history, performances through two Ukrainian folk dance groups and live music through personalities such as Ukrainian pop star Iryna Lonchyna, violinist Innesa Tymochko Dekajlo and Cold Ravine, a folk rock band named after a vital to the Ukrainian Independence Movement.
“We will tell (the participants) how genocidal, barbaric, brutal, unjustified this attack is and designed to annihilate the Ukrainians, take their lands and turn the whole scenario into an imperial essence that belongs to Russia,” Luciw said. journalist.
Since the war began in February, at least 12 million Ukrainian refugees have fled the country, while thousands more have remained to protect their homeland.
But Luciw said the occasion is more than an opportunity to raise awareness about the standoff: It’s a demonstration of how Ukrainians are ethnically, linguistically and culturally distinct from Russia.
This concept is the backbone of fashionable Ukrainian nationalism and what many in the besieged country struggle to protect.
“It’s a pride for Philadelphia, but also anything the Politburo of the Soviet Union had to read,” Luciw told the Inquirer earlier this year (he’s also the team’s historian). “They were looking to erase the Ukrainian national identity, but those damn Ukrainian citizens of Philadelphia were champions of the United States. “