Pumpkins for Ukraine: An Update for NPR

At the English Club this week, Stacey and I asked about the recent NPR report, which many friends told me about and I read online, that in Ukraine pumpkins are not especially welcomed, because they mean rejection. "The big kiss-off!" reported NPR. In this Ukrainian tradition, if a man proposes to a woman, for example, and receives a pumpkin in return, the answer to the proposal is a resounding "no!" No man in Ukraine wants to be seen with a pumpkin.

Club members nodded and smiled. Yes, they know about this tradition. It used to be the big "no-way!" But that is an old tradition, they said. Today it doesn't really mean that. Now it means Halloween. Ah, the influence of American culture. Maybe that old tradition should be revived, I joked. No, No, club members agreed, "We like pumpkins!" So much for the NPR report.

As if to prove the point, we went on to make origami pumpkins! Stacey led the way. She had helped us with peace cranes before, a great success, so now she led us in folding this way and that, and again and again, until we had our pumpkins. Actually, they were square pumpkins, pumpkin boxes, and we added funny faces for carvings. Then we had members don a mask and come to us saying "trick or treats," and to their delight, we passed out candy. Oleg, who is just learning English,turned us down, and left the room. Hmm, wonder why. He came back in a few minutes as....oh my goodness, the Joker! The bad guy Heath Ledger played so brilliantly in The Dark Knight, his last Batman movie, before his sudden and untimely death. But this Joker was all in fun. An authentic Halloween moment in Ukraine.

I am sure Heath Ledger was on no one else's mind but mine. Nor were any thoughts of negative pumpkin symbols. I think NPR would have had a great time updating their story here in Starobilsk. They could have interviewed "The Joker," and we would have been happy to give them our pumpkins!

I did read a few poems,too,among them the one my mom wrote about going trick or treating with my brother Loren, when he was about 6 years old. I printed it last year, to Loren's great pleasure. Here it is again, a treasured Halloween memory.

"Armed and Unarmed" by Roselynn Curro

It is dark, crispy cold,
A silence fills the trees.
Soft sounds, faint lights,
The smell of burning leaves.

Suddently, war hoop cries,
and bands of ghosts appear.
Howl, howl, howl
Tricks or treats,
They charge, attack and disappear....

Hurry, hurry time to go,
the conquerors' battle won
Tired flapper, weary soldier
the ghosts all had their fun.

Deep the night, frosty cold,
My soldier leaves his gun.
Welcome sleep, contented smile.
I'm his mother, he's my son.

"Welcome sleep, contented smile." You and mom together again, loren, with dad, who we think about always at this time of year when he died, his birthday, and you took your nieces, all dolled up in their Nana's clothes and makeup, trick or treating in Rochester, and now you are with all those we loved but who are not here with us the living. We are sad without you.