People danced, bought food and drink, and feasted on the pyrohy [curd/meat/fruit dumplings, otherwise known as varenyky and to our friends in Chicago as perogies] all last weekend at the Spivoche Pole Song Meadow at the Pechersk Landscape Park hosting the Pan Varenyk [Mr. Dumpling] Festival and Fair. On the first day of the event, the battle-fatigued ladies manning the numerous kiosks and stands selling varenyky tried to keep in the shade, complaining about the scorching sun and their poor lot in the public catering domain. When asked how business was, they responded with tired smiles, saying can’t you see, people keep drinking cold beer; who do you think will buy hot varenyky in this weather? And this considering that the traditional Ukrainian dish was sold at rather democratic prices: UAH 3.00-3.50 or about 60 cents per helping. Most customers, however, firmly headed for stands offering soft drinks, wines, and stronger stuff. The feast focused on events matching the climate. Most of those present sat under trees shade, ignoring the benches facing the open-air stage. Onstage, the singing and dancing of folk groups were interspersed by pyrohy-eating contests. Those able to consume the largest quantity qualified for the finals promising a prize no one knew anything about. Those winning the semifinals were in for somewhat problematic awards, more varenyky, what else?
The winners thus faced the uneasy choice of rushing home to put the trophy in the freezer or leave it to the mercy of the sun and stay with the merrymaking. The first round of the festival ended with a folk group performing a German dance. The cheerful music made a couple of onlookers resting in the shade leave their refuge and join the dancers wearing spring flower and grass wreaths. After the final chord, as the “Germans” were cursing in Russian, looking for their bus, shedding their German suffocating costumes on the way, The Day asked some of the tired devotees of the German folk legacy what they thought of the festival. One of them, Fedir Mykolayovych, said he liked it very much. And his attitude was evident from his state of mind (in a couple of minutes he had managed to relate his brief biography, praise the organizing committee, and ask for his photo). Tetiana Markivna, resident of the Podil neighborhood, was more restrained, saying, “Ukrainians like singing and dancing. My friends and I often visit such fests, but I don’t like this one. If it’s too hot, we get out of the shade only near the end.”
Pan Varenyk’s second day was rich in surprises. First, the temperature had dropped somewhat. Second, the audience was larger. Third, the festival was attended by guests from Moscow. Still, the first to appear onstage was the Kalyna folk group. The emcee was Ilona Bronevytska and the Pyatnitsky Choir attracted people the way a cool breeze attracts one exposed to the scorching sun.
Seven-year-old Oksana from Vinnytsia was visiting with her granny. Both had seen an ad for the celebration in Darnytsia and decided to spend the day on the Song Meadow. The little girl’s reaction showed that the event was indeed a success. Waving her ice cream, Oksana told us how much she liked what she had seen, all those men eating pyrohy, and how she had danced and enjoyed it.
The finale was a grand show of pyrohy-eating contests. The winner was paid 100 hryvnias and departed, not to be seen until evening, anyway.
There was an ambulance on standby and the crew told The Day that, fortunately, there had been no accidents. Festival guests appeared to be able to hold their food and liquor. Likewise, the law enforcement authorities in attendance stated that the situation was under control and uneventful, adding that no major violations of public law and order are registered on such occasions, except in the outskirts of Kyiv. The situation downtown is controlled by Berkut special militia units, The Day was told by Senior Lieutenant Roman Kozachuk.
In a word, the Pyrohy Festival was a success, at least as far as the law and health authorities were concerned — except that pyrohy consumption was less active, due to the temperature.
