Annual Meeting and Program – “Koliada: Twelve Dishes”

Saturday, November 8, 2008, 2-4 PM

Wayne Public Library

 

After a brief business meeting, our featured speaker will be Virlana Tkacz, founding director of the Yara Arts Group, a resident company at LaMaMa Experimental Theatre in New York City. The koliada winter ritual now coincides with Christmas, but it is much older in its origins, traditions and symbolism. In January 2003, Ms. Tkacz traveled to the Carpathian Mountains with photographer Alexander Khantaev to the village of Kryvorivnia. There they recorded and photographed the rituals that started with the Christmas Eve dinner, proceeded for twelve days with the singing of the koliada songs in all the households, and ended with the blessing of the water on Epiphany. Virlana Tkacz will show photographs from this research trip, as well as the theatre productions, installations and concerts staged with the koliadnyky of Kryvorivnia. This December, Ms. Tkach will again create a series of events with the koliadnyky in the New York area. For further information, send an e-mail to Joyce Barr at njpres@c-rs.org or by telephone at (973) 540-0871.