Paying homage to heritage
The participants have a deep, respectful connection to the homeland.
SHARON, Pa. -- Mary Svet was looking for that perfect egg.
She'd already found eight perfect eggs, one for each of her grandchildren and two more for her children. She picked up clear plastic cartons, examining their contents carefully. Each contained a colorful Ukrainian egg decorated with symbols of faith, prosperity, happiness or good fortune, nested on a bed of crinkled paper.
With Easter just a week away, she was completing some critical holiday shopping.
Svet's granddaughter, Stephani Wagner, stood by patiently, carrying the tall stack of chosen eggs.
The two women, both from Hubbard, traveled to Sharon on Sunday for what has become an Easter tradition for many area residents with Eastern European roots -- the Ukrainian Egg Festival.
Less than 20 minutes into the three-hour festival, the line for egg buyers snaked almost all the way around the long, narrow room. Like Svet, most were buying eggs for Easter gifts.
Bill Ploskodniak, however, was looking for inspiration.
The Niles resident took up Ukrainian egg decorating about three years ago. He did it as a nod to his Eastern European heritage and found that he enjoys the craft for its precision and creativity.
He made two eggs in the past year, but they're not quite as fancy as the ones he saw at the festival Sunday.
"I have a way to go," he said with a laugh.
More than 400 eggs were for sale Sunday. Although many came to Billy's Black & amp; Gold to buy eggs, there was a sizable crowd upstairs in the egg-decorating room. There, crowded at tables, folks tried their hand at the ancient art.
Carol Novosel, the creator of most of the eggs, was delighted.
Novosel's husband, Billy, owns the bar/restaurant where the festival is held. When she's not turning out decorated eggs, Carol manages the kitchen. When she gets a chance, she climbs the stairs to her 20-foot-by-23-foot office to work on Ukrainian eggs. With her nephew, Myron Worona, 16, Novosel carries on a family tradition.
Novosel, 48, learned the art of egg decorating from her grandmother, starting when she was about 6. She embraces her Ukrainian heritage, paying regular visits to the region where her grandparents were born more than a century ago.
"I am very fortunate to be third generation," Novosel said. "I really have the best of everything. I have the benefit of my heritage, but I am proud to be an American. I would not trade my citizenship for anything in the world."
Her grandparents came to the United States in 1906; her grandmother knew only three English words: South Side Pittsburgh. With those words, she knew that she would find a safe home, Novosel said.
Novosel's parents grew up in homes where Ukrainian was spoken regularly, and Novosel spoke both English and Ukrainian until she started school. Her parents spoke only English after that; they didn't want their children to face the teasing they got for speaking a foreign language.
"They would speak Ukrainian in front of us if they didn't want us to know what they were saying," she said. "But we usually got the gist of it."
Traditional food
The food offered for sale at the festival is the food Novosel grew up with: halusky, a blend of noodles and cabbage; stuffed cabbage; pirogis stuffed with potatoes, sauerkraut, cottage cheese, mushrooms, apples, plums or blueberry filling; and chicken kiev. The big-as-a-softball chicken, stuffed with seasoned butter and fried, is her favorite of the authentic Ukrainian dishes.
She picked up tips for preparing it on a trip to her family's homeland. The secret, she said, is "fresh, fresh, fresh -- the butter, the cream, it all has to be the freshest you can find."
This year's festival was the 16th, and each year it draws more people. Many people, it seems to Novosel, want an authentic piece of the past.
"The more you know about your heritage, your history, the more you learn about who you are," she said. "I think that when you learn about your heritage, your foods, your holiday traditions, you have a link to your place in history."