Culture & Arts
A (brief) Synopsis of UKRAINIAN CULTURE
For decades, the Western world perceived Ukraine as simply a part of Russia. But many cultural elements once attributed to only Russia—like borscht, decorated eggs and Kozak song and dance traditions—have even deeper origins in Ukraine. Even the languages spoken in both countries are not of Russian origin but from Old Slavonic.
Language
Ukrainian, like languages spoken in Russia, Poland, Belarus and the like, is an Eastern Slavic language. Ukrainian is arguably the closest of the slavic languages to the original 9th century Slavonic used in Kyiv before the more formal Church Slavonic from Bulgaria was introduced with Christianity in the 10th century. Despite being watered down by Russian and Polish and being banned by Tsar Alexander II in 1876, the Ukrainian language persevered. It was adopted as the country’s official language in 1990, though Russian is spoken and understood by a large amount of the population.
Literature
The origins of Ukraine’s national literature go back to medieval Slavic chronicles of the 12th century, while the beginnings of modern Ukrainian literature stem from the mid-18th century wandering philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, the Ukrainian Socrates.
Taras Shevchenko, an ardent nationalist who was born a serf in 1814 and became a national hero, was the first major writer to write in Ukrainian. He was a gifted artist, but his writing launched a golden age of Ukrainian literature. The most talented and prolific writer of the early 20th century was Ivan Franko, whose work spanned fiction, poetry, drama, philosophy and children’s stories.
Music
Ukrainian music has its roots in centuries-old oral traditions of bylyny (epic narrative poems) and dumas, which were long lyrical ballads glorifying the exploits of the Kozaks. The roots of Ukrainian folk music lie in the legendary kobzars, wandering minstrels of the 16th and 17th. The bandura, a larger instrument with up to 45 strings, replaced the kozba in the 18th century and the instrument became a national symbol.
Dance
As with many other cultures, Ukrainian dancing is believed to have started long ago, possibly to please pagan gods, but mostly to bring about good luck and health. Eventually, some dances were incorporated into Christian rituals, such as “Haivky” (Easter dances). At first, singing was used to create a rhythm; then, instruments evolved and became the standard accompaniment. Most of the traditional Ukrainian dances performed today come from the era of the Kozaks. These bold patriotic warriors introduced the famous “prysiadky” (knee-bending) and other acrobatic steps. One of their first dances was “Zaporozhskiy Hertz”, a sword dance that determined, so it is said, the outcome of the upcoming battle.
While many mistakenly assign Ukrainian music and dance as belonging to Russia, a closer look will show that Russian folk dances are thematically different and employ heel-clicking, stamping, formations and music that are unique to that country.
After extensive research in Ukraine, many Ukrainian folk dances were brought to the United States in the 1920’s by the man now considered the father of Ukrainian dance in North America, Vasyl Avramenko. By traveling throughout the United States and Canada, he instructed Ukrainian-American dancers and helped to establish amateur troupes in several cities. Many of these still flourish today.
Cuisine
Ukrainian cuisine stems from peasant dishes based on grains and staple vegetables like potatoes, cabbage, beets and mushrooms. Meat is typically boiled, fried or stewed. Desserts are usually laden with honey and fruit, mainly cherries and plums, and often baked into sweet breads. While the small dumplings known as varenyky are by far the most popular Ukrainian snack, the sacred dish is salo – pig fat. Salo consumption goes back centuries, and Ukrainians age and prize it as obsessively as the French do wine. Borscht, while claimed by many cultures as their own, has deep origins in Ukraine and is a culturally protected national dish; the beet and mixed-vegetable broth is not sweetened, can be served with or without meat, sometimes with greens, and is often served with sour cream. The best Ukrainian cooking is found in the home; if you get invited to someone’s house for a meal, you’re in for a treat. Alcohol is plentiful and the drink is usually vodka, a clear distilate of wheat, rye or sometimes potatoes. No special gathering goes without numerous toasts around the table.
The Ukrainian applied art is rooted deep in the past. From chronicles and other monuments of Kyivan Rus it is known that crafts already existed then to properly become Ukrainian later. For instance, the oldest types of folk applied arts and crafts are woodcarving (e.g., wood sculpture carving), carpet making, embroidery, pottery and ceramics.
The wood sculpture cutting reached its climax during the heydays of the Kozak state in 17th and 18th centuries when talented Kozak artisans created the so-called Cossack Baroque. A special page in the life of Ukrainian arts and crafts is the woodcarving of the church iconostases and other religious objects. As of today, popular are the objects of home craft of the western regions, especially the Hutsul ornamental hatchets, pistols, guns, powder-flasks, small vessels for liquids, and wooden, predominantly decorative plates and dishes (ware). To embellish their makes the Huzul artisans are using techniques of incrustation and patsiorkuvannia (encrusting with glass beads).
Making carpets is another olden Ukrainian trade. Functionally, there are three in use for carpeting: kover, kylym and, kots. The difference between them could lie in the techniques, ornamentation, size, and purpose. The most varied and, surely, the oldest in Ukraine is the pottery trade. Historically, the centers of pottery emerged in accord to the natural location of deposits of the clay required with the names arising from the nearby settlements and perceived as brand names. Decorative painting as a vivid chapter went down in history of the Ukrainian culture. This type of folk art originated from mural painting spread widely since time immemorial in the Ukrainian villages.
UKRAINIAN ARTS, IN BRIEF
The Pysanka (Easter egg). Another unique phenomenon in the decorative art of Ukraine is writing of pysanky, the decorated Easter eggs. The Ukrainian pysanka springs from ancient beliefs of this people, and if at the time of paganism the eggs were painted to mark the Holiday of Spring, they were decorated to commemorate the Velykden, the Holiday of Christ’s Resurrection, under the Christianity.
As is found in many other cultures, an egg is seen as the origin of everything typifying the Universe. They believed in the world created in similarity to a large egg: the shell representing the skies, membrane as the clouds, the white as water, and the yolk as the earth. As the symbol of origin of a new life, an egg has a ring of symbolism of the Sun. Worshipped by ancestors of the Ukrainians, they believed it to be the surety of nature and life revival.
There are actually several types of Ukrainian eggs made for Easter, such as krashanky which, like most people make around the world to celebrate the holiday, are single-colored boiled ones meant to be eaten. In contrast, pysanky and not for eating but for gift-giving and protecting the home. The name pysanka comes from the word “pysaty” meaning to write, and each pysanka is a written prayer; this art form has scaled the heights of development, and a pysanka itself is a cultural symbol of Ukraine.
Ukrainian embroidery, called vyshyvka (вишивка), has a long history in Ukraine, and as with many arts patterns and designs vary by region. Evidence shows that embroidery in the area of Ukraine dates back over 2,000 years, and it has been used most often to decorate clothing, but also on various fabrics which would adorn homes and churches. Many embroidered items, such as the rushnyk (towel) are important in many Ukrainian ceremonies. The most notable embroidered item is a shirt, or vyshyvanka. Ukrainian folk embroidery, as with the decorative arts of many cultures, were symbolic and reflected the beliefs of pre-Christian society, and today remains one of the greatest parts of Ukrainian cultural and national identity.
Wood carving, called “rizba” in Ukrainian, is another of the main categories of the decorative and applied arts in Ukraine. Ukrainians often decorated their practical objects with designs that were associated with the use of those objects, and many of these played important roles is family and religious events. Possibly because of the extensive natural resources in the area, the woodwork of the Hutsul region is considered the most prized, and the ornamentation of Hutsul wood carving is flat-carved and geometric, often enhanced with inlays of colored wood, bone, metal wire, mother-of-pearl, and beads. In central and eastern Ukraine, the wood work is no less stunning; designs are flat-carved with mostly geometric and occasional floral patterns, and the cuts are deeper and the relief higher.
Ceramics and pottery. The history of Ukrainian ceramics dates back to the Neolithic Period and Ukraine’s ancient Trypillian culture. but the artform truly flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries. Ceramic ware was made for daily dishware, for tile wall decoration, ornamentation, candleholders, and even trinket items such as whistles and animal figurines. Pottery colors depended upon the clay available in the area; glaze colors were obtained from copper, ochers, and various metal oxides, and ornamentation was often scratched on the surface of unfired dishes, to be later painted with glaze and fired. As with much of Ukrainian art, ornamentation depicted daily life, decorative motifs, mythical themes, and very often flora and fauna.
Some excerpts adapted from myukraine.info and encyclopediaofukraine.com