#Kiev was the name of the coffee shop where i first fell in love.

[blogdiva@mastodon.social]

RE: https://mastodon.ie/@EugeneMcParland/115774870030202621

#Kiev was the name of the coffee shop where i first fell in love. it didn't work out but i still have the memory of that matzo ball soup. btw, that’s where i met Allen Ginsburg and Quentin Crisp. twas their favorite spot.

Veselka is the last remaining bastion of the East Village’s #Ukraina past. now that i columbused The Carol of The Bells is an ukrainian folk song, i get why i used to hear it everywhere here.

just reckoned, the East Village #xmas of yore is ukrainian.

so happy #kievmas

[blogdiva@mastodon.social]

it’s really wild to me that, when you really think about it, all the #xmas celebrations that we think of as American, came out of #nyc; and a lot of those celebrations were basically based on traditions from #Ukraine and the Baltics:

- yule logs
- bell ringing
- #redwork #embroidery

the other part of this story is that the most famous American #Christmas songs were written by Jews. ironically, there’s a Canadian documentary about it:

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas
https://ajff.org/film/dreaming-jewish-christmas

[riley@toot.cat]

@blogdiva So, in a sense, the classic story of American Jewish folks celebrating Christmas in the traditional way, by eating at Chinese food places, fits into the pattern.