We're More Ukrainian Than We Realise

When I first went to Ukraine in the summer of 2011 I was surprised by how much Ukraine is like Canada.  The scenery everywhere in Ukraine looks like a specific part of Canada - coastal areas, prairies, mountain areas; even the vegetation is the same.  Ukrainian culture is a huge part of Canadian culture, much more than many Canadians realise.  Many of us will remember watching the Shumka Dancers on TV on holiday specials when we were growing up.  Even recently some of my Canadian friends were surprised that perogies and cabbage rolls originated in Ukraine.  In the beginning, some of my Ukrainian friends were surprised that I had even heard of perogies and cabbage rolls.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.  There's MANY more similarities between Ukraine and Canada that I could mention but it would take too long to type them out.  :) 

So today just for fun I went into town and took some photos to show my Ukrainian friends of what is Ukrainian in Halifax.  Even though Halifax is a very "British" city and has a very small group of Ukrainian Diaspora compared to other cities in Canada it's still not hard to find Ukrainian things here.

This is the Welsford Parker monument.  It is the only monument in North America commemorating the British victory in the Crimean war of the 1850's as well as two men from Halifax who died in that war.  William Hall also fought in this war.  Until today I never knew that Alma, NS & Alma, NB were named after Alma in Crimea.  More info is here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsford-Parker_Monument

This monument across the street from the Nova Scotian Hotel placed there by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress commemorates 100 years of Ukrainian immigrants coming to Canada.  This year marks the 125th anniversary.

One of the inscriptions on the monument.  At first I thought the figure was in a death shroud.

Another inscription on  it.

Of course I had to add my own touch.  :)

This is at the dock where many of the Ukrainian settlers arrived in Canada.  It's now a museum of immigration to Canada.

The sales lady in the gift shop told me that there's some Ukrainian matryoshkas in amongst these russian ones.

There's a deli in Halifax that sells some products from Ukraine.  I don't understand why pickled tomatoes haven't caught on here.  They are sooo good.

Last Christmas a friend invited me to the Ukrainian Society's Christmas celebration.