BEING A PCHILKA
Olha Kosach (Olena Pchilka). Vienna, 1891 / wikipedia.org
She is considered an unparalleled fashionista, feminist, nationalist, educator, writer, translator, publicist, publisher, ethnographer, and folklorist. A mother of many children, she was a public figure who reformed the Ukrainian language and popularized the wearing of traditional embroidered shirts (vyshyvankas). The first female academician, she had forty-four pseudonyms, including Anelo, Bubusia Olena, Veshchiy Oleg, Hnybida, Knyazhna Kochubeivna, Kolodiazhynska, and, of course, Olena Pchilka.
The child came into this world during the coldest time: late February. Tiny, loud, and fair-skinned. Outside, the snowstorm raged and piled up. The sun had faded and turned gray. Near the mother’s bed, one-and-a-half-year-old Misha was whining. He longed for his mother’s arms and lullaby, but the most beloved person seemed distant and alien. Neither the gentle father nor the buxom nannies could ease his sorrow. The wet nurses tried again and again to feed the baby, but their milk was not as good as his mother’s.
Doctors began frequent visits. They examined, spoke of anemia and frayed nerves, and recommended the healing waters of Europe. Some sang praises of Karlovy Vary, others of Austrian spas. Olha listened and complained of fatigue, exhaustion, and apathy (the woman was unprepared for a second child). It was then that Petro made up his mind:
«If things are this bad, you should go to a resort».
«And what about you?»
«We’ll manage».
The young mother went to Europe, and Petro stayed home with two small children.
Those six months were hell. Misha ran around the house, causing mischief. Larysa cried incessantly and weakened. The nannies couldn’t cope; they didn’t know how to soothe such a fragile child. Petro was constantly traveling on business trips, and when he returned, he didn’t know to which god to pray. Lesya, often called Losia, was fading before their eyes.
SUNNY MOTHER: LIFE AND RAISING CHILDREN
One fine day, he decided to take a vacation, even though he was working as the chairman of the Lutsk-Dubno Congress of Justices of the Peace. He mastered artificial feeding: he fed his daughter cow’s milk with a spoon, meticulously following the doctor’s recommendations, and the girl recovered and grew stronger.
Olha returned early in the autumn and never again allowed herself any leniency. She took charge of the household, taught, and entertained the children. Misha and Lesya were inseparable, so she called them by one name — Mishelos. In addition, she began collecting ornaments and folklore. It was there, in Volhynia, that she started being called Olena, and Petro, when talking about his wife, emphasized: «She works like a bee». Thus, she became Olena Pchilka.
The mistress of the house knew no fatigue. She taught the children languages: German and French, foreign and Ukrainian literature, and music. She read them fairy tales by Pavlo Chubynsky, Serbian folk ballads and songs, myths of ancient Greece, and stories by Panteleimon Kulish and Marko Vovchok. Knowing five languages, she translated Ovid, Mickiewicz, Goethe, Andersen, and Hugo.
She did not send the children to school early, fearing they would pick up Russianisms and forget their native Ukrainian language. Despite the appearance of the Ems Ukaz, which banned speaking, reading, staging plays, and printing texts for Ukrainian music, the family spoke exclusively in Ukrainian at home. Every song was about geese, ducks, cherries, oaks, rye, horses, blackthorn, and flax.
EMBROIDERY AND FOLKLORE
Alongside managing the household, educating her children, and engaging in literary and public activities, Olena Pchilka was actively involved in ethnography. She collected around three hundred samples of embroidery patterns and designs for pysanky (decorated eggs) and published them in a book titled «Ukrainian Folk Ornament». In it, she described eight-pointed stars, rhombuses, swastikas, keys, and curvilinear dances. She insisted on using red and blue colors, as peasants did not have dark threads or money to buy quality black dye. However, there was an abundance of red dye.
The red dye was made from oregano, which grew everywhere: in deciduous forests, thickets, and clearings. As an ethnographer, she despised all elaborate decorations, such as large birds, giant roses, jugs, and broad leaves, saying they were influenced by Moscow, which lacked taste. «Ukrainian Folk Ornament» was reprinted five times, the last in 1928, under Bolshevik rule.
Later, with the birth of their third child, Olena became even more energetic. It was as if a geyser was erupting inside her. She organized Shevchenko evenings, amateur performances, «living pictures,» and Christmas nativity plays for the family. She took the children to theaters, exhibitions, and travels across Europe. She never physically punished them, relying solely on words.
The family lived in Kolodiazhne, a small village with forty households. There was neither a school nor a church. The peasants called the Kosach residence a palace, while the owners referred to it as either large or old. They had a kitchen, dining room, study for the father, bedrooms for the children, and rooms for the servants.
In the living room, they set up a stage for home performances and placed a Pleyel piano. In the yard, there were two outbuildings (one gray, the other white), a cellar for vegetables and fruits, an icehouse, and a large garden. Between the trees, they planted lovage, calamint, and asters. Under the windows grew a paradise apple tree and a giant chestnut (seven chestnut trees intertwined at the roots). They had tea, lunch, and croquet games under it. They called their estate the «Volhynian Athens».
In Kolodiazhne, Oksana, Mykola, and Isidora were born. The number of children grew to six. The older ones helped with the younger ones, and Olena continued to publish her poetry: «Thoughts-Embroidery», «Ukrainian Carols», «Ukrainian Folk Legends of Recent Times», «Ukrainian Humor», «Ukrainian Patterns», and «Ukrainian Peasant Wall Paintings». However, she was constantly worried about Lesya.
Initially, the girl was diagnosed with acute rheumatism, which was treated with rubs and ointments, but it did not help. Olena took her daughter to various doctors. They consulted in Vienna, Odesa, Warsaw, and Crimea until a complex diagnosis was finally made — bone tuberculosis.
The child was forced to lie in «sticky shackles» for weeks and suffer. No one knew where such an affliction came from; some assumed it was from cow’s milk. The mother suffered the most. She would sometimes confide in her eldest son: «Lesya endures, stays silent, and thinks I don’t see her suffering. She cries secretly from me, and I cry secretly from her».
Olena managed everything. She had a decisive, even militant character, along with organizational skills. The family lived comfortably (the father inherited land, which he managed skillfully), and the mistress managed the servants, raised the children, collected folklore, and wrote children’s stories and poems that resembled light-winged birds, feminist stories, and fairy tales. She forged a new Ukrainian language and invented several words, such as «radiant», «fervent», «ecstasy», and «victor».
She established herself as a publisher, printing magazines like «Native Land», «Young Ukraine», and «Wreath». She dressed modernly and initiated a new women’s style. She skillfully combined European dresses with traditional embroidery. She paired the vyshyvanka with a voluminous skirt, corset, and wreath. In such attire, she received guests, shopped for flour in the stores, and strolled the streets.
The woman knew how to sew and taught this art to her daughters. They made everyday clothes themselves, while dresses for special occasions were ordered from the best tailoring establishments in Kyiv. In addition, Olena collected jewelry: ducats, coral beads, and garnet necklaces. She maintained her connection with the people and placed national interests above all else.
In 1903, at the unveiling of the monument to Ivan Kotliarevsky in Poltava, she was the only one to deliver a speech in Ukrainian. Later, during the celebration of Taras Shevchenko’s birthday, she boldly draped the poet in blue and yellow colors.
It was said that Lesya feared her mother. She called her the Mother-Queen and Her Majesty Mama. At the same time, she acknowledged her as the best, wisest, and most talented woman at a global level.
GREEN GROVE – A HAVEN OF INSPIRATION
Over time, it became clear that the humid air of Volhynia was not entirely suitable for Lesya; she needed baths and plenty of sunlight. Without hesitation, Olena purchased a plot of land in Poltava and began construction. She drew up the plan for an eleven-room house, brought in artisans, and designed the furniture. She planned a guardhouse, an icehouse, a barn in the forest, a bathing place on the Psel River, and an apiary because she adored the restless bees. Thus, the Green Grove estate came into existence, surrounded by a young forest interspersed with ravines and hollows. Nearby, there were also cottages with gardens and windmills.
The family would come to Green Grove for the summer and often stayed through the fall. The house was dry and warm. Each room had a stove, and the living room featured a fireplace. The windows were large and sunny despite the trees growing close and curiously tapping their branches against the panes. The house was always bustling with visitors. Aunts, uncles, nephews, and friends, including Mykola Lysenko, Olha Kobylianska, and artists Krasytsky and Trush. Ivan Franko and Mykhailo Starytsky also rested there.
The routine was as follows: in the morning, guests did whatever they wished, but they had to gather at the same table for lunch. Afterward, there were various entertainments: boat rides, swinging in hammocks under the oaks, contests, concerts, and conversations. Sometimes, it rained, and the weather didn’t allow for walks in the grove or rowing on the Peel River. On such days, they organized writing competitions.
They would choose any word which would become the title of the work. Participants would then scatter to different corners and spend a few hours inventing, fantasizing, and rewriting. At the appointed time, they gathered in the large hall and read the works aloud. Usually, Olena would read, as she had good editorial experience. The audience would only evaluate the work if they knew the author. The winner received a prize.
THE LAST YEARS AND ETERNAL REST
The writer always held her ground and, despite the hardships, looked young. At 63, she had no wrinkles and no gray hair. First, she buried her eldest son Mykhailo, who died at the age of 34 after being ill for just four days. Then, her beloved husband, Petro, passed away. Soon after, her daughter Lesya followed.
Upon learning about her deteriorating health, Olena headed to the Caucasus to accompany her child to the very end. The ailing person spent hours lying in a deck chair, gazing at the mountains. She moved slowly, barely managing to walk. She could only eat blackberry ice cream.
The next ordeal was the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks took Green Grove along with all the property, leaving her with a small room in a communal apartment on Ovrutska Street. That’s where she spent her old age. She miraculously avoided repression; she couldn’t make it to the «black raven» on her own feet. She found solace in memories of happy times in Kolodiazhne, the visits, and the fields embroidered with corn and thyme. She recalled carefully recorded ornaments, feminist stories, and the children’s clamor and laughter.
She found eternal rest beside her dearest ones: Petro, Mykhailo, and Lesya. The family reunited in the immortal Green Grove.
