Village News

Anyone else noticing how some of the major events of the past couple years also happened 100 years ago? In 1918 and 1919 there was a worldwide influenza that killed many. In March 1922, convoys of Mennonites began leaving Canada for what they hoped would be greater freedom in Mexico. Also, beginning in the 1920s all of Russia (including Ukraine) began to face great oppression from the rulers of that time. I notice this because, at the Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) our ‘Leaving Canada: the Mennonite migration to Mexico’ exhibit for 2022 marks the 100-year anniversary of that event. And our upcoming 2023 ‘The Russländer’ exhibit about the Mennonites that fled oppression in Ukraine is also a 100-year anniversary exhibit. Is history repeating itself 100 years later?

In the MHV parking lot, in that liminal space between the main entrance to MHV and Highway 12 stands a twenty foot cenotaph that was built in 1985. It remembers the victims of war and terror from where the Mennonites lived in Ukraine a hundred years ago. The monument committee in 1985 told us that: “this monument was erected to remind us of the tragic history of a minority. At this time the catastrophic events have not yet been forgotten. There are still many survivors of that purgatory, but it is so easy to forget. Woe to us, if we forget their suffering, and if we ignore the lessons of history. We pray and hope that this monument will make us a little more thoughtful, a little more sober, and more responsible in our judgements and actions. And above all, we firmly believe that peace can only be found in forgiveness.” Almost 40 years later, we at MHV echo this belief.

On Sunday, March 13th, MHV will host a prayer vigil for the peace of Ukraine and Russia. During times of grief and tragedy we need to come together as a community, support one another, and pray for an end to the violence we see. Around a hundred years ago thousands of Mennonites were lost and 300 Mennonite villages were wiped off Russian maps. Let us not forget that we have been here before and pray that no more people will be forced to face such great trauma again. This prayer vigil is for both those that feel shaken by what is happening in Ukraine and for those that want to pray peace and goodness back into that land.