Ukraine Turns 18!

The biggest party in the world yesterday took place in the Ukraine. The country celebrated its 18th year of independence, and the place was rockin'.

Kiev had the military parade, but I spent the day in the medieval city of Lviv where Rynok Square and the main boulevard were blocked off for a major party. The streets were already filling up in the early afternoon as music artists performed on two main stages, and by the time night fell, tens of thousands overflowed the streets. Many locals wore traditional Ukrainian outfits or the flag's yellow and blue colors (often with face makeup). In the main square, they even dressed up statues of Adonis, Neptune, Amphitrite and Diana in traditional garb.

Lvivske beer was one of the main sponsors, and the 300-year-old brewery sold drafts next to the main stage for about 40 cents USD (though you could get them even cheaper at the store). The brewery stage also hosted the night's big headliner, Rusiana, the 2004 Eurovision champ and a World Music Award winner. Still, the party's highlight was seeing the honest nationalistic pride as people randomly broke out in Ukrainian anthems and waved flags through the streets.

While the concerts stopped around 10 p.m., the celebrations continued in the bars. I headed first to the most nationalistic pub, the speakeasy-style Café Kryjivka. To enter, you approach the peephole and say the code word "slava ukraini" ("glory to Ukraine") to which the doorman responds, "Geroyam slava" ("glory to our heroes"). These were phrases used by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army as they fought the Nazis and Soviets in the '40s, and in that spirit, the door opens to a man in uniform who immediately serves you a free shot from a pistol.

From there, I visited the Masoch Café, named after famed Lviv writer Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch. I will write more about this place in a future post, but for now I'll just say the word "masochism" is derived from his name. I had some drinks there, and even though it was late and I was whipped, I still made my way to the popular club Picasso to finish the night with the other Independence Day partiers who wanted to keep the celebration going.

While this might be the Ukraine's 18th anniversary as an independent representative country, it was actually one of the first modern democracies in the 1600s. That Ukrainian republic lasted for many years until the country was pulled into the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires and eventually the Soviet Union. When the Union collapsed in '91, the Ukraine became independent again on Aug. 24 of that year, and they refined their democracy further in 2004 with the Orange Revolution. The Ukrainian citizens truly appreciate being a free democracy again (something we Americans often take for granted), and this pride showed in their Independence Day celebrations.