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 […]

People in Ukraine are usually perplexed when they see Ukrainians from the diaspora write their Дs like this: However, in the American and Canadian diasporas, this is an extremely common way of handwriting the letter Д — that is, a triangle with a leg inside as opposed to a flat-top […]

Name: Maslosoyuz (The Dairy Union)Type: Association of dairy cooperativesFounded by: Yevhen Olesnytsky, Ostap Nyzhankivsky, L. Horalevych, I. BachynskyYears active: 1904-1944 The Ukrainian Cooperative Movement, which began in Galicia in 1883, addressed the economic plight of the Ukrainian people through the creation of financial, agricultural, and trade cooperatives that enabled Ukrainians to pool their resources, […]

A few years ago when I was was in Chicago, I found this Ukrainian (English and French) children’s dictionary at home. It was published in Canada—though I’m not sure what year. The book includes a lot of examples of words that are used in the diaspora, but which are no […]

There are several differences in the Ukrainian alphabets used in the diaspora (specifically the community that has its origin from Galicia) and in Ukraine, in particular, how the alphabet is called, the  pronunciation of the letters, the melody used to sing the alphabet (or the lack thereof a song), as […]

Music is a wonderful way to be in touch with one’s heritage, and so it’s no wonder that Ukrainian music flourished in the diaspora, producing many notable bands who have kept the communities in touch with their cultural heritage. Indeed, it was these recordings of Ukrainian folk songs that really […]

In the Ukrainian diaspora we call a bicycle a “rover” – the word which was commonly used in western Ukraine before the war. Now in Ukraine the name “velosyped” is more widely used, but people in western Ukraine, espеcially in villages, still often say “rover.” (For more about the diaspora language, click here.) The […]

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. To keep track of the differences between the two lexicons, as well as to document the way my […]

The western Ukrainian news outlet ZIK released a series of videos explaining the origins and meaning Galician words and phrases. Traveling around the region, including to Lviv, Ternopil, and the Hutsul region, the hosts tell interesting stories about the word as well as examples of its usage. Below are a […]

To supplement my “diaspora” dictionary, here’s a list of Galician culinary terms. Some I have on my list, but here are many more. ГАЛИЦЬКИЙ КУЛІНАРНИЙ СЛОВНИК -А- Аєрконьяк – яєчний лікер Андрути – перекладений вафельний торт, вафлі. Аниж – аніс Арак – алкоголь Афини – чорниці -Б- Баняк – горщик, […]