his is what Halyna Grechuk from Verkhovyna, who compiled a dictionary of Hutsul dialects, ethnographer and poet Vasyl Zelenchuk from Kryvorivna, and Tetyana Yastremska, a candidate of philological sciences at the Ivan Krypyakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies tells.

In the settlements where ethnic Ukrainians live in the area of ​​the Ruskovo Valley, cattle breeding and agricultural work were among the main occupations. Sheep farming in this area was an authoritative occupation, as there were many people who had livestock. were full of sheep, as well as cows or horses. Mr. Pavlo Popovych from the village of Repedya has always had animals, and he cannot imagine his life other than taking care of animals and his land.

Vasyl Popovych is a real ambassador of Hutsul Ukrainians in the Maramures region and beyond. Its activities to preserve and promote the traditions of Hutsul Ukrainians are rich and constantly supported by the promotion of ethnographic, historical and tourist values ​​in ethnic communities on both sides of the Tisza. All its activities and efforts are carried out in the name of tradition, cultural heritage and especially under the sign of identity values.

When he starts playing, all the stories of his childhood and youth seem to come to life. He learned to play the violin on his own, out of passion, and later became one of the “hegedus” of the area. Ivan Laver is one of the few musicians in the village. Rapeda, who knows ancient traditional songs and passed them on to one of his sons.

Before the wedding or in front of the church, Vasilina Benzar is very busy. She manages the iron hand of several members of her family, including her daughter, daughter-in-law, grand daughter and great-granddaughter, to complete the work on time. The green wreath is an ethnographic symbol of Ukrainians from the village of Glade, and periwinkle and tuya need to be very careful to achieve the expected effect. Everything should take place just before the event, so that the characteristic green color is preserved and the used leaves do not dry out. And all this work can not take place without specific songs.

She is known for her Hutsul shirts, which she embroiders. Over time, she diversified her products and became a kind of clothing designer in the area, creating other outfits with traditional motifs: jackets, dresses, skirts, vests or coats. Ms. Yulika helped revive this craft. She taught many people from the Vyshivska Valley of Maramures County who expressed a desire to learn how to embroider such patterns.

The work of the priest Peter Rahovan, pastor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village. Rapedya, Maramures County, goes beyond religious services on the occasion of holidays. He is well aware of the important role that the church plays in the life of the community. Therefore, he makes every effort to help preserve the language, customs, traditions and rites through his religious, cultural and social activities. Through his activities he combines the spiritual with the social, traditions and customs with church rites.

Gavrilo Klempush was self-taught, he learned to read and write from prayer books and “Kobzar” by Taras Shevchenko. For him, his native village, native land occupies an important place in the heart, soul and his work. In the 50s and 60s of the last century, when Ukrainian Romanian literature was still in its infancy, Gavrilo Klempush from the Maramures village of Vyshivska Dolyna was known as a poet-lumberjack who wrote Kolomyia poems about forest workers, publishing them in Romania in the newspaper “Novy Vik ” (Now” Free Word “). After the poet’s death in 1990, the family tried to preserve his memory, so many of his personal belongings, manuscripts, books, etc. are now in his home, where a memorial plaque has been erected. Those interested can visit this house.

Pots, pans, hand saws, oxen yoke, hooks, wooden spoons, plates, bread baskets, jugs, posts, whistles, ceramic bowls, vodka bottles, cart wheels, buckets, soup ladles, rocking chairs, bags, sacks , spindles, wooden buckets, various woven items – all have their place, carefully placed in the yard of Mr. Nikolai Marichek. He considers himself a true Ukrainian Hutsul, a descendant of Hutsuls who worked from the land or in the forest. Now it is his turn to continue all this heritage in his native village of Valea Visheului (Vyshivska Dolina), located on the border of Romania with Ukraine.

“In the literature of the Hutsul region there is such a special concept – the Hutsul text.
Alexandra Saliy knows a lot of interesting things about this. She is a researcher at the Ivan Franko Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and in 2017 she defended her dissertation on “”Hutsul text in Ukrainian literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”” Excerpts from Hutsul texts are read by artist Khrystyna Strynadiuk and Kazka member Dmytro Mazuryak.”

Pysanka is a decorated egg with traditional symbols. They are painted with wax and dyes. Vira Borys from Kosovo has been engaged in this folk art for almost 20 years.

Hutsul village is woven of dozens of sounds. Familiar, understandable, very ordinary. Which you are unlikely to notice if, for example, hurrying to the bus after a few days of hiking. You, too, are unlikely to be noticed: unless a dog from a farm lazily decides to check who is there in his measured course of life. This is an audio story about sounds that you need to listen to in complete silence, immersed in the atmosphere.

Almost all Carpathian tourists have heard about the Kosiv Bazaar. The fair is open only on Saturdays from 4 am until noon. Therefore, to buy the best things, you have to stay up all night. The road here is easy to find by the flow of customers and the clusters of cars parked around. Well-dressed Kosiv residents and guests of the city come out of them and hurry to cross the road to get their wallets as soon as possible.

Mykola Strynadyuk is a master of the modern Kosovo school of artistic carving. Bogdan and Zakhar, sons of the master, are also engaged in woodworking. Everyone has their own unique manner.
The Strynadyuk family often experiments with shapes, colors, materials and combines their own ideas with traditional technologies and Hutsul ornaments.

Local historian Vasyl Zelenchuk jokingly calls himself a museum exhibit. He works as a senior researcher at the Ivan Franko Museum in Kryvorivnya. Zelenchuk knows everyone and he is also well known – after the institute and work at school he worked as a village head for ten years. However, it feels best in the museum. Mr. Vasyl is a poet and is preparing to publish his own collection of poems. He also has a joint collection with Petro Midyanka from Zakarpattia and Nazar Fedorak from Lviv.

Hutsul wedding traditions live on. Vasilina Zelenchuk, who takes care of the estate-museum in Kryvorivnya, where Serhiy Paradzhanov shot the film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, tells about them, and ethnographer Ivan Zelenchuk comments on wedding traditions. What do they drink, eat, what gifts do they give to the couple and why is a wedding for the bride (princess!) A sad event?

The Hutsul theater in the village of Krasnoillya, Verkhovyna district, is an amateur ensemble with more than a century of history. It was created in 1910 by Hnat Khotkevych.
Today, a small wooden house where Khotkevych worked has preserved in the center of the village of Krasnoillya. In 1987, on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the writer’s birth, a museum was opened in the house. The house itself consists of two rooms. In one there is an exposition, and in the other – a hall with a stage.

Nadiya Makivnychuk, the head of the memorial museum in Verkhovyna, and her son tells about the Hutsul public and political figure, ethnographer and writer Petro Shekeryk-Donykov. What was Shekeryk-Donykiv like, what did he write about and why was his “Dido Ivanchyk” unknown to Ukrainians for so long?

Mykhailo Tymofiiv is a Ukrainian folklorist, conductor and composer.
The man lives in Kolomyia and has made more than 800 musicial instruments for 45 years. He plays the flute-like instruments such the frillka, didik, jolomigi, zozulia,rebro, sopilka,tylynka. And this is just a short list. The master has improved many of these instruments so that now it can perform not only folk but also symphonic music.

Taras Strynadyuk from Kosovo collects and restores ancient Hutsul crosses and icons. He is professionally engaged in artistic carving. Taras’s workshop is located at home. Also at home, on Hrushevskoho Street, he has his own Museum of Sacred Art. In a separate large room on the walls hang ancient unique exhibits.

Luba-Paraskevia Strynadyuk is a writer and translator from German. She was born in the Verkhovyna district, in the mountain village of Zamagora. Author of real Hutsul prose. She wrote the books “We, Hutsuls”, “To the dance”, “Vivcheryky”, “How can I live in the meadow” and “Beyond the mountains. Diary of love “.Now she lives in Lviv, but often comes to the village where his parents live and everything around is his home.

Roman Kumlyk, a Hutsul virtuoso musician, owned a private Museum of Hutsul Life, Ethnography, and Musical Instruments in Verkhovyna.
After his death, the case is continued by his daughter Natalia Guzak, who talks about her father with a special love. As a child, Natalia did not want to play but instead became a wonderful doctor. Now she has also mastered dozens of instruments.

Master Natalia Kishchuk is engaged in artistic weaving. The women in her family have been spinning wool and weaving bedspreads for over a hundred years. Kishchuks live in Yavoriv – a kind of capital of lizhnykarstvo(weaving). Here on the fences along the road you can see dozens of colored carpets. Natalia can’t imagine her life without weaving, although she once almost connected her life with mathematics.

Mykhailo Tafiychuk lives in the village of Bukovets, Verkhovyna district. Many people know his yellow and blue wooden house: tourists, musicians, seekers of folk musical instruments come here. Their master has created more than a hundred in his lifetime.
He knows how to play on everyone, although sometimes his hands no longer obey.
He learned to make tools on his own – just looked and listened, and then created himself.
Mykhailo Tafiychuk has a small workshop near the house with a low ceiling to keep it warm. Here his days at work pass.

Maria Petriv lives in the village of Brustury and has been making cheese horses with her daughter and husband for many years. How much milk do you need and why do Hutsuls sculpt horses? Who buys them and on what holidays? To understand how cheese horses are perceived outside the Hutsul region, we decided to conduct a small experiment and asked several people of different professions to try a horses with closed eyes and guess what it is.

Hutsul music is not only folk instruments: trembitas, drums or cymbals. The rock band “Hutsuls” is unique both for the Hutsul region and for the whole of Ukraine. The first performance of the group took place in the assembly hall of Kosiv Technical School on New Year’s Eve 1969. And “Hutsuls” still play their special music.

Bohdan Petrychuk from the village of Babyn, Kosiv district, Hutsul region. His house is not just a place where his family lives. Here is his private museum and workshop. In the house, you can see shirts, postoly (leather slippers), Volsky (lacing of postoly), pants, zapasky (apron) or krysany (hat). As well as chests and rare photos. Tourists come to Bohdan to try on old clothes and take photos. He himself preserves antiquities and creates shirts.

Vasyl Karpyuk is a Ukrainian poet from the Hutsul region, a prose writer and publisher. He was born in the mountain village of Brustury, Verkhovyna district. Now Vasyl Karpyuk lives with his family in Kyiv. Vasily admits that mountains influence his work the most, wherever he may be.