I love museums. When I travel (and when I don't) museums teach me so much about the culture and heritage of a place or a person. Museums, like churches, contain bits of people's souls. (I didn't come up with that, I wish I could remember who did).
When I travelled to Alberta to visit my friend Barb in 2017, we made a quick decision to go to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. Ukrainians have been recorded as beginning to move to Canada starting in 1891, although it may have begun earlier than that, according to Wikipedia. Ukrainians comprise an East Slavic ethic group; one name for them is "Cossacks." They by and large Eastern Orthodox Christians. More from Wikipedia: Canada has the third largest Ukrainian population in the world following Ukraine and Russia. There were of course political "push" factors encouraging immigration, as well as "pull" factors, notable Canada's desire to populate the unsettled areas of Manitoba and Alberta, although Ukrainians also emigrated and stayed in the eastern provinces as well.
So when visiting Barb and driving around Edmonton, we made a quick decision to go to the museum. The museum was impressive with reenactors, and the different buildings represented different time periods of Ukrainian immigration. It was a wet rainy day and these arches were very welcoming.
Of course, we arrived at lunchtime and proceeded to the restaurant for a Ukrainian-Canadian feast of a lunch. I wish I could remember what it all was but it included kasha salad and some sausage.
Here, Barb inspects a loom housed for renovation in a barn.
The weavings were stunning, bright and colorful. I am not sure whether what I photographed were kilims per se; here is a site with information on Ukrainian kilim weaving. (It's a nice read, regardless).
There were some lovely embroidered garments as well; this may have been a wedding blouse
This is St. Barbara
In one house, this young lady showed us a dress that she had sewn "for her sister." She had a credible Ukrainian accent but came "out of character" once on the porch to give us directions to our next stop as it was pouring rain. This home was circa 1929.
This Singer Electric sewing machine would have arrived on the train from the East.
Trains were present in the early 20th century in rural Alberta.
It was a wet and muddy day but worth it! Barb made pierogies for breakfast the next morning!
Artist William Kurelek, one of whose works I saw in Halifax a couple of years later, is Ukrainian Canadian. I liked this painting so much I photographed it
When I travelled to Alberta to visit my friend Barb in 2017, we made a quick decision to go to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. Ukrainians have been recorded as beginning to move to Canada starting in 1891, although it may have begun earlier than that, according to Wikipedia. Ukrainians comprise an East Slavic ethic group; one name for them is "Cossacks." They by and large Eastern Orthodox Christians. More from Wikipedia: Canada has the third largest Ukrainian population in the world following Ukraine and Russia. There were of course political "push" factors encouraging immigration, as well as "pull" factors, notable Canada's desire to populate the unsettled areas of Manitoba and Alberta, although Ukrainians also emigrated and stayed in the eastern provinces as well.
So when visiting Barb and driving around Edmonton, we made a quick decision to go to the museum. The museum was impressive with reenactors, and the different buildings represented different time periods of Ukrainian immigration. It was a wet rainy day and these arches were very welcoming.
Of course, we arrived at lunchtime and proceeded to the restaurant for a Ukrainian-Canadian feast of a lunch. I wish I could remember what it all was but it included kasha salad and some sausage.
Here, Barb inspects a loom housed for renovation in a barn.
The weavings were stunning, bright and colorful. I am not sure whether what I photographed were kilims per se; here is a site with information on Ukrainian kilim weaving. (It's a nice read, regardless).
There were some lovely embroidered garments as well; this may have been a wedding blouse
Here is the church; I love the three crossbeams on the Russian Orthodox crosses. They can be seen throughout Canada especially in the west
This is St. Barbara
In one house, this young lady showed us a dress that she had sewn "for her sister." She had a credible Ukrainian accent but came "out of character" once on the porch to give us directions to our next stop as it was pouring rain. This home was circa 1929.
The town store, circa 1929
Trains were present in the early 20th century in rural Alberta.
It was a wet and muddy day but worth it! Barb made pierogies for breakfast the next morning!
Artist William Kurelek, one of whose works I saw in Halifax a couple of years later, is Ukrainian Canadian. I liked this painting so much I photographed it
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