Codette, Saskatchewan

Mary and Steve Rudy of the St. Peter and Paul, Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Codette talk about Malanka, their church’s very successful fundraiser.  This event was started in 1989 when a few couples decided that Malanka, the celebration of the New Year according to the Old or Julian calendar, would be a good way to raise money for the church. First they contacted people who had experience in hosting big fundraising events.  One of their sources was the congregation in Canora which provided a video, a program, and a booklet with the information on Malanka.  Using what they got from Canora, the Codette congregation created their own Malanka and it has run successfully for the last twenty-two years!

The popularity of the event has grown phenomenally. Malanka was first celebrated in the Ukrainian hall which has a maximum capacity of 120 people. Within a few years, the Codette congregation needed to move their event to a bigger hall that could hold 230 people. A few years later, that too was not big enough and the Codette Malanka moved to the Evergreen Center which has a maximum capacity of 350 people. The tickets have been selling out for the last 10 years.

They describe the entertainment during the Malanka fundraiser for their church. They have a fun activity with vorozhka (a fortune teller) who does fortune telling with a crystal ball. The evening starts at 6 PM with cocktails. There are about 40 tables and each has a designated hospodar (host) and hospodynia (hostess). There is a ritual blessing of family members and a ritual honoring of past generations. They is also mumming with people dressed up as gypsies and other characters. Every year they burn a didukh (a traditional Ukrainian Christmas decoration made from a sheaf of wheat) and do posivaty (a tradition of sprinkling grains while reciting special greeting poems and singing songs).

The highlight of the evening is the two chickens they bring out shortly before midnight and put in the middle of the floor in front of a bowl of wheat and a bowl of water. The belief is that if the chickens take a drink of water first, the coming year will be very dry. However, if they go for the wheat first, the harvest will be bountiful. Steve Rudy says that in the 22 years during which he has participated in the event, the chickens have not been wrong once. In fact, if he and his wife go into town after the Malanka,  people who were not able to attend the event always ask them: “What did the chickens do?”