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DU Chat Saturday, June, 28, 2008
Welcome to join our weekly Saturday Chatroom, June, 28, 2008, at 4pm GMT (or 10am CST, or 9am MST, or 6pm Ukraine time).
This Saturday chatroom we will discuss a specific Ukrainian (Russian) fad, or tradition, or just a piece of culture - going to dacha with families and friends on weekends in summer time.
Click on the picture to see a video clip about Dacha Mania in Russia
Since very old times, having one's own piece of land has been associated with having good standard of life for each family. Those who had their own piece of land - no matter how much or how little it was - were guaranteed against hunger, for land brought them fresh food in summer and allowed to make some preserves for winter.
In the Soviet time, thousands of families with agricultural roots had to move to cities and found jobs at plants, enterprises or constructions of the young Socialist state. The tug of land, however, continued to exist through generations. People wanted to cultivate their own land and to share these skills with their children. With growth of cities, more and more people realized the need to run away from city noise to a quiet, natural environment - at least for weekends.
This brought up the idea of taking (buying) small pieces of land from the state and cultivating them in the suburbs of cities. Almost each family in the Soviet Union tried to obtain the highest symbols of well-being of a communist citizen - a car and a "dacha".
These were not easy to obtain - one had to be a highly respected worker, an administration member of a plant or a communist party member to be listed into a long list of privileged ones who eventually acquired cars or (and) dachas.
The lucky owners of dachas were happy to spend weekends and vacations on their small pieces of land, cultivating them and growing vegetables, berries or herbs. They would invite friends to join them for a dinner and "shashlyk" party at the dacha, which was always accompanied with playing ourdoor games, fishing (if possible) and - very often - with drinking Russian vodka.
This time in the chatroom we will have many guests who will share their impressions and stories from their dacha experiences.
You are welcome to share your stories about popular "fads" that are traditional in your country.
 If you are not a registered member of our community you may enter as our guest a few times before becoming a registered community member and sharing in a whole host of other benefits, including our Saturday chats.
Please use the following combinations of user id/password: Guest/Guest; Guest1/Guest1; Guest2/Guest2; or Guest3/Guest3.
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