The House of Baba San'ka

The home of Oksana Fedorivna Kryvorot, called Baba San'ka, village of Velykyi Khutir, Drabiv region, Cherkasy province. She was born in this village in 1918. She married a young man who lived just 150 meters away. Thus, the house in which she was born is visible from the house used for this model. Her husband, like most men of his generation, was called to serve in the Second World War and Oksana was left alone with her mother-in-law to tend to the house and its fields. When the neighbors pointed out to them that their house had started to lean, the two women rebuilt it and the house used as the model here is the one constructed by Baba San'ka and her mother-in-law. The layout of the house and the construction methods and materials are traditional. The door leads into an entryway where shoes are removed and where necessary supplies can be stored. The entryway opens up into a large kitchen and dining area. From the kitchen, there is a door to the main room or kimnata. This is where guests are received at the table under the icon corner. There are two sets on icons. One is the set with which Oksana and her husband were married and the other is the set from the wedding of the husband's parents. Opposite the icon corner is a bed, used for visitors, and the back of the stove. Baba San'ka sleeps on the shelf of the stove. The house is wattle construction, like the Latysh House. The frame is large posts between which smaller stakes were sunk. Reeds are woven over the posts and then covered with three layers of clay. Each layer is allowed to dry before the next is applied.

Baba San'ka is a "culture keeper." She is interested in village art and village lore. When she was younger, she would meet with other villagers, primarily women, to sing songs. These women were also the core of the pevcha, the church choir. There is an active church in Velykyi Khutir now and, until she started to ail, Baba San'ka sang regularly at church, also singing as part of baptisms, weddings, funerals and other ritual occasions. Baba San'ka is very interested in arts and crafts. She embroiders and crochets and her house is decorated with fiber arts of her own making. In the picture here, note the ritual towels or rushnyky, the embroidered pictures, coverlets, pillows, and bed skirt. In the picture also is Mykhailo Dmytrovych Koval'. He is the local school teacher and also a culture keeper, trying to preserve songs, instruments, traditional clothing. He himself makes straw hats and woven belts. He also plays the bandura, a traditional instrument, as seen in this video (low resolution, high resolution)

This Virtual House was made using the same techniques as used for the Latysh house, except that all measurements were made by Mykhailo Koval'. We had only a very limited amount of time to photograph this house and so the icons and pictures cannot be enlarged by clicking on them. We did, however, take some video footage and this can be viewed and compared to the Virtual House Model by clicking here.

To enter the Virtual House of Baba San'ka, please CLICK HERE. The Virtual House can be compared to the actual house seen in the videos (low resolution, high resolution).