Today is International Women’s Day.
The day has roots in the Soviet Union and is still really popular in several Eastern European countries, including Ukraine.
Violetta Strait said the holiday is important to her family. She lives in Kenai but is from the Donetsk region of Ukraine. She’s been watching the Russian invasionthere unfold from thousands of miles away.
She says some people in Ukraine have mixed feelings about the holiday, which she calls Ladies' Day.
But she said it's still a chance to honor the women in her life and celebrate the beginning of spring.
Violetta Strait: So all the flowers, all the smiles and gifts and clean houses and apartments, they are for women to celebrate that day. It would start almost a week before and go full speed, not only for mothers but for all women, beginning with baby girls and with older ladies all the way through.
At school they would have concerts for women. On TV, it would be almost the whole week of different concert programs and great movies and different shows with celebrities that would say congratulations. The cities and villages everywhere would be decorated with tons of flowers, especially small yellow flowers, called mimosas, would be like a symbol of that holiday. And all the ladies would dress up, be beautiful and celebrate that holiday.
KDLL: Did you celebrate it growing up? And do you celebrate it now that you're no longer in Ukraine?
VS: I celebrated all my life. And it was on a scale — It's like the biggest holiday, maybe New Year's would compare to it. It's much bigger than even Christmas in America, I can say, on the scale of how it celebrated emotionally.
And when I came to America, I still celebrated every year and today my husband gave me roses and he gave a rose to our younger daughter who is still with us in Kenai.
So we do celebrate by just having a special breakfast and trying to relax. Of course right now it's hard to relax with the war situation and all that stuff that has to be done. But anyway, we celebrated because you cannot live life with no fun and happy moments.
KDLL: I know your mom is still in Ukraine. Have you been able to reach out to her today and wish her a happy Ladies’ Day?
VS: I wrote a special poem for her on Skype last night because they’re 11 hours ahead of us. And I said that it's hard to say "Happy Ladies' Day" because it's not a happy time. But we definitely know what to wish you, so I wish that you and your friends come together and crochet socks and slippers for people while you're laughing and singing I wish for you to be able to go to the market early in the morning and just relax and enjoy the walk and enjoy the sunshine. I wish for you to be able to have some kind of moments when you have reasons to smile.
She got connected with me through Skype for a few minutes and she said that because of the shooting and disturbance in the area, they could not really celebrate much. But she and four other ladies got together and had a cup of tea with some sweets that they could bring together, and they still try to have some moments when they could enjoy their own company. And also just a few minutes of sanity.
Strait pointed people who want to help with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine toward this recent list of organizations that are helping there, as well as Razom Ukraine.
