 When I walk in Kyiv's By Volodymyr Senchenko |
St. Michael Square I quite often see newlyweds lay flowers at the monument to Princess Olga. It is easy to understand why these happy married couples and their parents honor this person: they all want their wives and daughters-in-law to be like her. Since the Orange revolution, however, more single men and old women have frequented the square to lay flowers. Having spoken with them, I understood that these flowers were somewhat connected with their uncertainty about the country's present and future.
I remember people putting portraits of Stalin in their cars during perestroika when government was particularly weak. Those pictures symbolized their protest against murky privatizations and dishonest businessmen. This was a sign of nostalgia for order but not for a strong leader. An upcoming parliamentary vote is another reason to honor Olga. Nowadays women actively participate in politics. They could have been inspired by the glamorous and diminutive 'iron lady' and mother, Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's former prime minister. No doubt, Ukrainian women compete for a seat in parliament because they understand they can achieve results not only on stage but also in politics.
Some of my friends say Mrs. Tymoshenko has raised the political bar so high that very few women can dare follow her example. I think they just do not know Ukrainian women. Is there any force that can stop and intimidate a Ukrainian woman?
Once a Japanese man told me a woman in his country would embrace her child when faced with a danger and then turn her back to that danger while a Ukrainian woman would put her child behind her back and then challenge the danger face-to-face. I think our women have sensed some danger and decided to become politicians, for now every fifth candidate is a woman. This means that flowers for Olga are not only our nostalgia for order but also an intention to follow her way.
What traits of Princess Olga have attracted men and women for almost one thousand years? We know many facts about her life from chronicles, legends and folk songs. We know she was a Slav from the Pskov region. After her wedding with Kyiv's Prince Ihor she had
a son and later became a young widow. Grief-stricken and desperate, Olga began to reign because her son was still a little boy.
First of all, she craftily and cunningly retaliated against the tribe of Drevlyans and their prince Mal for murdering her husband. She is not blamed for her vengeance in old manuscripts and legends because such deeds were considered to be proper and moral. The same sources also justified Drevlyans from the town of Khorosten. They killed Ihor for greedily collecting too many tributes. They had to slay the wolf; otherwise, it would have slaughtered all the sheep.
Having been crowned, Olga avenged her husband thrice. Her successful assault against the impregnable capital of Drevlyans made local rulers and boyars obedient, which resulted in a lasting peace for Rus.
But what really helped Olga preserve peace was not fear but her sensible management of the country. Unlike princes that thought it was their obligation to fight against vassals and neighbors for new lands, tributes, captives and cattle, Olga did not unsheathe her sword too often. All rulers around must have been afraid of plunging into war with this unpredictable woman.
However, her reign was peaceful and predictable. Olga repealed winter allowances for the army, introduced fair taxes, and appointed new officials across the country. Soon the treasury was full of funds to support her army and court.
She is also famous for bringing up Rus's most legendary warrior and commander. Her son Svyatoslav has been a paragon of military valor for a thousand years. His talent helped him seize the Danube region and Bulgaria.
Svyatoslav also stormed Constantinople, which agreed to pay a heavy tribute. War was his destiny, while Olga defended his rear. Five hundred years later, the Cossacks followed his example by similarly arranging their hair and applying his successful tactics. The famous Russian generalissimo Aleksandr Suvorov also used his tactics. The Russian Empire later established a Svyatoslav Order to honor its most courageous warriors.
Olga also succeeded in humanitarian issues. She was a devout advocate of the most progressive Christian faith and morality and one of the first princesses to adopt Christianity. No surprise, her illegal grandson, the future Grand Prince Vladimir, baptized the whole country. The Russian Orthodox Church later beatified both Olga and Vladimir.
One of the most remarkable personalities in our history, Olga founded a family of warriors, enlighteners, and statesmen. This explains why her renovated monument is covered in flowers. We all ask St. Olga for what she had and what we lack. It is not surprising at all that her monument was the first to be restored in the independent Ukraine. (The group of three monuments was destroyed in the 1930s but people believed her statue was hidden underground. We failed to rediscover it and never found those noble diggers, so the monument originally created by Kavaleridze was re-sculptured.)
How can one explain this newly awakened interest in Olga's life? The most important reason is nostalgia for stability and order. We come to the monument as if it is an island of hope and justice.
It would be great if Olga heard our prayers and helped political beginners rule the country. Hopefully, the March 26 election and people's prayers will help it happen. It is much better to follow her instead of copying eastern and western scenarios.
Many of our women politicians want to be in government but very few will succeed, for there are too many professional men in politics and they are not gentlemen. By the way, women with authority will also never allow their sisters to rule because no woman can tolerate another woman's superiority. If there was some solidarity among women at least once every five years, our government would have
a feminine face, for Ukrainian women also make the bigger part of the electorate. Many years will pass when they reach understanding like their counterparts in Finland, Chile, Germany or Africa.
Although they do not accuse one another of lacking intelligence, they still criticize one another's dresses, make-up or etiquette. (They are not alone, for even our men now begin to discuss how a hairdo influences the European community.) This envy and jealousy saves our men politicians. If women's solidarity awakened, men would have no chance to rule the country. They intuitively sense this danger and so fiercely and rudely criticize Yulia Tymoshenko, the only powerful political leader that is capable of consolidating women.
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More in the section:
A World Inside a Country
Read also previous issue' articles:
THE EAR: Time to Stop Traffic Terror
The USSR: What was it?
Socialist Realism From One Collector's Viewpoint
Weak Laws Make Ukraine Europe's Dumping Ground
Social Entrepreneurship Expands in Ukraine
Lenin and Ukraine
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