Burlak Family

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Katerina’s paternal grandparents, Kost and Tatiana Burlak, lived with Katerina's parents, Dmytro and Anastasia and their nine children. During the winter months, they often told the children stories about Galicia and the beginnings of their settlement in Bosnia. The children were taught Ukrainian crafts, including embroidery and weaving. In their home, all the children were taught to read and write in Ukrainian. They would sit at the kitchen table with homemade boards to transcribe the Cyrillic alphabet and join them into words.

 

The Burlak family had this prayer book that was printed in Zagreb, Croatia in 1917, and the children learnt to read Ukrainian from this book (Управа Епархій - Eparchy Committee) 1917). Christmas carols and Easter matins were memorised from the oldest to the youngest. Music played a central role in the Burlak family. The Ukrainian Catholic Church through social, religious and cultural activities enabled them to stay together as a community. Sunday youth dances, exclusive to community members, were organised to broaden Ukrainian cultural access and diminish social mobility outside the community. This is the way they maintained their Ukrainian cultural heritage and identity.