Former C-RS National
President presenting a host of topics at 2013 Czechoslovak Genealogical Society
Conference in Chicago
You were one of the
top people listed on our 2011 St. Louis Conference evaluation as a Chicago
speaker,” Czechoslovak Genealogical Society Chair Paul Makousky wrote to former
C-RS National President John Righetti. “So even though you were not in St.
Louis, you were on the minds of the attendees.”
A noted speaker on a
wide variety of Rusyn and East European topics, John will deliver three
presentations when CGSI holds its national conference in Chicago in October
2013.
John’s knowledge is a
combination of “book
learning” and life experience.
At the University of
Pittsburgh, he earned a certificate in Russian and East European Studies, with
an emphasis in Austro-Hungarian history. He also studied Slovak and Ukrainian
languages there. Later, he was one of two adult students chosen to study Rusyn
folk choreography and culture in Uzhorod, Transcarpathia in 1983. Living among the Rusyns in
Ukraine , he gained a keen sense of culture in everyday life.
That sense only
supplemented what he already knew, growing up in a largely Slavic neighborhood
in the mid Mon Valley town of Monessen just south of Pittsburgh. Rusyn culture
was an everyday part of his existence. His great grandfather had been a church
cantor and Rusyn political activist; his great grandmother a folk
healer/midwife for Monessen’s Slavic community.
“People have often
said to me ‘How did you preserve all this culture?’ My answer ? We didn’t
preserve anything. We just lived it,” he said.
John’s presentations
at the CGSI conference will present different aspects of Rusyn history and
culture. One is titled “Rusyns as the Third Founding People of Czechoslovakia “and
enlightens how Rusyns played a key role in Czechoslovakia’s development and the
effects being one of its founding peoples had on the Rusyn community there and
in the United States.
Another is “Rusyns and
Slovaks: Similarities and Differences”. He has delivered this presentation in a
number of major American cities,
and to mixed audiences of Rusyns, Slovaks---and even Czechs.
“There is so much
confusion among recent generations of Rusyns and Slovaks about their
distinctiveness that didn’t exist 100 years ago,” he said. “This presentation
helps contemporary Rusyns and Slovaks learn one another’s similarities and
differences –and gain an appreciation for each other’s distinctive cultural
qualities.
When he delivered this
lecture at the National Bohemian Hall in New York City, a retired university
professor stood up and exclaimed it was the most thorough and understandable
presentation on this topic she ever heard.
The third presentation
that will be delivered in Chicago is titled “Carpatho-Rusyn Culture –it’s not
just blessed baskets and stuffed cabbages”. Its focus is the fullness and distinctiveness
of Rusyn folk culture , outlining
the pagan practices Rusyns adapted to Christianity and continue to this day as
well as evolving culture attributes developed as a result of their challenging
history.
“Culture is not just
the warm things we remember baba (grandma) doing. Carpatho-Rusyn culture is as
rich, ancient and meaningful as any other. We need to learn to take our culture
seriously as a part of who we are as a community—and who we are as individuals,
“John explains. “Whether you realize it or not, your culture, rooted centuries
ago, influences every decision you make today . In this session, we’ll explore
that.”
So mark your calendars
for Sat. Oct. 26, 2013 for Chicago—and explore Rusyn history and culture with
John.
Written by John Righetti. E-mail jr@c-rs.org
