Starting with vesnianky

Olha Darchych-Korets is staying at home with her little daughter, and her husband Vasyl, who works as a fellow researcher at National Park “Prypiat-Stokhid,” is mobilized in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Before her maternity leave, Olha had kept a small office (in fact – a little room) in a raion city of Liubeshiv, and the locals know her as a very good photographer. The idea to photograph her countrymen within the plethora of interesting folk traditions and rituals came to her because her husband comes from the village of Liubiaz. And the village has a beautiful lake, a river, and a picturesque church on a hill between them. There, in Liubiaz, she heard unique carols on Christmas, and witnessed an ancient Easter tradition of “rolling eggs”: a kind of local entertainment, passed through generations...

Olha’s idea to organize vesnianky and capture them on photo was brought by nature itself. It is blooming now, and landscapes in Liubiaz are stunningly beautiful. And the people love to sing! In one night, after proposing the idea of vesnianky in social networks, she had received 40 reviews! Therefore, more than a dozen girls volunteered for vesnianky and photo session. They have a proper traditional attire (two of the embroidered shirts are hundred years old), they know the “lame dance” – a local oddity, and finally, they can sing “Podolianochka.” Now Olha Darchych-Korets wants to capture on photo the ritual of the first plow in the fields, as well as the midsummer Kupala customs in Liubiaz. And she was particularly pleased with local children: as they were waiting for the cows to take to the pasture near the house of her mother-in-law, they sang “Podolianochka” – a songs traditionally performed on vesnianky. So, the tradition lives on.