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  • Day 10

    Hutsul Vesilia Continued

    August 6, 2019 in Ukraine ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Nathan and Audrey got back on their horses and we headed back to the school for the wedding reception. By this time it was about 4:30 pm and we hadn’t eaten since breakfast at 8 am so everyone was ready to eat! I was impressed that Tyler actually didn’t really get hangry. We sat at the head table. There were salads, salo, cabbage rolls (probably the best ones we’ve had in Ukraine so far) and meat and potatoes. There were trays of pampoushky on each table too. There was also more golden root home brew instead of vodka and the hosts led the traditional many shots once again.

    After eating, the musicians played for us. A couple younger children (I’d guess 10-14 years old) played the tsymbaly and a baian. The baian looks like an accordion but has buttons on the side instead of a keyboard. They even did a rendition of Despacito. There was also an older man who played a variety of woodwind instruments. He played a trembita which was amazing to see in person. One of the instruments looked like a shotgun but was actually some type type of a flute. He was truly amazing, it was hard to see how he could play such intricate hutsul tunes with such simple instruments. As it turned out he basically didn’t need an instrument... after his set he did a shot and then played a tune using only the empty shot glass.

    Next it was time to dance! We did some folk dances in a circle including one where the boys had to crawl under the girls legs. Unfortunately one of the neck tassels in Tyler’s brand new shirt broke off during a sit lift from the strain of having someone on the arms.

    After the dances, it was time for more food. They brought out banosh... which is essentially a corn meal pudding. It was delicious and very buttery. Dessert was a dough filled with a sweet poppy seed mixture! They look like really large perogies but the dough was more like bread.

    It was a day filled with amazing hospitality and was lovely to learn more about a traditional hutsul wedding. After a few more budmos, it was time to head to the bus. While we were waiting for everyone to file out, we had a little impromptu photo shoot with the mountains/sunset.

    We arrived at the hotel at around 10:45 pm. We were supposed to be back at 7pm so I think you can understand what we mean about the hospitality. Really wish we could stay in the Carpathians longer but we head out in the morning. Instead of going out for a drink with the others, Tyler and I made the wise decision to go right to sleep ... getting 8 hours straight for the first time this trip!

    Brooke
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