Culture, in particular folk culture, preserves our distinct cultural heritages that were passed down from generation to generation. They can be found in our dialects, folklore, handicrafts, customs, cuisine. These are our voices, tastes, smells, experiences, sounds from the past, our intangible, nonmaterial connections to the past, to our predecessors.
When I moved to Ukraine, I had to learn a whole new Ukrainian vocabulary. It turned out that I had grown up speaking a Galician diasporic Ukrainian, which used many dialectisms, Polonisms, and archaisms, and which was absent of Russification. To keep track of the differences between the two lexicons, […]
Read MoreUkrainian speakers often confuse the English H and the Ukrainian Х sound. This can be seen in a variety of places, like the common transcription of “happy birthday” as “хеппі бурздей”. When Russian speakers do this it seems to make sense – Russian does not have an “H” sound at […]
During a visit to Kraków the week before Christmas, I attended a small gathering at an acquaintance’s apartment. While they sang Polish Christmas carols, one particular melody stood out to me — it was remarkably similar to a Ukrainian Christmas carol, with lyrics that resembled those of its Ukrainian counterpart. […]
The old Ukrainian diaspora, primarily originating from Galicia, has been instrumental in preserving linguistic elements predating the 1933 orthography, which marked the onset of russification in Ukrainian orthographic tradition. Alongside, this community has safeguarded distinctive Galician linguistic and orthographic customs, which have gradually faded within Galicia itself. This article has […]
This version of Michael Aylward’s article “Shund on Shellac or Gimpel’s Theatre, Lemberg” is based on a much longer version with various appendices. The complete version is posted in PDF format at the bottom of this article and may be downloaded. If you wish to quote from either of these […]
An interview with the celebrated film director Janusz Majewski, who died on 10th January aged 92, was one of the last of the old guard of Polish directors who emerged in the 1950s. He was part of a generation of filmmakers that put Poland firmly on the cinematic map. ‘He […]
Recently, on Instagram I came across an intriguing post from Yiddish Shul, revealing a surprising connection between a famous Yiddish World War I ballad and a Ukrainian folk song. Although I was familiar with the Ukrainian song, its origins were unknown to me. As I delved into its history, I […]
Ukraine boasts an ancient and rich tradition of embroidery. Folk embroidery was deeply symbolic and connected with a great number of beliefs, myths, and superstitions. At the heart of this tradition was the shirt, known as the vyshyta sorochka or vyshyvanka. For centuries, Ukrainian embroidery was confined to the rural […]
Following the dissolution of the Austrian Empire at the end of World War I, Galicia became a part of Poland, which exerted pressure on Ukrainian cultural identity. In response, a wave of Ukrainian national consciousness emerged among the middle class and urban populations. While desiring to express their Ukrainian heritage, […]
Servus! This article is about a Galician tradition that can be found on both sides of the current Polish-Ukrainian border. It is about the word “servus,” a salutation typically used as a greeting, which gained popularity during the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and which became common across its entire territory. While […]
I recently discovered that one of my favorite Sich Riflemen (a Ukrainian unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army during WWI) songs, “Chuyesh, brate miy” AKA “Vydysh, brate miy” (Do you hear, my brother), was written in Kraków. It turns out that the song was based on a poem called “Zhuravli” (Cranes) written by […]
