Keeping my Ukrainian Heritage Alive at Penn
When I was eight years old, my brother and I introduced our great uncle to the wonderful world of Harry Potter. As the opening credits came on the screen, we babbled a mile a minute, trying to explain everything about Voldemort, magic, and spells. Suddenly, our uncle cut us off, exclaiming, “То наше!” We looked at him a little stunned, but he repeated “that’s ours” in Ukrainian and gestured towards the screen. He was referring to the Harry Potter theme song. This was one of my great uncle's favorite phrases, and one that has lived in our family far after his passing. We tried to explain that no, this was not a Ukrainian melody, that an American named John Williams had composed this for a British film. But he insisted and pulled an old Ukrainian record the basement. Sure enough, it was eerily similar to the Harry Potter theme. I guess it was “наше” after all.