Kalyna ~ Highbush Cranberry ~ Guelder Rose

Description“Kalyna” (pronounced “kah-li-nah”) is the Ukrainian word for the highbush cranberry also called “Guelder” Rose (Viburnum opulus var. roseum) in English. Thoroughly embedded in Ukrainian folklore, it is prominently featured in many folk songs, sayings, & appears as motifs in embroidery & traditional decorative art. The Cree refer to the kalyna as “nepiminana,” a plant that they, along with the settlers from Eastern Europe, put to a wide variety of medicinal uses. Teas and infusions of the bark, flowers or berries were for many illnesses. The bark infusion is especially effective in stopping hemorrhages–after birth, during menstruation and other female bleeding, as well as stopping hemorrhoidal bleeding. Because it has a tranquillizing effect on the muscles of the uterus, the bark is also used to stop spontaneous abortions and as a bath for vaginal problems. It is also used as a diuretic.It was thought that in ancient times where the kalyna grew was the gathering place of people worshipping pre-Christian gods & spirits. During the feast of Kupala, at Midsummer’s Night (Summer Solstice), young people spent the night pairing up & merrymaking. The young women wore wreaths of fresh flowers, including kalyna, which blooms at that time. Eventually the flower came to symbolize a maiden’s beauty, as well as her innocence. Numerous folksongs compare a chervona (red) kalyna to a beautiful maiden. ~ Chervona Kalyna: an Ethobotanical Study (Toronto: Khortytsia, 1973)The mythical “kalynovyi mist” (bridge made of kalyna branches), mentioned in songs and poetry, is the symbolic Rubicon between single and married life. Therefore, it also symbolizes all that will never return. The kalyna also represents fertility, a child, or children (either because of their beauty or because they are a result of “breaking the kalyna”). It also symbolizes children born out of wedlock. “The maiden gave birth to a son, and laid out his bed with periwinkle (another symbolic wedding plant). Girls, don’t go picking the kalyna, don’t wake my baby” (in a folksong).From beauty, to First love, love making, & losing one’s virginity, are part of many folksong lyrics, but they are couched in such beautiful symbolism that most Ukrainians today do not realize how explicit the songs really are. Kalyna is another word for the hymen, so to lose one’s wreath (of kalyna), or to break the kalyna means to lose one’s virginity. The kalyna was mentioned in almost every wedding song, especially after the couple’s first night, when proof of the bride’s virginity’ on her nightshirt was paraded around to show the guests. This red stain on the shirt looked very much like a crushed kalyna berry and was called “kalyna.” A similar ritual existed in many European countries. To break the kalyna also meant lovemaking. “O, I did not break the kalyna alone, my lover broke it, too, while I bent it down” (Lemko folksong).The kalyna also stands for friendships, loyalty, & true love. When Kozaks or other soldiers went to battle, their young women promised to plant a kalyna bush on their grave should they die. Many songs are about the kalyna growing on a grave, with birds coming to eat her berries and bringing news from home to the soldier lying underneath. It was up to the woman to plant the kalyna, unless he died in battle, in which case his comrades planted it. In time, the kalyna was also planted on the graves of women: “Who will cry over me like my own child? Who will plant a chervona kalyna on my grave?” (folksong).From the first half of this century to now kalynas symbolism has grown, representing home to a dying soldier, Ukraine, and its freedom.