Yesterday despite being sick I was able to attend the 2008 Toronto Ukrainian Festival for a couple of hours. Even with the rain the festival was well attended, and a lot of fun!

Each year at the Ukrainian festival there is an art show featuring modern Ukrainian artisans.

There are also many traditional Ukrainian arts, and crafts available for purchase.

This years highlight for me however was the Royal Ontario Museum booth, which featured a few intriguing artifacts from Ukraine's ancient past in order to promote a very exciting new exhibit entitled: Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine: The Remarkable Trypilian Culture (5400-2700 BC)

Here is a snippet from the ROM's write-up on this upcoming exhibit:

Who were the Trypillians? How were they able to build the largest settlements in Europe, well over five thousand years ago? And why did they burn them down? These and other questions are explored in this fascinating exhibition that uncovers the secrets surrounding this mysterious people.

Nestled in the forest steppes of modern-day Ukraine, the prehistoric Trypillian people lived and prospered between 5000 and 2750 BCE. Highly sophisticated, the Trypillians were both farmers and hunters. Their ability to adapt to different terrain led to their prosperity, and soon they had the largest population growth of any other Neolithic people. They built the largest settlements in Europe at that time, some with an estimated population of 10-15,000 people. Every 60 to 80 years, they burned some settlements to the ground and moved to settle another location.

In 1896, Ukraininan archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika discovered one of these settlements near the village of Trypillia. The artifacts he uncovered were instrumental in reconstructing the daily lives of this prehistoric civilization. Ancient Ukraine presents household tools, evidence of clothing, spiritual artifacts and art, all of which help to build the story of how the Trypillians lived, flourished and then all but mysteriously disappeared.

The exhibit will run from November 29, 2008 to March 22, 2009 and you may read all about it here on the Royal Ontario Museum's official website.

I am very much looking forward to going! Everyone who is even remotely interested in Ukrainian culture, and ancient history should try to get out to this event!