The Korovai
In the week leading up to the wedding, ritual baking takes place at both the bride’s home and the groom’s. Married female friends of the household are invited and they bake the needed ritual breads, usually to the accompaniment of songs. The korovai is the centerpiece of the baking. It is the wedding bread that sits before the couple at the wedding banquet (photo from Mryn) and it is the bread that is distributed to all the guests. Depending on the region, other breads can also be baked. Most common among these are shyshky, small breads twisted into the shape of pine cones and used to invite guests to the wedding. We photographed the baking of a korovai in Mryn, Nosiv region, Chernihiv province in 2000.
After the baking, the bride (moloda) would walk the village with one or two attendants (druzhky). They would enter the home, leave a shyshka and issue their invitation. The groom did the same with his boiaryn and the shyshky baked at his home. In the Soviet era, print invitations became popular. People now mail invitations, but many have revived the custom of walking the village to invite their guests. Interest in things Ukrainian and attempts to revive Ukrainian culture are behind this trend. Some women have taken to sewing traditional costumes to wear at their weddings. The last picture below shows a photograph taken in 2005 of a woman in Iavorivka, Drabiv region, Cherkasy province.
