Tevye the Milkman's Museum

Tevye is the main character from Fiddler on the Roof and he’s based on a guy who lived not far from Kiev. For a while Doug has been trying to put together a group of people to visit a little museum that is dedicated to him near Boyarka (and when I say "a while," I mean for about 9 years). We heard it wasn't really a museum, just a room set up with some displays and so we weren't expecting much, but we thought, “Hey, when in Ukraine…” So, about 15 Americans, mostly missionaries and teachers, hopped in a few vans on Saturday and took a little trip out of the city. After getting lost a few times, we finally arrived at the public school where the museum is located. 

Imagine our surprise when we walked into the building to find about 30 kids dressed up in traditional Ukrainian clothing! Once all the Americans were inside, the group started singing us a welcome song! You can watch it below; sorry it’s a little shaky, I was just trying to get the camera on and capture some of it before it ended.

We bet you’ve never been welcomed to a museum like that before! It was totally amazing.

I’m not sure of all the words, but it’s a song about hospitality and wishing people a “green” life. And we all definitely felt welcomed in this little village. The director of the school gave Doug a homemade bread that is a traditional way of greeting guests, and then invited us up to the museum.

The museum is located on the top floor of the school and they told us the school’s musical group is one of the best in the country. Not really a surprise, they were fantastic!

We went upstairs and the choir came with us. In fact, there were more kids in the traditional outfits waiting when we arrived in the museum. A few girls had some verses that they recited for us that talked about the history of the village. Thankfully, we had a translator with us and so we were able to understand what they said.

Then the singing started again, but this time danced some traditional Ukrainian dances.

After the kids did some singing and dancing, a few of them ran out and grabbed partners. A couple of girls pulled Janna and I into the middle of the circle and led us in some easy steps. It was really cool. I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot, and I know Janna couldn’t either.

The girl on the left was my dance partner.  I was super stoked because I did about 40% of the steps correctly and didn't step on my partner's feet or anything else embarrassing like that. 

 After the singing was over, a few more girls lined up and recited some of the history of Tevye’s life. According to the Ukrainians, Tevye did pretty well for himself selling milk in the village and even in a larger town nearby. He was able to build a very large house where his family lived. This is a different perspective than what you might be familiar with, but just remember that the author Sholem Aleichem based his story off this Tevye and we don't know how much is true or how much is fiction. 

It was very interesting for us to be there and hear this perspective. Tevye was Jewish. The Jewish community pretty much vanished from this pocket of the world after the Russian Revolution and WWII, but the village is still keeping his legacy alive. As you can tell, culture and history are important to them, that’s why they have a really good traditional Ukrainian music group.

The director of the school invited us into a little room that they designed to look like a traditional Ukrainian home that Tevye would have lived in, complete with original bathtubs, pottery and furniture. After that we were invited to have some Kompot (a drink made of dried fruit that is boiled) and the bread they had prepared for us. Then we could look around at the displays and meet the kids.

Janna got swarmed by a group of girls. We asked them if them if this was the first time they had met Americans! It was! We had fun talking to them, and even asked if they had questions for us. I think they were too shy to think of any!

Now we know why we received such a huge reception. We were kinda like celebrities. They even asked Janna for her email address so they could find her on facebook!

After the show we went back to the Stoddard’s House and watched Fiddler on the Roof.

Then we started planning another trip out to the museum. We can't wait to go back!