Dancing to Harmonia at Ukraine Benefit in Cleveland Cultural Gardens

 The band Harmonia performed in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens as a benefit for Ukraine sponsored by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America Ohio Chapter. 

 Harmonia presents the traditional folk music of Eastern Europe, ranging from the Danube to the Carpathians. Its repertoire reflects the cultures of this region: Hungarian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Romanian, Croatian and Gypsy. 

 The performers that evening were: Walt Mahovlich – accordion, Steven Greenman – violin, Alexander Fedoriouk – cimbalom, Branislav Brinarsky – bass and Beata Begeniova – vocals.  

In this finale number members of the audience came out and danced to a lively Ukrainian song.  

The World should have listened

 I was going through some old videos and found this from 2016.

During the Parade of Flags at the 71st annual One World Day in the Centennial Year of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens on MLK Blvd. members of the Ukrainian Cultural Garden chanted “Putin, get out of Ukraine” as they marched.

Rally for Ukraine in Parma

Parma Ohio is a suburb of Cleveland that has a large and strong Ukrainian community including an area known as Ukrainian Village. With the atrocities of the criminal invasion of sovereign Ukraine by the madman Putin, the Ukrainian community, friends and supporters gathered on Sunday February 27, 2022 to show support.

Crowds filled St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral to capacity and the standing room only crowd spilled outside.

Rev. Michael Hontaruk 

The event began with solemn prayers for the country and people of Ukraine.

Marta Liscynesky-Kelleher, president of the United Ukrainian Organizations of Ohio, an umbrella group for more than 50 Ukrainian cultural, political and other organizations in the state, served as MC.

After her remarks she introduced speakers including:

• Honorary Consul of Lithuania Ingrida Bublys 
•  American Jewish Committee Cleveland Regional Director Lee C. Shapiro
• Parma Mayor Tim DeGeeter who called up the Parma City Council
• US Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
• US Senator Rob Portman

Pictures and videos of all the speeches at the Ukraine Rally

Near the end of the ceremony the crowd sang a Ukrainian song wishing 100 years of life and then God Bless America.  

After the ceremony the people gathered outside the Church with signs and sang songs and showed support for Ukraine.

More from the Rally for Ukraine in Parma

Fun with Maps - Ukraine

 We had always planned on doing a Fun with Maps episode about Ukraine but due to the tragic current situation we moved it up in order. People are understandably very curious to know more about the country of Ukraine. And yes it is a country. It is not THE Ukraine; it is the country of Ukraine. Using the term THE Ukraine makes it sound like a region of another country as opposed to a sovereign nation.

Ukraine is the second-largest country by area in Europe after Russia, which it borders to the east and north-east. Ukraine also shares borders with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the south; and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It spans an area of 233,062 sq. miles with a population of 43.6 million. That makes it the eighth-most populous country in Europe.

We briefly talk about the history of Ukraine including the tragedy at Chernobyl and the Holodomor. We also touch on the great writer Lesya Ukrainka and pysanky Easter eggs.

See more Fun with Maps episodes

Ukrainian Embroidery

Uliana explained the beautiful dresses and other items from Ukraine at the Ukrainian Festival at Pokrova Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Parma (suburb of Cleveland) Ohio.

See more from Ukrainians in Cleveland

US Senator Rob Portman in Lithuanian Garden

Senator Rob Portman spoke at the 80th anniversary celebration of the Lithuanian Cultural Garden in Cleveland.  He spoke about how the freedom of the Baltics (and Ukraine and Crimea, etc.) is essential and how the US must support its allies.  

More from the Lithuanian community of Cleveland

Senator Rob Portman – Eastern Europe, ethnic groups and George Voinovich

Senator Rob Portman spoke at the 80th anniversary celebration of the Lithuanian Cultural Garden in Cleveland.  After the event he was asked if his expertise with the Baltic States, Ukraine and Eastern Europe and his strong relationships with the ethnic groups came from the late Senator George Voinovich.  

More of Cleveland's Lithuanian community

Putin, get out of Ukraine

During the Parade of Flags at the 71st annual One World Day in the Centennial Year of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens on MLK Blvd.  members of the Ukrainian Cultural Garden chanted “Putin, get out of Ukraine” as they marched. 

More from the Cleveland Ukrainian community  

Ukrainian Dance

The Cleveland Ukrainian community was represented at the 2013 Culture Shock event which was put on by Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) West and the Parma City School District.
Besides a table display, there was a dance performance.

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See more from the Ukrainian performance