On April 24 Pierogi Day at Stephen and Vicky Culberson’s house in 2024, sister Jean asked the question about Grandmom Zdepski playing with children, bouncing them on her leg and saying, “Hupa, hupa, hupa.” As she said, “What was that all about?” On September 10, 2025 after playing with my 9-month old granddaughter Baby Jane and bouncing her on my leg, I asked Jean’s question using Google for an answer.
The first return from AI Google talked about the Hupa Indian Tribe in Northern California. I then asked Google what Hupa, Hupa, Hupa meant in Ukrainian language and it returned the surprising result which is a plausible explanation – see the two screenshots below:
When I sent the result to Jean, she provided a brief thank you and then later, this email as follow up:
“The more I think about this, the more it makes me smile…
We never thought to ask what she was singing. And I even had the interpretation( and pronunciation) wrong-thinking she was singing-singing “up-py” as she bounced the baby on her foot/calf of her leg like the baby was riding a pony…
But she brought her history/childhood here. And 2 generations you share that with the next generation….
Cool history in a word and playing with a child in the simplest way…”
Jean is correct. As a matter of memory, I’m quite sure that Aunt Anna and Aunt Helen also used the “Hupa, Hupa, Hupa” when baby bouncing. And, thank you Jean for asking the question…
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