Mason you wouldn’t find in textbooksT

Viktor VOZNIAK, organizer of the festival is certain that if Franko lived among us today he would be using social networks and would be among the young people. The inspirers of the first Franko Fest set the task before them to create a new image of the Ukrainian classic. It seems that the new interpretation of Ivan Franko was really needed: there have been nearly 45,000 people interested in the extraordinary idea. According to the organizers, that many people have come to the festival in Franko’s native village of Nahuievychi in three days. This made the intellectual festival Franko Fest one of the largest festivals in Ukraine.

There were three stages: literary, big, and folk around the tent city under the blue and yellow flags. Picturesque Carpathian landscapes created a special atmosphere, at times it even seemed that Franko’s characters might come out of the forest near Radychev. The program included morning exercises, liturgy, readings of Franko’s works during The Day and at night, lectures of Franko researchers, various master classes, sports entertainment, and performances of Ukrainian folk and pop bands. Poetry, tales, and plays could be heard non-stop at various locations of the festival.

The time for the festival – July 27 through 29 was chosen not randomly as it may seem at first glance. These dates are not associated with either the date of death or the date of birth, or any other milestones in the life of Ivan Franko. According to the organizers, informality of the chosen date makes the festival free from excessive academism and makes the image of the writer free of routine. Franko Fest offers a new approach. Such informality of the event worked for the benefit not only of the organizers of the festival that attracted unprecedented number of visitors to Nahuievychi, but also for the benefit of the local Museum-Reserve: the number of people who came to the estate of Ivan Franko and the museum in the three days of the festival equals the number of visitors who have come here in the past two years. “Promotion of our greatest site is the most important thing that can bring large number of people here,” said Vozniak. “We had guests from the Crimea, Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk. Another important thing is that we have selected only works written in Ukrainian. Those who say that Ukrainian-language things are not trendy these days should come here and see: Ukrainian language is super trendy.”

Opinions of different people about what Franko meant to them vary. It is important that everyone was able to find or establish an image of their own Franko – writer, public figure, translator, etc. Mykhailo, literary stage actor, third year student at Ivan Franko Lviv National University told The Day about his vision of Franko: “For me he is first of all a politician, who awakens the awareness of citizens, their self-respect. However, he was the politician who, at the same time, was a unique word-man.” Yevhen PSHENYCHNY, director of the Institute of Ivan Franko Studies at Drohobych University shared his interpretation of Franko-revolutionary: “He was revolutionary in spirit, academic work, his thoughts, and will. I often wonder where Franko would be if he lived at the present time. Perhaps, he would be with those who were on hunger strike near the Ukrainian Home, with those who protest against the arbitrariness of the authorities today.”

Fresh interpretation of Franko’s personality became a necessity for young people today. Sviatoslav MAKSYMCHUK, actor of Maria Zankovetska Lviv Drama Theater is convinced that one of the reasons for this has been the one-sided and superficial study of the creative heritage of Franko during the Soviet era, particularly in schools. He said: “School reading books today are filled with works that are least appealing for the child’s nature. Let’s take for example the poem ‘Eternal Revolutionary’ or ‘Song and Labor – Two Great Powers.’ Children do not understand them, especially when reading of these is mandatory for everyone.” Of course, promotion of intellectual matters among young people often requires methods that are different from conventional, and sometimes even really impressive. Two records were set at the festival: eight-meter pyramid of art illustrations to the works of Franko was made and a mass simultaneous reading of the poem “Oj Ty Divchyno, z Horikha Zernia” (My Girl) performed by 30,000 participants was held. The most popular clothing along with embroidered shirts was T-shirts with the image of Franko in the pop art style. Mandatory condition for any band to perform on the stage of the festival was to first read one of Franko’s poems and musicians either recited or read from books. Bohdan TYKHOLOZ, well-known expert of Ivan Franko Studies from Lviv in a conversation with The Day noted: “In short: when I switch on TV set I start thinking that this country has no future, but when I came to Franko Fest I realized that this country still has future. I think that academic institutions should also support this initiative because Franko studies done for Franko experts is, of course, a good thing but it would also be good if Franko studies could be made known to ordinary people.”

Among the participants of the Franko Fest there were people who already have not been expecting any new interpretations of Franko’s image. Serhii MARTYNIUK, front man of the band Fiolet said: “I am not sure that this festival will change Franko’s image. But I am sure that many people will be reminded about him as one of those Ukrainians that we can and should be proud of. I like it when young people get closer to culture in informal ways. In fact, this is how we can remind others that Franko is still alive and is not like any other Ukrainian geniuses. He occupies a separate niche. His words – ‘Crush this Rock’ are one of my life credos, which I try to follow at all times since school automatically without even remembering that these are his words. I really like his ideas.” Interestingly, in contrast to the young man’s skepticism there could also be found experienced optimism: 72-year-old Maria SHEVCHENKO from Drohobych told The Day that she simply could not stay away from such an event. Moreover, she can see a close connection between the youth festival and the old festivities that were organized in the Carpathian region during the reign of Poland. She said: “In the past similar events, however, on a smaller scale were organized here. At that time young people would come together to learn, for example, how to embroider or cook.”

Common elements of the old days gatherings with the present day events is obvious: field kitchen and master classes became an integral part of every festival. The same is true about large mass entertainment, which is one of the manifestations of national unity. This festival managed to convey the spirit of Franko and made it possible to unite thousands of young people for an idea. We want to believe that a new citizen of Ukraine can be formed here. However, a future citizen should not forget that having fun is possible without drinking alcohol, and that things will not be clean and in order if we do nothing to maintain it. Because even the greatest idea may die if we do not get rid of our bad habits that prevent us from growing.

Photos by Nadia SHVADCHAK