Slovak community keeps up tasty tradition

By Harold Gwin

Sunday marked the local Slovak community’s 38th Christmas Eve vilija.

YOUNGSTOWN — Lucille Kramer of the South Side thinks it is important that traditions of the past be passed down to the younger generation.

That’s why the annual American Slovak Cultural Association’s vilija (a traditional meatless Slovak Christmas Eve meal) is so important, she said.

Kramer, 84, has been involved in the local vilija since it began 38 years ago.

“This all was brought here by our ancestors,” she said as she waited to join 225 other diners Sunday at the Father Snock Parish Center at St. Matthias Church on Shady Run Road.

All parts of the meal have special meaning, she said.

For example, the first course, oplatky, is a Communion-like wafer that is spread with honey to symbolize the unleavened break of the Passover dinner, and the second course, kapustnica (mushroom sauerkraut soup), symbolizes the Exodus theme of recalling the bitterness of slavery.

Kramer worries that some of that connection with the past will be lost to the local Slovak community.

Faith Simko, host of “The Slovak Hour” on radio station WKTL, is retiring from the show after 24 years, and there may not be anyone available to take her place, Kramer said.

The closing of the show would be a significant loss to the Slovak community, she said.

Simko received special recognition during the dinner for her years of service to that community.

Loretta Ekoniak, president of the American Slovak Cultural Association, said the guest list of 225 diners has been a relatively constant number in recent years.

“They love the food. They love the tradition,” she said.

The vilija also draws visitors from the Pittsburgh and Cleveland areas, and Bishop George Murry of the Diocese of Youngstown was a special guest this year.

Passing down the Slovak traditions is important, said Bernie Demechko, secretary of the Youngstown Sister Cities Program Inc., which works with the Rotary to bring exchange students from Slovakia here every year.

Sister Cities brought two of those students‚ö Viktoria Vitekova of Bratislava and Maty Lukac of Spisska Nova Ves, to this year’s vilija.

Tom Martinko, 74, another South Sider, has been involved with the vilija for the past 20 years.

“I’m a worker,” he said as he handed out drinks to thirsty diners.

This type of event is important just for the heritage, Martinko said, explaining, “This is a traditional thing I grew up with as a child.”

He recalled another part of the Christmas tradition in his family that involved the children’s mandatory learning and reciting speeches in Slovak, wishing family members Merry Christmas. If one didn’t recite the speech properly, it had to be repeated again and again until the speaker got it right before the children had access to their Christmas gifts, he said.

Christine Huska of Industry, Pa., and her mother, Helen Huska of Midland, Pa., drove to Youngstown from their homes to be a part of the vilija.

They learned about it after speaking with Ekoniak during a pilgrimage to a Slovak Shrine in Jackson Township in September, Christine Huska said. Ekoniak asked them if they would like to join the association, and they agreed to do so and started getting the organization’s newsletter.

“We wanted to come to this,” Christine Huska said, adding that they were having a good time and plan to come back.

Ekoniak said many of the association members are third-generation Slovaks. They want to introduce their ethnic traditions to the younger generations, she said, and holding a community vilija is one way to do that.

Many families still hold their own vilija on Christmas Eve, she said.

Also on the evening’s schedule were a presentation by Sherry Linkon, co-director at the Center for Working-Class Studies at Youngstown State University, a silent auction to raise scholarship funds and the singing of traditional Slovak Christmas carols led by the St. Matthias Choir.

gwin@vindy.com