It’s Ukrainian Independence Day. How people in US are celebrating amid Russia assault

Ukraine’s Independence Day has always been a meaningful holiday for Ukrainian communities in the U.S. as an opportunity to celebrate their shared culture. This year, amid war with Russia, the day has increased significance as the cost of Ukraine’s freedom becomes increasingly clear.

“We know the price of independence and we know the meaning of independence,” Mick Safron, a Ukrainian from Dnipro, who currently lives in Austin, Texas, told McClatchy News.

Ukrainian Independence Day, celebrated annually on Aug. 24, commemorates the day that Ukraine officially became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.

This year – the country’s 31st anniversary – festivities take place in the shadow of the war with Russia. The war began eight years ago in eastern Ukraine when Russian troops annexed Crimea and intensified six months ago when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country.

Since the war began, “the meaning of the independence day changed a lot,” Safron said. “When we have a war and people start to fight for the freedom, people start to understand why it’s important to have a freedom. For many of us, it’s an eye-opener. Freedom and independence is not free. There are sacrifices and there’s tragedy. You have to fight for it.”

In large Ukrainian cities, the government banned Independence Day celebrations as a precautionary measure and out of fear that Russia might carry out “particularly ugly” missile strikes on the holiday, CNN reported.

In the U.S., however, celebrations are expected to be bigger than ever, multiple people told McClatchy News.

Celebrations in the U.S.

About 1.1 million people with Ukrainian ancestry live in the U.S., the largest Ukrainian diaspora community outside of former Soviet-controlled areas, according to Migration Policy.

Because the community is too big to gather at one celebration, Safron explained that Independence Day gatherings and picnics begin in late July or early August and continue until late September or early October. “Why compete on one event if we can make five events separated by a couple weeks?” Safron asked, “Plus people will like to go and eat pierogies (filled dumplings) not one time, but many times.”

These holiday gatherings give Ukrainians in the U.S. the opportunity to come together and be in the U.S., “but the same time, in Ukraine,” Safron explained.

Independence Day festivities vary by community, but they consistently feature Ukrainian songs, dances, language, and food, among other cultural expressions, Nataliia Hays, a Ukrainian-American from Kharkiv who currently lives in Dallas, Texas, told McClatchy News.

Hays, a member of the Ukrainian singing group Veselka, typically performs for Independence Day. The group is “just regular people,” she said, “who like to sing, who like to keep Ukrainian culture in Dallas.”

Eight years ago, Hays joined the group, and her first Independence Day performance became one of her favorites. Her son, about 5 or 6-years-old at the time, also sang with the group, she recalls. “He didn’t read in Ukrainian so to learn with him songs, I was writing in English letters Ukrainian, you know, Ukrainian songs,” she said. “He has some parts where it was like solo, where he sang, and it was very, very, – for me, it was like goosebumps. My son is saying something in Ukrainian and singing songs. It was amazing.”

Sharing the ’Ukraine spirit’

Moments like these – moments of passing Ukrainian culture from one generation to the next – resonate throughout Independence Day festivities.

Safron recalled a similar moment. “It’s Ukrainian anthem,” he said. “Everyone together singing the same song. And you feel this vibration of everyone singing anthem of Ukraine.”

Everyone sings together, from young children whose only Ukrainian may be the lyrics of the anthem to elderly Ukrainians who “bring this song through all their life and give it to us, new generation,” Safron said.

Tetiana Mouzi, a Ukrainian from Lviv who moved to the U.S. almost 30 years ago and currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri, told McClatchy News about other moments of Ukrainian culture being passed through her community’s Independence Day.

During this holiday, Mouzi recalled seeing, “kids that never been in Ukraine and they are being just told from the pictures by their parents and grandparents. The way that they are holding themselves – wearing yellow and blue and performing some dances –, and how proud they are that they have this different heritage, that they know a different language,” she said. The kids are happy to show their Ukrainian heritage to others, Mouzi said.

Two such individuals are helping put on Ukrainian dance performances for Independence Day celebrations in St. Louis this year, Mouzi said. A Ukrainian-Canadian proficient in Ukrainian folk dance and studying at the local university approached Mouzi about putting together a performance for Independence Day. The idea brought 15 adults together, learning folk dances, having fun, and celebrating their shared heritage.

“Those people who teaching us Ukrainian dance, they’ve never been in Ukraine,” Mouzi said. “Their grandparents taught them how to dance so that Ukraine spirit are still moving forward.”

Ukrainian “spirit” – a mixture of cultural and linguistic traditions with a love of freedom and a burning desire for independence shared by Mouzi, Hays, Safron, and other Ukrainians in the diaspora community – animates Independence Day celebrations.

As Safron said, “we have this flag of Ukraine in our hearts and we keep it throughout all our lives, even though many of us identify ourselves as not just Ukrainian-American, but Ukrainian-American-something more.”

For this reason, Mouzi said, “We” – Ukrainians – “will never disappear, even if something goes wrong in Ukraine, the people will remember the history, and those history will move forward.” The Ukrainian spirit will live on, but “we hope it will live in the country, not without,” she said.

“I lost so many tears,” Mouzi said. “I need to hold on, kinda move forward, and kinda believe” that the Ukrainian spirit will always go on, because “right now, my heart is really broken.”

Ukraine and Ukrainians “always want to be free and independent,” she said.

Mouzi, Safron, and Hays shared that Ukrainian Independence Day celebrations are open to non-Ukrainians, or “friends of Ukraine,” who want to learn more about Ukrainian culture and support Ukrainian communities.

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