Oct 7, 2005 4 min read

The 24th annual Carpatho-Rusyn Celebration will take place on Sunday, Oct. 30, at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church Social Hall, 201 E. Main St., Uniontown. Hours are from noon to 7 p.m. The day will feature the heritage of the Carpatho-Rusyns who come from the very heart of Europe, along the northern and southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. Their homeland, known as “Carpathian-Rus,” is situated at the crossroads where the borders of Slovakia, Ukraine and Poland meet. Aside from these countries, there are smaller groups of Rusyns in Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia and the Czech Republic. In no country do the Carpatho-Rusyns have an administratively distinct territory.

It is immigrants from Carpathian-Rus who came to the United States in the early 1900s settled in this area and started several churches, including St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church.

The Carpatho-Rusyns, though a Slavic group, have distinct differences in language, customs, music, dance, folk crafts and foods. These immigrants brought their traditions with them and maintained them, particularly those in their church life, which was of utmost importance to them.

The day will highlight various aspects of Carpatho-Rusyn culture. Foods such as pirohi, holubki, halushki, kolbasi and sauerkraut, nalesniki (potato pancakes), soups and more will be featured. There will also be a variety of baked goods, including kolachi (apricot, nut, poppyseed and cottage cheese rolls), pagach, breads and more.

The Carpatho-Rusyn Celebration will be a blending of spiritual and cultural traditions of the Rusyn people. A Divine Liturgy at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, will include a blessing for the event and festival workers. There will be a Divine Liturgy at 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, in English. The 11:15 a.m. Divine Liturgy will be sung in Church Slavonic, the responses being sung at the Pennsylvania Grant Chant Class directed by Jerry Jumba with the Rev. Thomas J. Wesdock as celebrant.

There will be on-going entertainment, which includes music, folk dancing and singing, demonstrations, videos, displays and presentations. The Ruskyj Muzikianti musical group from Pittsburgh will perform at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Slavjane Folk Ensemble dancers and musicians from Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church, McKees Rocks, will perform at 3:30 p.m.

Various topics such as Carpatho-Rusyn family customs – both secular and religious, genealogy and tracing cultural roots and recent trips to the Carpathian homeland will be presented.

At 2:30 p.m. John Righetti, a Monesson native and Carpatho-Rusyn society president, will discuss the topic “Overview of Rusyn Ethnicity: Past and Present.” There will be videos of Carpatho-Rusyn culture and customs and iconography.

Once again, there will be the fun-filled children’s activities room where children can experience the Rusyn culture through storytelling and making folk crafts such a wooden eggs, bookmarks, decorated cookies, coloring sheets and more.

This year’s activities will focus on folk arts – especially egg art. There will also be demonstrations of pysanky (egg decorating), folk embroidery and wood burning, which are traditional folk crafts of the Carpatho-Rusyns as well as iconography.

A display of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society will include costumes, crafts, religious artifacts, videocassettes and demonstrations of the Carpatho-Rusyn heritage. Also on display in the church will be a burial shroud (Plascanitsja) made in the Ukraine, which is used in a procession on the feast of Dormition, a newly added Resurrection Icon and Golgotha cross. A pictorial display will depict the span of 23 years of the Carpatho-Rusyn Celebration of St. John’s.

Tables of crafts for sale will include contemporary crafts as well as traditional Carpatho-Rusyn folk crafts. The contemporary crafts include secular and religious items, fall decorations, Christmas items and more. The folk crafts of the Rusyns include pysanky (decorated eggs), embroideries such as those used to cover Easter Baskets to be blessed, wood burned icons and icon ornaments, greeting cards and other articles.

Available also are imported items, cookbooks, T-shirts, maps and informational materials.

The many raffle items include a queen size embroidered/appliqu?d quilt featuring a colorful array of floral designs made by St. John’s Ethnic Craft Club.

The day will be one full of color, life and music for family entertainment. There is no admission charge. The pastor is the Rev. Thomas J. Wesdock.

For information, call 724-438-6027 Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 724-438-8412 in the evenings.