HE GOT A PUMPKIN

My wife tells me that there is a saying whose origin is in the villages of western Ukraine. She remembers her grandmothers using the expression.

Він отримав гарбуза.

(Vin otrymav harbuza) He got a pumkin.

It comes from an old Ukrainian tradition. When a man had brought a proposal of marriage to a woman, he would later return for an answer. If the answer was no, he would find a pumpkin. This is not a common expression and it is most often used regarding a proposal. Most people do, however ,understand that this expression means someone was told no or was turned down. The past gifts to Kuchma and Yanukovich of a pumpkin now make more sense to me. It is an interesting connection to the choice of orange by the opposition.

For me, as for many others I have spoken to, my reaction to and impression of the color orange has been forever changed. It will always represent the struggle for freedom to me.