THE RITES AND TRADITIONS OF THE UKRAINIAN SOUTH

However no one of the European countries, Ukraine has a rich history of rites and traditions, the colourfulness and brightness of which strikes the imagination. The ritual actions accumulated the beliefs and traditions not only of the Christianity but also of the ancient belief - paganism. The hundreds of the people which came to settle on the land of Northern Prichernomorie marked the rites, traditions and conventions of the Ukrainian south. The rites are divided into religious, military, agricultural and guarded ones ( making of amulets). The deep historical and ethnographic knowledge allowed us to classify the rites.

MAKING OF AMULETS

Amulet

An ancient person was used to have some mystical presentations on evil forces existence in the world. That helped to create some kind of the rites to make amulets to protect a person. The amulets are created both for house-holding and for military purposes. To make an amulet one should take any subject that is precious to the particular person or a subject that is supposed to be a gift etc. The ritual consists of the actions to clear up and protect the land around the altar, connection to the Moon, Earth and Fire Spirits and transfer of the qualities into a subject. The ritual that is conducted on natural landscape is the picturesque mystery that was created in the best pagan traditions.

MY HOUSE IS MY FORTRESS

There are a lot of rituals that are used during the construction of a new house in the Slavic ritual system. The house construction has always been one of the most important events that ground happy and wealthy life. The wish to provide the future home with safety, solidity, security reflected in the rites. All the ancestral rites were to be inherited by the generations for more than 300 years.

THE UKRAINIAN CUISINE

Ukraine always have been famous for it's cuisine far across the world due to high gustatory and nutritive qualities and variety of the products used while cooking. You know there are more than 30 ways to cook borsch. To cook it you need more than 20 kinds of the products.

Galushki

In Ukrainian cuisine there are ten thousand of the recipes to cook simple and tasty meal. Many people are familiar with the Ukrainian borsch, pampushki, galushki, vareniki, kalachi (kind of white, wheat meal loaf) etc.

The people of Ukraine are known for the hospitality, as proverb says: " A happy guest brings joy to everybody". In an Ukrainian house you always could see bread and salt next to it on the table. According to the ancient custom brad and salt were presented to the dear guests as a sign of the deep respect. Zharkoe

Every region of Ukraine has it's own peculiarities of the cuisine. But generally a lot of attention is paid to gustatory qualities of the food, a lot of spices such as caraway, onion, garlic, horseradish, mint, pepper, parsley, thyme, parsnip, drill are used while cooking. The favorite drinks of the Ukrainians are kvasses (made of bread, beats, apples, birch, cranberry, raspberry, pear, guelder rose), uzvars (kind of drinks) of dry and fresh apples, pears, plums, cherries and also beer.

Different liqueurs made of fruit and berries are also popular with the Ukrainians.

The Ukrainian cuisine as colourful mosaics absorbed a lot of recipes of people of different nationalities that used to live on our land - including Iranians, Tatar-Mongols, Northern people and others. As not in one country in the world all the holidays in Ukraine are accompanied with big meals full of the gifts of the generous Ukrainian Land.

Come and prove it!!

SLAVIC MARTIAL ARTS

Slavic martial arts have always been an integral part of Slavic culture and history. During the Kiev Rus history the military conflicts often happened with the border countries. Whether it was a military campaign or defense activities, the warriors were supposed to have some fighting craft. From a grandfather to grandson the skills of the martial arts have been passing during the thousands of years. There were no notes and grip descriptions as it was deeply connected with the traditions, customs and way of life of the Slavs.

Till present time the elements of the martial arts have been preserved in the folk dances, rites, grandfathers stories. The ancient knowledge have reconstructed in grains by the enthusiasts

In Nikolaev you may meet the group of the enthusiasts that master the Cossack martial art -"Spas". On a monthly basis the traditional seminars and performances are organized in the city. The "Spas" is an ancient survival science that includes physical, psychological and even spiritual aspects. If one goes into the "Spas" there is an opportunity to touch the historical and spiritual roots of the nation.