The pupils of the Kherson non-specialized school No. 56 were delighted when they returned home after their winter vacation. They had celebrated their Christmas holidays in western Ukraine.
“It was our pupils’ sixth journey to the land of Cheremosh and Prut,” said the principal of the school Svitlana Mykytiuk, “The children went on vacation to Rakhiv region in Transcarpathia two times, and four times to Yaremche in Ivano-Frankivsk region. They meet, make friends. The impressions and memories they get will be enough for the entire year. We try to use them in our educational process — in geography lessons and in writing creative works within the All-Ukrainian local history expedition ‘The Beauty and Pain of Ukraine.’”
“This time, 20 pupils from fifth to ninth grade spent their winter vacation in Yaremche,” joins in the teacher of Russian language and literature Iryna Yevtukhova, “We didn’t stay in one place, but traveled actively: we visited Vorokhta and Lviv, where we witnessed the parade of Christmas stars. The children were astonished by the sanctity and reverence which envelops Christmas in western Ukraine. They were also fascinated by the flourish it was celebrated with, and by the attitude to folk traditions. A Christmas carol in western Ukraine is not just the four lines that we are used to, but an entire poem. We have brought many souvenirs back from this journey, which filled the school’s ethnographic museum.”
As the pedagogues say, there are always many willing to travel among the pupils, and every year 40 to 60 boys and girls set on a journey to the Carpathians and Transcarpathia. Yet after Ukrzaliznytsia canceled fare discounts for pupils, not everyone can afford it. However, those that managed to visit the western regions have experienced some kind of astonishment.
“I’ve seen a corner of Ukraine that is very different from the one where I live,” says former eight-grader Viktoria Zemtsova. “Different nature, different customs, different cuisine. But people everywhere are sincere, friendly and kind. Once again I saw how beautiful my fatherland and its people are.”
“We dream that in the future our pupils and children from western Ukraine would communicate not only on holidays, but during studies as well — that we could make a class exchange,” says school principal. “This would help establish closer contacts between our regions not only on holidays, but also on weekdays.”
