I think now is the appropriate time to tell some of the things Pop told that happened in the Ukraine when he was growing up. He told us how he swam and fished in the Dniester River as a boy. He told how he raced his horse along the river. Once his horse stepped into a hole as he raced and horse and rider fell. He hit his shoulder on the ground and dislocated it. There being no doctor in the village and the doctor being a day’s journey away; grandfather went to his neighbor the village blacksmith for advice. They decided that the blacksmith make a hole in the wall of the blacksmith’s shop and then Pop could put his dislocated arm through the hole. Grandfather held my father while the blacksmith pulled until the shoulder snapped back into place. Even in his old age that shoulder gave him pain on occasion of bad weather.
Father told that as a teenager he was called upon to help fight an oil fire somewhere near the city of Ternopol. He also told us about the wedding they had which lasted several days. There was plenty of food and drink and then they would dance until early morning. The next day was a continuation of the previous day. All work was postponed until another day. There would be many musicians, local players on the violins, accordions, or concertinas, balalaikas, harmonicas and whatever else they had. At times the local gypsies were called upon to play and they were exceptional musicians.
Editor’s note: Ukraine has a long history as a major crossroad, and this comes through especially in Music. There is a particular scale called the “Ukrainian Dorian Scale” which is a minor scale where the 4th (‘Fa’) is replace with a sharpened note. The Ukrainian National Anthem, Україна не вмерла uses this scale.
Pop played the concertina, and could do the Hopak Dance of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.
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