it's the pussy willows

Inspired by the nice weather and a desire to get out of town, which is still all riled up about this weekend's political demonstrations, a couple of friends decided to celebrate Palm Sunday at Pyrogovo, a folk museum 40 minutes outside Kiev that demonstrates traditional Ukrainian wood architecture. Holy Week, the biggest holiday of the year in Ukraine, began yesterday with Palm Sunday. Except in Ukraine, they use pussy willows, not palms. Everyone brings pussy willows to church, then the priest blesses them and beats the parishoners with them, which in Ukraine passes as a blessing. Then everyone beats their friends and family as they sing:

"It's not me beating you,
It's the pussy willow...
It will beat you
Until you cry."

I swear, I am not making this up.

My friends set off early in the morning in a caravan. I've been feeling under the weather, so I told them I'd sleep in, take the bus, and meet them there. After enduring a bumpy ride on a crowded, filthy, and smelly 1960s tram, I got off at the right stop and followed the crowd bearing pussy willows. We walked through a delapidated village and a dump before reaching a beautiful monastery where priests were blessing pussy willows. Only then did I realized that I was in the wrong place. Turned out that the folk village was 2 miles in the other direction, on the other side of a divided highway. Oops.

I got there, but I missed the service! Luckily, my friends shared their pictures with me. And of

course, they gave me the obligitory beating.

We walked around a bit...

Then I hitched a ride with them back to town. I was glad not to have to walk back to the bus!