10 October, 2015

Ukraine’s protectors’ Day



This Saturday the Gabfest Club (Window on America center, Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) was very lucky – we had 3 guests from the USA and 1 guest from Australia. The newcomers to the Club were very much impressed.

The session started with presenting a gratitude gift to our departing volunteer from Australia - Mr. Eric Kneller. The Club-members want Eric to have sweet memories about his time at Gabfest, so they presented him a pack of chocolates and cookies made in Dnipropetrovsk. Eric was very pleased and touched with this gift.

To break the ice we started to introduce the guests into the realm of Ukrainian public holidays. The coming Ukraine’s protectors’ Day (October, 14) became a very challenging topic both for Ukrainian anв foreign Club members. Very few managed to explain why the date of the holiday was changed. But more complicated was the religious and historical background of the holiday. The Slavic word Pokrov, has a complex meaning. First of all, it refers to a cloak or shroud, but it also means protection or intercession. For this reason, the name of the feast is often translated as Feast of the Intercession. The subject of Ukrainian Cossacks and their martial arts had to be introduced and was very interesting for the 12 y.o. William from Alabama.

The official topic of the session was “World Teachers’ Day”. We examined the official website of the day, learned the theme for the year 2015. The group was offered a list of questions about teaching and teachers. The foreign guests also asked questions about the traditions at local schools and problems that Ukrainian teachers face.

The session introduced complicated topics, but all participants enjoyed the challenges to their minds.


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