New Year greetings from Ukraine

 
We received this delightful greetings card from a former Ukrainian student we hosted many years ago.
 
 
“Wishing you an exciting and joyful New Year!
 
May 2019 be full of kindness, love, welfare, happiness and good health!!!
 
Dobra, radosti, lyubovi, dostatku, shchastya ta mitsnoho zdorovya!!!”
 
She goes on to say
This is an old greeting card showing the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine, an ancient wooden church made without nails, and a Hutsul (representing a colorful local ethnographic group) playing trembita, a traditional music instrument of local shepherds.
Christmas celebrations in this region of my country are colorful that they were made part of UNESCO heritage.
 
Have you heard of Sergei Parajanov, a famous Soviet/Ukrainian filmmaker in the 1960s, and of his movie
"Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors", it tells the story about the exciting yet difficult life of this unique region and people.”
 
Thank you Iryna!
 
 And we wish you and your family a Happy New Year too.