A bunch of novachky, feminine campers ages 6-11, stand at consideration for {a photograph}, at the side of their two sestrichky, or “sisters” who function feminine counselors. Marching drills are a day-to-day job at camp.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
There’s a parcel of land hidden away within the woods of western New York state that has been house to a Ukrainian summer season camp known as “Novyi Sokil” since 1950. Each July, campers, counselors and directors acquire on 84 acres of hilly woods, that includes a deep ravine with a meandering creek and fields of grasses and wildflowers, for 3 weeks of growing lifelong friendships, mosquito bites, campfires and immersion into Ukrainian scouting tradition. The grounds are marked with cyrillic signage pointing them to the outside church, kitchen and pool, strolling the similar rooty paths their grandparents did. Each morning, blue and yellow flags are raised along American flags whilst they sing a repertoire of Ukrainian prayers and scouting songs. The shrill sound of a whistle mingles with crickets within the fields as they follow marching drills that should educate self-discipline and order. Each and every camper earns badges, wears a particular uniform, is anticipated to talk handiest Ukrainian and apply a scouting code.
I used to be a camper there within the Nineteen Eighties and ‘90s and skilled all of this precisely. As I’ve visited with my digital camera as an grownup, I’ve realized in regards to the unwavering dedication to keeping up this gorgeous area and the onerous paintings it involves. I envision the land as a theater set the place core summer season reminiscences are made whilst tightly protecting onto a tradition at risk of disappearing. In those American woods, they’re unfastened to be Ukrainian, and extra in particular, a Ukrainian Plast Scout.
The younatstvo, campers ages 12-18, attend to the day-to-day flag-raising rite at the handmade flag pole.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
A tenacious historical past Plast, the Ukrainian Scouting group, began in 1912 in Lviv, Ukraine (then a part of Galicia) by means of 3 lecturers: Oleksandr Tysovsky, Petro Franko and Ivan Chmola. One by one, they have been impressed by means of the lessons of Robert Baden-Powell, the founding father of the Scout motion. There’s a center of attention on nature, private building and no longer handiest celebrating Ukrainian tradition however elevating remarkable voters of Ukrainian society, which stays the core philosophy to this present day. The 3 most important responsibilities of a Plast Scout are: “To be trustworthy to God and Ukraine, To lend a hand others, and To reside by means of the Plast Code and obey Plast management.” By means of 1930, Plast in Ukraine was once dissolved by means of the Polish government and existed underground and below other names thru WW1, Soviet rule, German profession and the united states till its dissolution in 1991. Scout leaders persisted to arrange anywhere they ended up: displaced individuals camps in Germany and Austria after WW2, and in spite of everything in international locations the place diasporas settled like america, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Britain, Germany, Poland and Slovakia.
Two younger novaky, male campers ages 6-11, glance on in awe on the massive bonfire created once a year for fogeys’ weekend.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
All the way through arts and crafts time, acquainted topics emerge once a year, corresponding to Ukrainian flag motifs, as illustrated right here by means of Amelia, who wrote her title in Ukrainian.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
Celebrating 75 years Two of those leaders, Siryy Lev and Marian Borachok, displaced from Ukraine to Buffalo, N.Y., discovered an deserted farm for tenting within the close by rural village of North Collins. In 1950, it had a inhabitants of below 2,000 other folks, and as of late, just about 3,500. With the assistance of neighboring communities in Rochester, N.Y., and Cleveland, Ohio, those Plast Scouts, or “Plastuny,” bought the land in 1951 for $2,500, formally marking Novyi Sokil as the primary Plast camp in america.
My mother got here right here as a youngster within the Fifties, then a spot with out electrical energy, operating water or constructions. She recalls slumbering in a tent and having to wash within the creek; a some distance cry from the salt water inground pool, filtered water pumps and electrical energy in the entire constructions of as of late.
All the constructions at Novyi Sokil have been constructed to resemble properties in western Ukraine, together with this latrine that homes the camp’s showers and flushing bogs.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
It’s estimated that over 8,000 campers have attended Novyi Sokil in its historical past. They’ve come from so far as Sweden, South Africa and Ukraine, regardless that many of the campers consult with from the U.S. and Canada. Refugees from Ukraine lately will probably be in attendance; for plenty of of them, it’s their first time tenting. Counselors have instructed me that the youngsters mix seamlessly, they usually ceaselessly debate in regards to the Ukrainian language. There’s a marked distinction in vocabulary from local, current-day Ukrainians and diasporic Ukrainians who realized a Galician dialect from their grandparents. “It’s essential for me to be right here on this welcoming neighborhood as a result of I nonetheless get to continue to learn about my Ukrainian heritage, historical past and language,” Natalya Chan, age 17 from Ontario, Canada, shared. “It [the war in Ukraine] makes me emotional understanding that I am getting to be right here surrounded by means of all my Ukrainian pals whilst understanding that individuals in Ukraine aren’t with their family members.”
The camp is carried out in Ukrainian, and scouts are publicly rated on their language effort. This signal reads “Right here We Use Handiest The Ukrainian Language,” and in the back of it, older campers acquire for making a song follow.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
Day by day existence at Novyi Sokil The camp is split into two age teams. The more youthful children, or novatstvo, which vary in age from 6-11, sleep in barracks and paintings on badges thru crafts, songs and play. The advisors expand a robust bond with the campers, who ceaselessly revel in bouts of homesickness. Each summer season, they discover a camp theme, corresponding to a “Educate Journey Thru Ukraine.” Symbols just like the blue and yellow flag, embroidery motifs, the Ukrainian trident and floral head wreaths enhance the barracks. All of them put on yellow kerchiefs with their uniforms.
There’s a positive solution to rolling campers’ bandanas that comes to greedy it at two corners, whipping it round and the use of your tooth to drag it directly.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
The scouts graduate to grow to be younatsvo, which vary in age from 11 in the course of the finish of highschool and sleep in tents and do pioneering actions, like construction gates from fallen logs and studying wasteland survival abilities. The depth in their actions will increase with age, they usually additionally have interaction extra deeply with Ukrainian historical past and tradition. They get to have supervised events within the evenings, too.
Each summer season, older campers acquire for an evening known as Ivana Kupala, a summer season ritual rooted in Paganism the place they put on Ukrainian embroidery, conventional flower wreaths and sing about love, nature and matchmaking.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
The campers’ kerchief colours are dependent at the house troop that they belong to. When they whole their sophomore yr of highschool, they are able to then attend a different camp to grow to be counselors for the more youthful campers. After the age of 18, all of them grow to be a part of the older “Plastun” rank, and will proceed to be Plast scouts for the remainder of their lives.
One bratchyk, or “brother” who serves as a male counselor, is helping any other to get his bandana directly.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
“My grandfather was once one of the crucial founders of the camp in 1950. My father attended the primary camp there in 1951. They’ve each spent numerous time caring for the valuables and making sure its livelihood since then. My siblings and I additionally attended camps whilst we have been rising up. Now, I wish to proceed the circle of relatives custom with my very own children,” stocks one of the crucial directors, Chrystia Paszkowsky, 49, from Buffalo, New York.
Every age apply a equivalent regimen that incorporates starting and end-of-day ceremonies, swimming, badge-earning, making a song, foods, sports activities, campfires and weekly Ukrainian Catholic Mass. Each time they want to acquire, they’re known as with a shrill whistle and the yelling of the phrase, “Zbirka!”, which interprets to “assortment” and is supposed for the campers to assemble in a directly line at consideration to start the following job.
A clergyman distributes communion by means of the use of a golden chalice and a spoon to drop a wine-soaked piece of bread into every particular person’s mouth.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
Campers obtain directions for his or her early morning marching drills.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
The directors of the camp do the essential, behind-the-scenes paintings of allows, protection, scheduling box journeys, well being inspection and funds. Camp is inbuilt one of these means that the group of counselors ages 16 and older invent the programming and actions. Adults are in large part absent from day-to-day existence, and this ecosystem self-monitors inside of Plast’s curriculum. Each and every management group is made up of a head counselor, secretary and a “Bonchuzhnyi,” who’s answerable for scheduling, time maintaining and main the campers in necessary marching abilities. An (un)positive long term As a child, the have an effect on of the paintings required to deal with this camp is going left out. The campers display as much as be “Plastuny,” and in flip turn on the gap with track, laughter and being with their Ukrainian pals for 3 weeks out of the yr. I wonder on the pressure of the management to do the extremely laborious paintings of creating no longer just a protected bodily area, however a cultural enclave that children wish to go back to yr after yr. It’s an annual combat: discovering the team of workers and cash since the camp should pass on.
3 campers wait to head swimming on a sizzling sunny day in North Collins, N.Y.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
All of those inventions and maintenance come at a super determination and price. Over the span of 3 quarters of a century, finances have been raised thru private donations and crowdfunding efforts to amplify the acreage and construct the barracks, outside church, pool, latrine and extra. Yearly, a handful of native helpers display up with equipment to transparent away particles and make enhancements. Novyi Sokil is now certainly one of 3 functioning Ukrainian Plast camps in america.
Older boys run laps at the sportova ploshta, or “sports activities box.”
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
A druh, or male counselor to the older campers, calls his campers over to line up for the following job.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
Plast leaders have continued thru assaults on Ukrainian tradition for over a century, since the need to exist peacefully as a neighborhood, rejoice traditions and talk their very own language is a human proper. For the reason that function of the group is to boost patriotic younger Ukrainians, this was once deemed a risk by means of the government that ruled Ukraine for many of the twentieth century: the Poles, Germans and Soviets. Within the Nineteen Thirties, Plast leaders would meet out of uniform and camp deep within the Carpathian mountains in western Ukraine. They began {a magazine} for early life known as Vohni, or “Fires,” that published as much as 50 copies regardless of police raids and confiscations. Leaders who controlled to continue to exist the German and Soviet occupations of the Nineteen Forties persisted to show the Plast values below organizations of various names, and displaced Ukrainians proceed to paintings towards the sway of assimilation.
This woodsy camp is a logo of the choice to struggle for Ukraine’s freedom, particularly in gentle of its unsure long term, as Russia’s full-scale invasion continues. As Novyi Sokil’s seventy fifth anniversary approaches, with its colourful guardianship, it’s transparent that it gained’t be disappearing anytime quickly. “I do know my circle of relatives is actually giant on tradition and maintaining it alive,” says Larysa, a 17 yr previous from Chicago. “Within the conflict in Ukraine, their center of attention is to offer protection to Ukraine. Going to camp is essential as a result of we’re being taught to stay our roots alive from a tender age, so we all know what to cross directly to long term generations.”
Campers finish the day with a vatra, or bonfire, making a song and storytelling in Ukrainian.
Andrea Wenglowskyj
conceal caption
toggle caption
Andrea Wenglowskyj
