What's next for Folk Camp | Solidarity with Ukraine 🌻

Dear friends,

It has been an unbelievably difficult surreal time since Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th. We are devastated by the tragic events unfolding and worried for our friends and family, and all the innocent people under attack. Our community is closely tied to Ukraine and so for us this war and invasion are deeply personal. Not only do we all have family and dear friends there, but also countless colleagues, artists, folklorists, and community organizers who have devoted their lives to the betterment of their homeland, who have come and taught at our camps, who have shared with us the beauty and rich folk traditions of Ukraine.

We are deeply disturbed and saddened. We ask you to please stand with us and all Ukrainians in support of peace and Ukrainian sovereignty, and to help in whatever ways you can. We urge you to support humanitarian aid, and to lend your voices to spreading a message of peace. Please pray for all the people suffering through this trying time, and for victims of violent oppression everywhere. We need to battle evil with good, and we need to nourish each other's spirits so that we have the energy to withstand this assault.

Lighting candles, writing pysanky with prayer and intention, and singing vesnianky to call forth spring with prayers in our hearts, is more important than ever.

So, please join us in writing pysanky, from your home, or join a group gathering*, and speak up, reach out, and do what you can to be the light in the world.

We will make it through if we support one another. Keep the faith.

pray for peace,

Bozena

*We changed our AGM date!*

Gathering in Community!

*Many of our community members are gathering to make pysanky with workshops and fundraisers all across the country. If you are looking for, or hosting a gathering, please share the info on the Folk Camp community page on FB.

If you are looking for others to sing vesnianky (slavic spring songs) with, reach out on the Kosa or Facebook community page as well, to find fellow folk who might be gathering to sing.

For online singing workshops, follow Ukrainian Village Voices group and the ever wonderful Kitka and Eastern European Folklife Center in the USA.

Making pysanky, singing vesnianky, like other sacred rituals, brings us into communion with the peace that resides within us, and helps us fuse the fractures that grief and violence inflict upon our souls.

"When people are displaced from their places and their people, their orientation to the world scatters. Of course, this is happening now, not just in Ukraine but in so many places and throughout history. And, one of the many devastating consequences of displacement is forgetting what roots us, binds us and belongs to us and us to it.

When there's displacement, we need ways to remember and renew our sense of belonging.
Life continues to splinter but there are ways to mend it, over and over again.

May we remember that art, nature and ritual are healing resources for us, during these times of collective and personal upheaval -- ways to return to what matters -- for all us humans forever longing to belong."

Thank you to Day Schildkret (@morningaltars) for these words.