Note: This interview was conducted in Ukrainian via my translator, Ivan. To simplify things I have removed my questions and Ivan’s translations of Yulia’s responses.
Українською мовою: Батько Юлії
Vic: So first could you tell me a little bit about yourself, so where do you live in Ukraine, how old are you roughly?
Yulia: Okay. I live in the city of Kyiv. I moved here in 2022. I study at an architecture university to become an architect, and I work in a beauty salon as a makeup artist
Ivan: She says that I told you that your father is serving.
Yulia: Ah, yes. My father decided to go after he escaped from Irpin through a “green corridor,” when the city was being occupied.
Ivan: Was he held in captivity, or do you mean when Irpin was being occupied?
Yulia: Yes, yes.
Ivan: I though you meant your father was held in captivity.
Yulia: And literally a couple of months later he decided to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to protect not only Ukraine, but first of all to protect me and my sister.
Ivan: That’s very honorable.
Ivan: Do you get to talk to him a lot?
Yulia: Unfortunately, no. We mostly communicate by text messages. Sometimes we talk, and we see each other about once every six months, for a couple of days.
Ivan: You said that your father knows some superstitions, like military traditions, customs, kind of superstitions. Have you collected them a bit? Or could you share them?
Yulia: Yes. Can I start?
Ivan: Yes.
Yulia: Okay. I have everything written down here.
First of all, I want to say that soldiers are not very superstitious people. They don’t really believe in mystical things or stories like that. If they don’t experience them personally, they are more pragmatic.
Ivan: Did something like that happen to him?
Yulia: Not to my father. He is a completely rational person, but he believes in these things because we are a religious family.
Ivan: Could you share examples of what he believes in, and what maybe appeared during his service in the army?
Yulia: For soldiers who go to the front, people braid red threads, or red with green, and tie them on the wrist. They don’t take them off. They are blessed in churches, or by molfars, who have certain abilities, and they are not supposed to be removed. And people who tie these threads believe that they protect soldiers.
Ivan: Can I ask, are they tied on the arm somewhere, or on the finger?
Yulia: No, only on the arm, on the wrist.
Ivan: And he wears one, as I understand?
Yulia: Yes.
Ivan: <explains to Vic>
Vic: Like a “цілителька”? (Note: a type of folk healer)
Ivan: Yes, yes, a healer — that’s “she,” and a molfar — that’s like a mage, so it’s “he.” A molfar is always a man, right?
Yulia: Well, not always. We don’t have sexism.
Ivan: No, I just thought a woman would more likely be called a healer, not a molfar. That the title is just different.
Yulia: Ah, maybe. But for us they’re usually grandmothers.
Ivan: Yeah.
Ivan: So these things were blessed for your father in church, right, not by a molfar? She says it was from church, not from a molfar. So it’s more of a religious thing than a purely military one.
Yulia: Yes, but a lot of soldiers wear them. I’m from a military town, so I see them on almost everyone. It calms them down a bit, and their mothers, and their families emotionally, maybe. They believe in this.
Ivan: So as I understand it, it’s just a thread? Like a bracelet?
Yulia: Well, it’s braided, like a little plait.
Ivan: Yeah, I thought so, that it’s more like a bracelet, not just a single thread, more like a braid
Yulia: Yes, like that.
Ivan: Is there any importance or difference, like what type of fabric or thread is used? Is there something special?
Yulia: In general, as far as I know, they are made from embroidery threads.
Ivan: Like nylon ones, strong ones?
Yulia: Yes, so that they hold. Regular thread used for sewing clothes wouldn’t work. Embroidery thread is strong and doesn’t tear.
Ivan: Do people notice these bracelets on each other? And is there more of some kind of connection between people who wear them and those who don’t? Like, you know, “oh, you have one too,” so you’re somehow closer, like having similar beliefs?
Yulia: From my experience of communicating, soldiers who have gone through difficult times, who have been on the front line, they all believe in God. So their connection is not the thread, but faith, and what they are moving toward.
Ivan: Are there any other beliefs or superstitions that you know about?
Yulia: Yes. Many soldiers carry amulets in the shape of little angels. They are made by their own children, or there are school programs where children knit these little angels to give them to soldiers together with humanitarian aid.
Ivan: So together with food and other things, right?
Yulia: Yes.
Yulia: By the way, my father also has one. But his is made of clay. My sister made it. He carries it in his tactical backpack, which has many pockets, and it’s wrapped so that it doesn’t break, but at the same time it’s always with him.
Ivan: Does this somehow bring you closer to your father? Or your sister to your father — the fact that he carries this angel or something made by her?
Yulia: My sister and my father are very close. And she was very upset when he left. She couldn’t accept it after everything she experienced and saw in Irpin. So yes, it brings them closer. She constantly tries to make something for him.
Vic: <asks for photo>
Yulia: Ok. Ok tell her that I’ll ask him
Ivan: And those talismans that come from the school, they are mainly given to soldiers who don’t have children of their own, right?
Yulia: Yes. For example, in our school, I know that after the beginning of 2014, we drew pictures, made posters, and knitted some toys so that the military would feel supported. And it went to different battalions, different brigades, and different directions for the military.
Ivan: Does it somehow bring you closer to your father, in the sense that he carries this Angel? She thought that you made the Angel, but does this figurine that your sister made somehow bring them closer, you know?
Yulia: Well, my sister and my father are very close, and she was very upset when he left. She couldn’t accept it after what she had been through and seen in Irpin. So it brings them closer, she’s always trying to do something.
Also, children’s drawings give soldiers a lot of strength. Maybe you remember that in 2014 there were many photos from the front where soldiers were holding children’s drawings. For them, this is very important support.
Ivan: Yes, there are many videos where soldiers are very happy when they receive children’s drawings. They really like getting them, because they understand that children support them. They feel that they are fighting for something good.
Vic: Yes, that’s understandable. <talks about volunteering>
Ivan: She says that she volunteered in a kitchen, and the local school passed children’s drawings together with food, and soldiers were always very happy to receive them.
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