All of us live today, but often remember the past. Our future depends on affairs and decisions that happened in the past. The past is not just previous years, but important events of our lifetime and also events from history. Any nation cannot exist without knowledge of their country, traditions, and symbols of their nation. Ukrainians respect, remember, and appreciate their past, because it’s really important.
Knowledge about the past is transmitted through the honoring of language and the study of history, culture, traditions, customs, ways of thinking, and lifestyle. In Ukraine, people pay attention as a whole and in their families. Family heirlooms are handed down from older generations to younger ones. The oldest in the family tell stories about family. Since childhood, parents have sung Ukrainian traditional lullabies to their babies and read ancient Ukrainian fairy tales. In kindergartens, holidays are organized for kids that are sometimes dedicated to historical events. Kids play different games, take part in children’s competitions, and sing songs, and in this way the history of their country becomes more interesting and colorful for them. At schools students have such lessons as “History of Ukraine,” where they learn all the stages of development of our country since its founding. In many schools there are little museums with Ukrainian traditional clothes, pottery, embroidered towels, paintings, and old furniture. We also have art museums with exhibits that characterize the life and culture of the population in the past.
We learn a lot of information about the past from TV. There are many different projects and programs about Ukrainian life, customs, values, and the fight for our homeland. We have many popular and incredible films and series about history, life in Ukrainian villages, and the celebration of traditional holidays.
For young viewers, animated cartoons on historical topics and children’s programs are often shown. When we’re talking about Ukraine’s connection between the past and the future, we can’t forget our literature. Due to our works for children and for adults, we can know more about past experiences, Ukrainians’ values at that time, their relationships, and even their appearance and features. We also learn a lot while traveling to historical places, monuments of architecture, and art. One of the most valuable things for all of us is our birthplace, our homeland, and without knowledge about our past, everyone will forget us.
Ukrainians are considered by many to be the most melodious nation in the world. Our songs have evolved over many centuries. They tell about whole epochs in Ukrainian history. From songs, we find out about symbols of Ukraine, our courageous spirit, traditional holidays, and also about the everyday life of people. Songs are very important, they show the heart and spirit of every nation.
Of course we can’t return the past and we can’t change it, but just by knowing the history of the past we can move forward and create the history of our country.