UKRAINIAN SYMBOLS IN UKRAINIAN CANADIAN WEDDINGS

UKRAINIAN SYMBOLS IN UKRAINIAN CANADIAN WEDDINGS

This study focuses on symbols as well as on the ritual process by which Ukrainian Canadians absorb, modify, and transmit folk expressions in their wedding rituals. This study discusses why and how Ukrainian descendants attempt to incorporate Ukrainian symbols in their wedding rituals. It also introduces three types of symbols, explaining where Ukrainian descendants learn Ukrainian symbols and how they create new forms of tradition. Through this study, we can learn Ukrainian ethnic symbols, which are usually highly visible and clear in meaning, are not fixed points of tradition, but rather are frames of reference and meaning to which peoples respond to changes in social environment and conditions surrounding them.