The Chortitza Oak has been famous throughout Ukraine, and indeed much of the world.   Approximately 800 years old, it was a special location when the Cossacks ruled the area.  When the Mennonites were allocated an area for a colony, the tree fell within, and it was important to Mennonites as well.  Early settlers camped beneath its branches; later it is said that many important agreements were worked out beneath the Chortitza Oak. Earlier in the 90s, the Chortitza Oak began to die; one branch now has leaves.  The official line was that the water level from the dam, built in the 30s, had affected it.   Other tree experts believe that it was killed by covering the area with dirt and rubble.  When officials tried to spruce up the area for visitors with a wall and some fill dirt, they covered the root area by about two feet.  A newspaper article in our Lawrence, Kansas, newspaper once printed a wire story reporting that goat carcasses and other items were buried by local Ukrainians to save it; the guides never heard of that. A Ukrainian tradition is that the tree brings good fortune to marriages.  Newlyweds are to walk around it three times.