On the rally in Kholodny Yar

The Kholodny Yar uprising anniversary celebrations were held over the April 20-21 weekend in Cherkasy region. Approximately 1,000 people arrived there on April 21. The rally was “sponsored” by opposition parties, which seized the opportunity to express all the grudges they held against the government and recall how the real patriots, rebels of 1768, had treated the nation’s enemies. The national flags’ scarcity at the event contrasted with abundance of colorful party flags and numerous giant pictures depicting the ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The MPs were tirelessly shouting something via microphones, turning the celebration into a political rally. When several Party of Regions’ supporters tried to unfurl their banners, their attempts had been blocked immediately, and the banners torn to pieces. The modern imitators of the 1768 rebels went no further in their commitment.

We drove from Cherkasy to Kholodny Yar with the People’s Movement of Ukraine’s delegation. The Cherkasy branch of that organization has visited the place since the 1990s. As the archaeologist Mykhailo Syvolap told us, they had started the tradition to celebrate the Kholodny Yar uprising anniversary. Times were different then. “The cross we had erected in Melnyky in 1990 was cut down by the Communists the next day,” Syvolap recalls. He was our tour guide and told us many interesting facts about Kholodny Yar and its environs. Listening to his story, we got to Medvedivka and decided to stop at the monument to Maksym Zalizniak. We met a few Cossacks there, who were already “blitzed,” that is, thoroughly intoxicated. Of course, all of them wore fake officer uniforms. After having a great time at a local diner at nine o’clock in the morning, they started boasting very aggressively and “heroically” of their “real” Cossack virtues, including magic abilities, and general unequalled excellence, only to be interrupted by the laughter of some girls standing nearby, which they treated as if it was enemy cannon shooting at them. Later on, these “valiant warriors” torn to even smaller pieces the remnants of a Party of Regions’ banner at the monument to the author of Kholodny Yar novel Yurii Horlis-Horsky, posing for the cameras.

Is the Kholodny Yar anniversary becoming an opportunity to blow off some steam and have a drunken party? Is the event in need of a reset?