Is it good to open the door or window to let in a little fresh air during winter? Stefan Korshak and Evgenia Mussuri, two former Kyiv Post staff writers, debated the wisdom on Feb. 3, 2000. It's another Kyiv Post classic, one of thousands of exclusive articles available free online in our searchable archives.
Feb 3, 2000
Stefan Korshak writes:
Love that skvozniak, Over the years Ukraine has produced all sorts of dangerous things: ballistic missiles, nuclear accidents, Cossacks, belligerent drunks, and, of course, everyone’s favorite — a good chunk of the Red Army.
But the repositories of folk wisdom — the babushkas — know what really threatens Ukraine’s life and limb. “Young man, close that door! There’s a draft! You’ll catch cold!” Ukrainians are more worried about the draft — known as skvozniak — than all sorts of other things considered in most places less than healthy, such as riding in a car without a seat belt or putting away an entire bottle of vodka at a sitting.
Clearly, the fear of cold air is a Slavic thing. In France or Belgium, housewives open the windows and air bed linen daily. “Frische Luft is gesund” (Fresh air is healthy) is about as deeply embedded in the German cultural consciousness as beer, or schnazzy military uniforms.
But Ukrainians differ. Here, it’s OK to suck in big lungfuls in the country, and the populace firmly believes air in one neighborhood can differ significantly from across the road. But actually let that same refreshing air blow on a person? “Young man! There’s a draft! You want to catch cold?”
To be fair, the air blowing around Ukraine is usually pretty cold, which isnХt surprising considering that the country is on about the same latitude as Minnesota. But I know the real reason the babushkas are so worried about the skvozniak: Their men built shabby houses, and in a cold house, wind chill is worse.
Ukrainian window frames are made of wood and the glass set in them is usually cut by hand. Apartments are built with two doors leading into the stairwell because one isn’t sufficient protection against the cold and noise. Ukrainian buildings leak warm air like the Kuchma administration leaks “secrets” about the March debt-restructuring deal. ThatХs why sweaters are popular, and that’s why in most provincial government buildings, fur hats are worn indoors.
The nation’s conscience — the babushkas — are reduced to worrying about in-house breezes precisely because it’s so cold there. Ukraine’s skvozniak is really only dangerous insofar as the heating is sub-standard.
Well, I for one find that completely unacceptable. Svozniaks aren’t dangerous. Ukrainians need to stand up and shed their terror of cool air in motion! If modern Ukraine can learn to face skvozniaks unflinchingly, the free market and good stuff like easy credit might be just around the corner. Fear no skvozniaks, I say. Turn up the heat, and burn a little Russian gas. Ukraine doesn’t pay for it, anyway.
Evgenia Mussuri writes:
Button-up! That draft is real. First of all, skvozniak is not fresh air. Look it up, and you’ll see that skvozniak is actually a current of air blowing through a confined space. It’s a draft, not a wind.
The air that blows into your face when you ride a bicycle at high speed is not skvozniak. That’s wind. The cross-current of air that blows through a room when a door and window are open at the same time is skvozniak. That’s a draft. It penetrates everything and everybody in its way. A wind blowing on a hot summer afternoon is refreshing. A current of icy air sweeping through a room is dangerous. Now I ask you, would you expose your baby to that stream? Of course not. It is dangerous for people to be exposed to skvozniak. It is not, however, dangerous for linen to be exposed to a draft.
Therefore, Ukrainians see nothing wrong with airing bed linen. In fact, if you’re observant, you’ll see sheets and pillow cases flapping in the wind from balconies everywhere. Fresh air is nice. Keep in mind that the draft is not synonymous with cold. People may adapt to a cold environment and some can tolerate extremely low temperatures. Some people even swim in the icy Dnipro.
But everyone is equal before the draft. No matter how tolerant a person is to frigid temperatures, even hearty souls are not impervious to the draft. Sit by an open window and it’s not long before your muscles begin to ache. The same thing happens when sitting in a car where a stiff cross breeze is blowing.
Stefan’s argument that Ukrainians fear drafts because they live in shabby hovels is illogical. I agree that some houses are more shabby than others. But that’s not the reason that Ukrainians fear drafts. Most likely, people who live in such houses often fall ill and that fact makes them afraid of any tiny wisp of air. And people install double doors because of the fear of criminal intrusion, not to avoid the skvozniak.
Babushkas — those repositories of folk wisdom — have always existed, even before the revolution. And the buildings constructed during those times were more solid than those built later. But even then babushkas were afraid of the draft. I do not think it is something the Soviets made up, otherwise the communists would have labeled the draft another evil that infiltrated the USSR from the capitalist West. Skvozniak is as logical to Ukrainians as the concept that you should never go outside in the winter right after a hot bath without your hat.
