Secular Plays in Churches: Folklore-Based Drama on the Canadian Prairies

Author

Kononenko Natalie (Edmonton, Сanada)

a Ph.D., a professor, a Kule Chair of Ukrainian Ethnography at the University of Alberta

Secular Plays in Churches: Folklore-Based Drama on the Canadian Prairies

Abstract

Starting from the late XIXth century, Ukrainians have been recruited to settle and farm the prairies of Central and Western Canada. The Canadian government has tried to assimilate the Ukrainians who come and practiced aggressive language policy, especially in the educational system. To countervail the governmental pressure of anglization, Ukrainians have established their own institutions: Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic churches. The churches and the organizations affiliated with them, such as Women’s Leagues, have taught folk traditions including pysanka­writing, embroidery and folk dances. Church halls and national houses are allowed for secular activities, such as folklore­based plays in Ukrainian. The plays, popular in the 1950s–1960s, reflect the hopes and fears of Ukrainian Canadians concerning the relatives and friends they have left in Ukraine. The plays are no longer staged and many of the rural churches are now closed. The revival of these plays has become a part of the Sanctuary Project, a multi­year team effort to document Ukrainian­Canadian sacral culture.

Keywords

verbal art, migration and settlement, churches, language, drama.

References

1. Czumer, W.A. (1981) Recollections About the Life of the First Ukrainian Settlers in Canada. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.
2. Fodchuk, R. P. (2006) Zhorna: Material Culture of the Ukrainian Pioneers. Calgary: University of Calgary Press.
3. Khanenko-Friesen, N. (2015) Ukrainian Otherlands: Diaspora, Homeland, and Folk Imagination in the Twentieth Century. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.
4. 4. Lehr, J. C. (1987) Government Perception of Ukrainian Immigrants to Western Canada 1896-1902. Canadian Ethnic Studies, XIX, 2, pp. 1-12.
5. Lehr, J. C. (1985) Kinship and Society in the Ukrainian Pioneer Settlement of the Canadian West. The Canadian Geographer; Le Geographe canadien, Vol.29, no. 3, pp. 207-219.
   https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1985.tb00364.x
6. Lysenko, V. (1947) Men in Sheepskin Coats: A Study in Assimilation. Toronto: Ryerson Press.
7. Martynowych, O. T. (1991) Ukrainians in Canada: The Formative Period, 1891–1924. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, University of Alberta.
8. Martynowych, O. T. (2016) Ukrainians in Canada: The Interwar Years, Book 1 Social Structure, Religious Institutions, and Mass Organizations. Edmonton; Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press.
9. Minenko, M. (2018) Searching Unusual Places: Beyond 'Ukrainian' Fonds. Paper presented at the «Ukrainian Archival Collections in Canada Conference: Preserving the Past, Building the Future». Edmonton, Alberta, May 11–13 2018.
10. Mucz, M. (2012) Baba's Kitchen Medicines: Folk Remedies of Ukrainian Settlers in Western Canada. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.
11. Sloboda, L. (2016) UCWLC (Ukrainian Catholic Women's League of Canada): Builders of Home, Faith and Community. Edmonton: Eparchial Executive of the UCWLC.