The “gate” is a small cluster of glass-and-metal buildings cut seven years ago through the tall fences that mark the border between Ukraine and Slovakia. One pedestrian path leads from the village Mali Selmentsi to its Slovakian counterpart, Velke Slemence, another leads out. Uniformed border guards calmly peruse the travel documents of the bag-wielding shoppers and the decaying remains of a Soviet watchtower pokes above the corrugated tree line.
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The saga of this small Ukrainian village (population 200) and its Slovakian twin (population 400), reads like a “Twilight Zone” episode joining the cruelty and absurdity of the 20th century with a most unlikely 21st-century denouement.

Part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its collapse at the end of World War I, the two medieval villages had long ago intertwined, sharing a church, community center and schools. In 1919, the combined area was given to Czechoslovakia. In 1938, it became part of the Kingdom of Hungary.

And then, after World War II, with Ukraine absorbed into a surging Soviet empire eager to claim as much territory as possible, a new international boundary was drawn smack through the center of town.

Overnight, families and friends a few blocks apart found themselves living in different countries, separated by surly border guards and, for 61 years, rarely allowed to visit one another. Even talking through the fence was forbidden.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/world/europe/ukraine-slovakia-mali-selmentsi-velke-slemence.html

Mumford & Sons draw upon the great tradition of horsemanship among Ukrainian Cossacks in the powerful, remarkable new video for “Ditmas,” shot on location in the countryside outside of Kiev, Ukraine.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mumford-sons-saddle-up-in-rousing-ditmas-video-20150723

А ось монастирі румунської Буковини – ті, що внесені до світової спадщини ЮНЕСКО. Фасади повністю розписані фресками. Монастирі переважно XVI століття заснування, Румунська православна церква (написи на фресках – кирилицею).

And here are the monasteries of Bucovina-Romanian ones made to UNESCO World Heritage sites. The facades are fully decorated with frescoes. XVI century monastery was founded, mainly by the Romanian Orthodox Church (inscriptions on the frescoes-Cyrillic).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupala_Night

Peter Skaskiw:

I met Peter once completely by chance while travelling in the Carpathians a few years ago. His ancestors are from the same village as my father.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252364/The-lost-churches-Russia-The-abandoned-wooden-buildings-left-forgotten-forests.html

My friend Curt is amazingly fast with the camera:

I think this is adapted from a German song in praise of all partisans:

(yesterday)

A pagan tradition combined with a Christian celebration of the holy trinity.

SONY DSC

This morning’s “Run Under the Chestnut Trees” (with V̶l̶a̶d̶i̶m̶i̶r̶ Vitali Klitschko).