Guba, dido, chort

One of the greatest days in Rusyn life is Christmas. It doesn't matter which date we observed it throughout the years, but we were Greek Catholics. We mostly celebrated Christmas in Snina in our apartment with everyone joining us at the table that always fit more people than it physically should have. My mom was able to create an unbelievably warm, almost sacred atmosphere on that day when we sat down to enjoy the special dishes prepared with so much love and care. After I left home, I tried every year to re-create that for my own family, but it never felt quite right.

Well, sometimes though, we spent Christmas in the village and one thing that we couldn't miss was walking down the road after dark and tracking down at whose house betlehemci were at that moment and calculating when whey would come to ours. As we were approaching groups of young people standing around and talking, we heard an occasional screaming and running and rhythmical jingling of cow bells. It was Guba, Dido and Chort chasing the kids and throwing them into the snow!!! For some sad reason, they never scared me or my siblings - I never knew why, but I sure wanted them to! I recognized the three men, one of them was my dad's friend, I knew who they were despite the costumes, but they just looked so real. And so cool! If they had chased me, I would have felt so important!

The same three men. Every year. Until they got too old and passed it on to others. But by that time I was all grown up. I don't remember the last time I saw betlehemci in action. They haven't stopped, though, they have been keeping the tradition alive, generation after generation. My cousin volunteered once...