Post-communist Carpatho-Rusyn writer Mária Maľcovská dies

Mária Maľcovská

We've received word from the Carpatho-Rusyn Cultural Center of the death of Mária Maľcovská. She was 59.

Maľcovská was the editor of the Rusyn-language newspaper "Narodny Novynky," launched after the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia. She was also a professor of Rusyn literature at the University of Presov in Slovakia.

Services are planned for Tuesday in Ruský Potok, Slovakia.

Planning for our Oct. 30 event in Munster, Indiana -- and beyond

The board of the Lake Michigan Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society met Saturday, September 19, in the basement of St. Michael's Orthodox Church, in Niles, Illinois, to make final arrangements for our October 30 event to mark the first Carpatho-Rusyn Day in North America.

The headliner for that event will be Mark Wansa, author of "The Linden and the Oak," and the board assured that we'll have sufficient copies of Mark's novel on hand to sell to those in attendance at St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church, in Munster, Indiana.

Planning also began for a potluck lunch celebrating Rusyn New Year's Day, scheduled for January 15, in the church basement at St. Michael's in Niles. We'll have more details as that event nears, but the potluck will mark the traditional New Year's under the Julian Calendar (January 14). 

We'll ask folks to bring their family favorites to share, in a relaxed environment. If possible, they can bring the recipes, which we'll share with our members.

And if you haven't seen it, here's the flyer for the October 30th event:

A common Carpatho-Rusyn tale of questions and more questions

This interesting blog explores one Rusyn's quest for information on what it means to be a Rusyn. It's a journey that most of us take, in one way or another. Whether we were raised with some sense of our identity, or have come to understand it in adulthood, it's often a confounding road to discovery.

Thanks to the Carpatho-Rusyn Society, there's an organization that transcends some of the complicating factors of religion that have confused and divided our people for so many decades, here in North America.

A weekend of free genealogical research

Ancestry.com is offering free access to its immigration records this Labor Day weekend. It's a great opportunity to do some family history research.

Vladimir Lenin transmogrified into pioneering Carpatho-Rusyn bishop

Bishop Andrey Bachinsky

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Interfax reports that the Užhorod City Council has presented a monument to the October Revolution, and its main leader, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, to the Greek Catholic Church.

It's not that the church has any interest in Lenin. The monument is being recast and turned into a memorial to Andrey Bachinsky, the 18th Century Rusyn bishop who moved his residence and seminary to Užhorod.

The Bachinsky monument will be set up in Užhorod Cathedral Square.

Johnstown Tribune-Democrat looks at the Carpatho-Rusyns

The newspaper in Johnson, Pa., The Tribune-Democrat, published a package of stories in its Sunday edition looking at the Carpatho-Rusyns as part of an on-going project called "Homelands," which studies the ancestral homes of the residents of Western Pennsylvania.

Here's the link to the package, which offers a nice overview of our people. It has a few weaknesses, like the Spanikopita recipe included in a list of Rusyn recipes. That spinach pie is Greek, not Rusyn. But the effort is appreciated.

Check out "The Daily.sk" for news from Slovakia

I was checking the readership stats for the blog today and came upon a burst of readers from Europe yesterday.

All were referred from an English-language news outlet called The Daily.sk from Bratislava, which linked to the post on Streator, Illinois, in a post on the closing of what may be the oldest Slovak Roman Catholic parish in the U.S.

So, thanks to The Daily.sk for the increased traffic, and be sure to click on them if you're interested in news from Slovakia.