Ode to Kristina

My wife was awarded the Bulgarian Medal and Certificate of Honour!

On February 16, 2013, Kristina Kristova was officially recognised by the Bulgarian Government — the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad — with the national Paisii Hilendarski Memorable Medal and Certificate of Honour. 

See 70 event photos. [2023 broken link.]

The Certificate states: 'for her significant contribution to the preservation and promotion of the Bulgarian culture and traditions in Canada, for her dedicated work as the founder and leader of the Bulgarian Society in the Capital Region Ottawa-Gatineau, and to celebrate her 70th year jubilee'.  

Medal inscription: 'Bulgarians, know your roots and language.'

In 2000, the Bulgarian Government decreed to issue an annual state award to creators and performers whose works are connected with Bulgarian culture, history and traditions. The award was named for monk Saint Paisii Hilendarski (1722-1773), a national historic spiritual leader, peoples' revivalist and confessor, and founder of the Bulgarian Renaissance. While in monastery (1760-1762) he created the Slav-Bulgarian History — Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya — which stimulated the formation of Bulgarian national consciousness.

80 attended, with some from Montreal. Kristina's daughter Milena Krassi was honoured to be the event master of ceremonies at the Bulgarian Embassy, Ottawa, where the celebration took place. During the evening program of speeches, slide shows, and poetry, I added my poem (below). Delicious Bulgarian food was prepared by local volunteers. The first president of the Ottawa Bulgarian Community, Vasil Gatchev, called me an 'Honourary Bulgarian'. 

See 70 event photos. [2023: broken link.]

My Ode to Kristina — a World Citizen

As friend, companion, husband of Kristina —
there is much to say about this interesting person.

Her Bulgarian experience as anchor person on
National TV for more than 20 years,
shows through in her personality.
In editing some of my draft writings, her comments are
appreciated for setting the logic straight,
for being concise, and for showing me
how creative words can impact the message on the public stage.
Her genius in grasping a thought, even in English,
often means rewriting what I considered to be a final draft.

As a pioneer in the local Bulgarian Community,
I have seen her selfless energy at work —
phoning, writing on the computer,
calling compatriots to preserve traditional language and culture,
and urging them to bring their best foot forward
in a multicultural Canada.

That same energy I have seen with other activities —
selling watches and jewelry to eBay customers,
working for a high-tech company,
selling designer clothes, and recently
working as Site Administrator of the International Languages Program on Saturdays.

In all of these works, quality has been her goal.
This often means a long day —
working into the early hours of the morning.
I would of course be called to help —
carry this, copy that, deliver this, take photos,
or help edit a letter in English. With her enthusiasm and good intent,
how could I not help?

Shopping for me with Kristina has been most frustrating.
Why? Because our styles differ.
I generally know what I am looking for, and I go for it;
while her approach is to look and look and look
for something ‘perfect’.
But as we all know, perfection is difficult or impossible to achieve.

In our 20-plus years together
I have seen how adaptable Kristina is.
Learning the English language from practically zero
has been a challenging task. And thanks to her she helped me with my Russian.
Unfortunately, I have not yet learned the Bulgarian language, but
have had to rely much on observation, listening, and instinct.
However, I very much appreciate and admire
the friendship of Kristina and members of the Bulgarian community in Ottawa.

Of course, I have noticed Kristina’s nostalgia for Bulgaria and Europe.
For her, Ottawa at times feels like a small village.
Periodically she reminds me that I came from Saskatchewan —
a country boy born on an isolated farm without any modern conveniences,
35 miles away from the nearest large city.

But for Kristina to be born in the centre of Sofia,
it is natural for her to see herself at the front of things.
Achieving great success in folk dancing,
Master of Ceremonies in thousands of concerts,
and as Anchor Person on TV,
this style has become her tempo in life.
Nostalgia for Kristina in an earlier active life style is normal.

Her Medal of Honour from the Bulgarian Government is long overdue.
Like the Order of Canada in this country, she deserves the respect of
her countrymen and women.
She deserves it —
because she has served well in giving generously to her mother land
just as she is contributing generously today to her adopted country.

My ode to Kristina —
a colourful person of our wonderful world community.
Obicham te!   (I love you!)

How we met

Kristina Kristova and I first met 21 years ago on Russian Christmas day in Ottawa, Canada, January 7, 1992 at a social gathering. We spoke in Russian. She was a news anchor for Bulgarian National TV who had come to Canada to sign a contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Toronto. Kristina was staying in Ottawa, Canada, where her daughter Milena was getting a Bachelor's Degree in Music at the University of Ottawa, and is now a flute and piano teacher.

Kristina was born in Sofia, Bulgaria during the height of World War II. She was folk dancer with the state folklore ensemble founded and led by Fillip Kutev. During the Cold War the group performed around the world; and, in 1963 toured 25 states in the USA, including Carnegie Hall in New York, and two cities in Canada (Montreal and Ottawa).

In 1968, at the age 26, Kristina won a competition out of about 1,000 candidates which led her to a career as the Anchor Person of the Bulgarian National Television. As a representative of Bulgarian TV abroad, she went to dozens of countries, including Greece, North Korea, and Afghanistan for which she received an Order of Bravery for her interviews on the streets of Kabul. Besides news, she was the Master of Ceremonies for over 7,000 concerts and festivals all over Bulgaria. In brief, Kristina was a very busy person in that small, historically rich and beautiful country called Bulgaria.

From 1995 (when the Ottawa Bulgarian organization was registered) to the present, Kristina was a member of the Board of Directors. From 2004 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2013 she has been President of the National Capital Region Bulgarian Community as well as the Ottawa Region Bulgarian Foundation.

More Views of Kristina

Anna Tzvetkova of Montreal, who was Kristina's colleague at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria, submitted this article with 4 photos to the Bulgarian language newspaper Trud [Labour]: Драги зрители, Христина Христова чукна 70! [Archived: Dear viewers, Kristina Kristova has reached 70!] (February 23, 2013). Two photos [not in archive] show her at work in Bulgaria.

Q45: Why did Doukhobors discard dance?

From: Fred Samorodin, Vancouver. B.C.

Why is dance not part of the Doukhobor ethnic heritage?

On my desk, at the moment lives an article published by Elizabeth Lear on “The History of Russian Vocal Music” (notes) which I printed out over 18 months ago.... I have a great interest in all vocal music and have been a member of one choir or another for many years — focussing more and more on enjoying and performing a classical music repertoire from written scores. Fortunately, several events during this last choral season prevented me from continuing with a chamber choir I was singing with earlier in the season, and thus offered me the opportunity to return to my roots and sing with the Lower Mainland Doukhobor Choir at the May 2011 USCC Doukhobor Youth Festival!

That aside, I have been mulling over the idea of writing a contributing article to Iskra (and/or other Doukhobor printed media such as your blog, perhaps) on why dance is not part of the Doukhobor ethnic heritage. Personally speaking, I have made dance part of my personal musical heritage since the late 1970’s when I spent (save for an interruption of a year’s studies in the Soviet Union) 18 years at Israeli Folk Dancing, and then American Contradancing and most recently, Latin Dancing! That being said, I would be interested in your comments on the subject of the historical/social disappearance of a dance heritage component within the Doukhobor cultural movement, to be cited or included in my planned article.

---

Answer

How nice to receive the news of your interest in dancing. I encourage you to pursue your intent in writing an article on the subject.

In the first place, dancing is a normal part of human society. People of all cultures and eras have expressed their behaviour in this form. An exception has occurred with some religious groups during specific periods of their development. With Christianity, Wikipedia states it well, Worship dance:

Dance has had a chequered history within Christianity. Many records exist of prohibitions by leaders within most branches of the Christian Church, for such reasons as the association of dance with paganism, fears relating to sexuality, and a Greek-influenced belief in the separation of the soul and body.

However, beginning in the latter half of the 20th century there was a significant growth in the use of dance within christian worship. This received a boost within the framework of the charismatic movement of the 1970s, which initiated a transition to contemporary worship in many churches. During this time, the International Christian Dance Fellowship was formed in Australia by Mary Jones and it now has branches in many other countries.

Centuries back in the 1600s, Doukhobors broke away from Christian Orthodoxy in a radical way by rejecting the institution of the church including priests, a separate building, icons and the Bible. Yet some aspects of earlier cultural patterns remained such as men standing on one side and women on the other, the reading and singing of psalms and hymns. It appears that the fear of dancing was included as well.

Fast forward to the latter 1900s, there was an interesting shift among all Doukhobors. Those of us Canadians who visited the Caucausus Doukhobors in the 1970s and 1980s witnessed busload of guests greeted traditionally with (1) bread and salt, and (2) folk dancing and singing. Observers noted that Russian Doukhobors may have lost some of their history, but they retained their visual cultural traditions. Contrast this with Canadian Doukhobors, while knowing their history (thanks to historians and the lack of a war in Canada) they lost some of their cultural traditions such as colourful clothing, language, and dance. (Or as active Doukhobor singer Frances Kanigan stated Canadian Doukhobors have 'modernized and Canadianized our singing', Iskra, June 1, 2011: 23.)

Many of those who moved to Canada, it appears, where influenced by the strict code of Peter V. Verigin as well as by the view of Western Christianity that dancing is a sin. This was 'mainstream' and 'normal' as any doctrine of fundamentalism. Such behaviour was, many believed, the first step towards many other sins.

However, with education and maturity, dancing has regained some of its original status as a normal cultural expression of human beings. Gradually, dance has begun to find increasing acceptance in spiritual life once again as it had been during the early period of paganism. For example, Saskatchewan Doukhobors from as early as the 1930s used to dance in barns or granaries to the sound of mouth organs and later accordians and violins. I have witnessed this on the farm in the 1940s in our granary in Saskatchewan. Such is the evolution of secular development in modern society.

Now, as with all extremisms whether secular or religious, there could be weaknesses and vulnerabilities in any behaviour. However, real ballroom dancing, ballet, and other forms of dance expression remain as legitimate and creative.