Doukhobor Heritage Days, 15-16 July 2017

By Elder Mae Popoff, librarian(retired), Saskatoon, SK.
'Proud to be a choir member'.

Doukhobor Heritage Days is a celebration of Canada's 150th birthday and the 100-year history of the Doukhobor Prayer Home at the National Doukhobor Heritage Village (NDHV) in Verigin (Veregin), Saskatchewan.

The celebration will be held at NDHV on the weekend of 15-16 July 2017. See photos from the 2007 Festival.

The Saskatchewan Doukhobor Choir will participate at Heritage Days during the program, entertainment and the Doukhobor Prayer Service. The Doukhobor brothers and sisters combine voices in spiritual community and song, accented by food supplies and friendliness.

Saskatchewan Doukhobor Choir

Front Row: left to right Sonia Tarasoff, Mae Popoff, Gloria Stushnoff, Eileen Konkin, Lucille Dergosoff and her sister Melvina, Linda Osachoff, Verna Thompson.

Back Row: left to right Lydia Cherkas, Dorothy Ozeroff, Verna Negraeff, Bill Kalmakoff, Lorne Negraeff, Harvey Kazakoff Fred Konkin, Bill Kanigan

Mitch Ozeroff, choir director, was unable to attend.

Since choir members reside across a 250 mile range, in Saskatoon, Langham, Canora, Kamsack, Pelly, Veregin, Blaine Lake; we meet about half way at Watson, a central location for singing practices.

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More

• Heritage Day – 2017 Celebration: Canada 150 / Historic Prayer Home 100 years.
• Doukhobor heritage celebrated at Veregin, Kamsack Times, August 8, 2016.
• 2011 Opening of the National Doukhobor Heritage Village.
• Doukhobor Prayer Home at Veregin, Saskatchewan Featured in Edifice & Us Documentary Series, Doukhobor Genealogy Website, 29 March 2008.
• Veregin Doukhobor sites receive national historic recognition, Kamsack Times, January 11, 2007.
• Guitar will be part of Doukhobor heritage day, Kamsack Times, July 18, 2007
• Doukhobor Society of Saskatoon (DSS) website.

END WARS — ‘Canada Should Get Out of NATO’

Submitted by artist Ingrid Style, Quebec

The case against war in a nutshell was posted in this 2015 Scientific American blog by John Horgan. The collateral killing of kids and civilians exceeds perceived enemy deaths, and the financial cost is enormous, robbing society of food, shelter and life.

Those ‘glorious’ ‘justified’ wars my generation was brought up on, celebrated by Kipling, and Buchan, were represented as men fighting ‘for love of king and country’. At the time of the first world war, the death of children wasn’t even considered. The thing was pictured a bit like a sporting event. Two armies bravely duking it out on the battlefield.

By Alexey Talimonov, Russia. 

This changed with the 1940s bombing of Dresden and London. But the violence was still romanticised by Hemingway and Mailer and Hollywood.

Today, children are victims not only of bombings, but forced to take part in the carnage. Countless more will die from malnutrition and disease.

And that doesn’t take into account the healthcare, nutrition and education they are deprived of because of $16 million bombs being tossed around like confetti.

We all know this. Why don’t we act?

Rather than pay more money to the American war machine, Canada should get out of NATO.

This evil game must end....it CAN be done!
World Beyond War.org

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Related stories on Spirit-Wrestlers.com

2006 Sep 4 — Toward a Culture of Peace. Quaker Murray Thomson reaches out to Doukhobors.
2008 Mar 12 — On Poverty, War and Peace — A call to action.
2008 Oct 24— Traditional Peace Groups Explore Withdrawal from NATO, by Murray Thomson.
2009 Dec 3 — Doukhobor-Quaker Connections.
2012 Jan 20 — Why Glorify War?
2012 Jan 20 — Do U.S. Bases Threaten World Peace?
2012 Apr 8 — Guns, Fighter Jets and Democracy in Canada.
2012 Jul 23 — Canada: a Warrior or Peaceful Nation?
2013 May 3 — Book Review — Editorial: The End of War.
2013 Mar 29 — War — The Slavery of Our Times.
2014 Jan 18 — 1963, A Glimmer of Peace Turns into a Perpetual War, by Ken Bilsky Billings.
2014 Mar 26 — Demonize War Not People!
2014 Jun 9 — Avoiding Another Cold War.
2015 Jun 15 — Profits From Continuous Wars Threaten Civilization.
2015 Dec 4 — War in Ukraine and NATO.
2016 May 30 — Peace Protestors at CANSEC 2016.
2016 Jun 16 — Canada — Stop Aggression Abroad!
2016 Jul 2 — Appeal: No to War. No to NATO.
2016 Jul 10 — Systemic War, NATO and Racial Violence in USA.
2016 Aug 6 — No More Hiroshimas, No More Wars!
2017 Jan 25 — NATO is Obsolete.

'Canadian Doukhobor Culture' Presented at Russian Conference

Dr. Anosova, Ottawa, 2010.

Phenomenology of the culture of modern Canadian Doukhobors is the title of a paper presented by Dr. Irina A. Anosova at the 6th Canadian Conference held at the University of St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 7, 2017.

Click for her abstract in Russian and English.

She is a professor in the Department of Philosophy, Culture and Arts, St. Petersburg University, Russian Federation.

'The conference was attended by scientists from the universities of many Russian cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Volgograd, Saratov, Tambov, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk), as well as from Canada and Estonia. ... various historical, social, legal and economic aspects of the development of Canada and its society were discussed.' ('Научный сотрудник Эконома выступил на VI Канадских чтениях', Institute News, Plekhanov Socioeconomic Institute, Saratov. Requires Russian fonts to be installed in your browser.)

This major event is held every 5 years for all researchers of history, politics, economy and culture of Canada. Scientists from more than 10 cities of Russia and Canada submitted [24] reports on the history, politics, domestic development and its role in contemporary international relations. (Делегация историко-филологического факультета посетила VI Канадские чтения в Санкт-Петербурге, Faculty News, Chelyabinsk State University.)

Dr. I. M. Nokhrin, Dean of Political Science and International Relations, Chelyabinsk State
University, describes the Canadian national identity and political system in the colonial era.

'150 Years of the Canadian Federation: From a British Dominion to a Global Player' was the theme of this year's 2-day international conference held April 7-8, 2017. See conference program in Russian and English.

The event was co-sponsored by the Institute for US and Canadian Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences; the Russian Association for Canadian Studies; and the 'Moscow-Quebec' Educational and Scientific Center Russian State University for the Humanities.

Dr. Anosova first encountered Doukhobors while researching Lev. N. Tolstoy for her PhD thesis. Her focus on Doukhobors began in 1989, and has not stopped. In 2010, many Canadian Doukhobors met and hosted her North American field research tour. 2010 photo album.

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Some of her work published on Spirit-Wrestlers.com

2006 — Canada is the Second Motherland of the Doukhobors: The Philosophy of Love as the Way for Cultural Integration

2009 — Three Canadian Scholars Presented at Russian Conference: Donskov, Glagoleva, Tarasoff

2010 — Doukhobors of Western Canada 2010: Field Research for "The Canadian Doukhobors Present Lifestyle as the Synthesis of Russian and Canadian Cultural Traditions"

2017 — 'Canadian Doukhobor Culture' Presented at Russian Conference — Abstract (Russian, English)

2019 — Lev Tolstoy and American Philosophy — With 24 PowerPoint slides.

Doukhobor Singer Peter N. Voykin Dies

An outstanding Western Canadian Doukhobor singer, Peter N. Voykin (1931 - 2017), died in early April 2017 at his home in Castlegar, British Columbia.

He was 86 years old.

For the funeral service April 13th, at the Brilliant Cultural Centre in Castlegar, BC, Koozma J. Tarasoff and Kristina Kristova prepared the following letter:



To:   Lucy Voykin and daughter Catherine Markin
        Castlegar, British Columbia

With much sadness I and my wife Kristina Kristova heard about the passing of our dear friend Peter N. Voykin, Doukhobor activist and stalwart singer. Peter was an outgoing, friendly and jovial person with a deep voice who appeared to be singing all of his life.

For over 45 years he helped preserve the traditional mode of Doukhobor singing. People liked him very much. When he and wife Lucy held a series of Choir Workshops on the Canadian prairies in 1991 and 1992, one of the participants wrote: ‘They set up our societies into high gear in how to sing. And they inspired us how to sing from the heart.’

Peter Voykin was an ambassador of peace for his ancestors. In 1995 he directed the Voices for Peace Choir that toured across Canada, the United Nations in New York, and Russia. The Choir stopped in Ottawa and performed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. With Kristina we were honoured when they visited our home. With over 100 people present, Peter led the choir to several songs. It was a memorable moment for all of us, our children, our neighbours and friends.

On his tour around the world, Peter and the Doukhobors in the choir proclaimed a new world order with Love, Non-violence, Equality and Brotherhood.

In mid-January 1996 Peter was again in Ottawa with Lucy, and with their dear friends John J. and Laura Verigin. As a quartet, they performed at the very impressive opening of the Spirit Wrestlers exhibition in the Canadian Museum of Civilization. They concluded with three songs in Russian, English and French. The audience of almost 1,000 gave them a standing applause.

Peter N. Voykin has made his mark as an outstanding person, Doukhobor activist, singer and supporter of peace. He walked his talk and will be missed and remembered by all!

May he rest in peace….
Koozma and Kristina

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More in biography of Peter N. Voykin, from my book Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers’ Strategies for Living (2002): pages 84-85, 89.