Most often associated with the awe-inspiring and sinister cliché of count Dracula, in reality the Carpathians are one of the most diverse and multiethnic regions in the world. In the 1960-ies, the famous film-maker Paradjanov featured the inhabitants...
Most often associated with the awe-inspiring and sinister cliché of count Dracula, in reality the Carpathians are one of the most diverse and multiethnic regions in the world. Crossing Romania, Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine, Carpathian Mountains have been home to highlanders since centuries. These populations developed their own rituals, mores and customs.
In the 1960-ies, the famous film-maker Sergueï Paradjanov (1) featured the inhabitants of the Ukrainian Carpathians : the Hutsuls (2). Their land, which was a forbidden area to foreigners at the time of the Soviet Union, was brought to the fore and served as the majestic back drop of the master film “Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors”. The wildness of the mountains with its dizzying and mystical world inspired many legends and stories.
The Hutsuls, together with the Lemkos (3) and the Boykos (4), belong to the ethnic group of Carpatho-Rusyns, They must have been settling on the northern slopes of the Carpathians since the 14th Century. A distinct Hutsul community made up mostly of shepherds and woodcutters emerged during the 17th and 18th Centuries. A great piety mainly regulated their life, but Hutsuly also developed certain authentic socio-cultural traits, based on a colorful craftsmanship.
Ranging from embroidery to musical instruments, such as the “trembita” or the “drymba”, not forgetting the “pysanka” (a painted or carved egg) and other pieces of wood work, these traditions constitute the essence of the Hutsul identity and in the larger context that of the Ukrainian folklore, one of the richest in the world. Despite the foreign occupation of the region throughout its history, the Hutsuls managed to preserve their authentic style of life as an ethno-cultural group without ever being recognized as a minority.
Nowadays this area of Ukraine is slowly reached by modernity but is also affected by some common economic problems of the country. Its young people are looking towards the West, but at the same time they are proud of their culture and they insist on their identity, made recently even fashionable thanks to the popular Ukrainian singer Ruslana.
In Kosmach, a Hutsul village of 8, 000 inhabitants, only about one hundred kilometers away from the European Union, the life-style is changing, but the population remains as attached to freedom and to mountains as ever.
© Cyril Horiszny
(1) Paradjanov, or Paradzhanov, or Parajanov.
(2) Hutsuls is in English or Hutsuly in Ukrainian. Singular : Hutsul - Alternatively spelled Hucul, Huzul, Hutzul, Gutsul, Gucul, Guzul, or Gutzul.
(4) Boykos or Boikos. Boyky or Boiky (in Ukrainian)
(5) Lemky (in Ukrainian)
