A Trip to Poppies

Volume 34
Fall-Winter
2008

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Ukrainians consider embroidered items their most cherished possessions, and they are proudly displayed in all Ukrainian homes, both in Ukraine and Syracuse.

Ashley Torregrossa is an undergraduate premedical student in the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University. This is her first fieldwork experience and publication in folk arts.

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A Trip to Poppies by Ashley Torregrossa

During my spring semester at Syracuse University I completed fieldwork for the public folklore course Folk Arts, Festival, and Public Display offered at Syracuse University through the Soling and honors programs. A part of my final project was a visit to Poppies, a community-operated folk arts shop at the Ukrainian National Home on the west side of the city, to photograph Ukrainian embroidery. Established in 1933, the Ukrainian National Home—a hub of cultural activity for Ukrainian Americans in Syracuse—is located in a drab, nondescript building, so much so that I drove by it the first time I visited Poppies. As a university student in my sophomore year, I was not used to exploring new neighborhoods in Syracuse. That cold March evening as I drove along the city street, I realized I had stepped out of my comfort zone and was now venturing into unfamiliar terrain.

Lyubov Sosna, Munevere Ibragimova, and Ulduz Safarova demonstrate needlework

Lyubov Sosna, Munevere Ibragimova, and Ulduz Safarova (left to right) demonstrate needlework at Syracuse University Mayfest 2008. Photo: Felicia Faye McMahon

Only after I turned my car around did I spot the small, faded sign. I parked in front of the dark doorway, feeling a bit anxious as I opened the big wooden doors and walked up the stairs. There was loud music playing. The roar of people laughing and talking seeped out behind closed doors. The gift shop was tucked away with a small sign that announced simply “Poppies.” I had walked right by the shop and had to turn around and go back down the stairs because I had expected a brightly lit colorful entrance. I slowly opened the door to the gift shop.

Immediately, my anxiety disappeared. The shop, although small, was inviting and very quiet compared to the ruckus I had heard upstairs. There was a hearth in a corner, and I noticed that the tiny room was filled with many different kinds of traditional Ukrainian gifts, such as intricately designed pysanky (hand-decorated eggs), finely beaded jewelry, exquisite items for the home including embroidered pillows and tablecloths, and even clothing such as scarves, slippers, and dresses. I walked around the gift shop a few times and took pictures of various examples of folk art.

An embroidered pillow appealed to me the most because of its unique woven stitch with a diagonal pattern. The design was outlined in black and red but filled in with warm colors of orange, yellow, and green to create an attractive piece of needlework. Before my visit to Poppies, I had read about similar cross-stitch and weaving patterns. The authors of Ukrainian Embroidery (1978), A. Kmit, J. Luciow, and L. Luciow, describe nyznk, a kind of weaving stitch that is completely geometrical and very timeconsuming. The design on the pillow was so intricate that I decided that must be the reason for the small sign, “Display only.” Looking at the way the items were carefully and attractively displayed made me appreciate the real beauty of the Ukrainian folk art I had only read about in books.

Traditional Ukrainian display at Poppies. Photo: Felicia Faye McMahon

Later I learned that Poppies represents only a small aspect of Ukrainian life in Syracuse. Poppies is part of the Ukrainian Cultural Center of Syracuse, a service organization that encourages Ukrainian cultural knowledge and language. The Syracuse Ukrainian Soccer Club, Saint John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, Ukrainian Federal Credit Union, and School of Ukrainian Studies are part of this cultural organization. There is even a web site (www.syrucc.org), on which I learned about the ODESA Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, a Syracuse-based group with a fifty-year history of promoting Ukrainian heritage through song and dance. ODESA enables younger Ukrainian Americans in Syracuse to learn the traditions of a homeland many have never visited and share these traditions with new audiences.

I had no idea whether traditions practiced by Ukrainian Americans differ from the traditions of recent Ukrainian immigrants to Syracuse, but I was able to interview Lyubov Sosna, who had immigrated from Ukraine in 1997. Lyubov currently works as a translator at Catholic Charities of Onondaga County refugee resettlement services in downtown Syracuse and was willing to meet with me. We met in her office, where she showed me a beautiful tablecloth embroidered by her mother. The tablecloth is decorated with a repeated red floral motif trimmed with black. Although I had read that the black signifies mourning and struggle and red represents love, Lyubov said she believes people use colors just because they like them. Ukrainians consider embroidered items their most cherished possessions, and they are proudly displayed in all Ukrainian homes, both in Ukraine and Syracuse. Lyubov also has an embroidered cloth in the entryway of her home in Jamesville, New York, to show that she is a part of a Ukrainian family. “It makes us proud to look at it,” she said.

Pysanky by Christine Kochan. Photo: Felicia Faye McMahon

Although Lyubov does not embroider, she mentioned that she celebrates Ukrainian Easter. Lyubov enthusiastically described Easter as a very elaborate event that includes making pysanky with her children and preparing an elaborate meal with special foods such as paska (Easter bread), a special kind of Ukrainian bacon, and cherries. I was impressed by Lyubov’s enthusiastic description of the foodways of her homeland, but more importantly, Lyubov is a wonderful person to be around. What affected me most was her expressive personality. She taught me that heritage means more than beautiful embroidery. It’s the way we live our lives.

“A Trip to Poppies by Ashley Torregrossa was published in Voices Vol. 34, Fall-Winter 2008. Voices is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. To become a subscriber, join the New York Folklore Society now.