#rusyn

[gorskivijenac]

Young Pannonian Rusyn girls from Ruski Krstur, Bačka, Serbia. Foto studio of Osif and Jovgen Budinski, Museum of Vojvodina, Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Vojvodina, Institute for the Culture of Vojvodina Rusyns

[varenychenko]

so i learnt about this speech in UN and that the speaker, Gabriella Derepa got bullied and defamed by some ukrainian "journalists" for speaking out, so i thought this is worth sharing among ukrainians and foreigners alike on here. i wouldnt call myself knowledgeable on carpato-rusyn issues at all, which is why statements like this are all the more important to reach the wider society. it bears stressing that recognition of minorities and their discrimination in ukraine is not and should not be seen as a threat to ukraine.

see also her additional statement in ukrainian

[andletforsakendidodie]

ghosts of 19th/20th century hungarianisation come up so much with my mum. i was making sourdough pancakes western-style but using kefír and she launched into a monologue about how surprised she was when she first encountered flat, unyeasted palacsinta in budapest, because in her village rusyn folks made an almost syrniki-style quark palacsinta with yeast, and she pitied the flat pancaked people because she thought they are too poor for good palacsinta.

[folkfashion]

Lemko woman, Ukraine, by Ксенія Малюкова

[songs-of-the-east]

Rusyn Song Promoting Rusyn Identity from Maramureș, Romania

The Rusyns are a distinct East Slavic people whose ethnogenesis took place in the Carpathian Mountains, shaped by a complex history of migration, assimilation, and cultural exchange. Their origins lie in the settlement of Eastern Slavs in the Carpathian region, particularly from the 10th century onward, as part of the broader expansion of Kievan Rus/Galicia-Volhynia. As these Slavic settlers moved into the highlands, they came into contact with and gradually assimilated pre-Slavic or Paleo-Balkan populations, such as remnants of Thraco-Dacians and Romanized locals. In the medieval and early modern periods, the Rusyns further interacted and intermarried with Vlachs: Romanian-speaking pastoralists who moved seasonally through the Carpathians; this lead to further blending (and even domination) of "Balkanic" cultural elements such as in music, dance, food, vocabulary, architecture, religious and folkloric styles, and general way of life. These historical factors lead to producing a localized Carpatho-East Slavic identity distinct from their neighbours and even other Ruthenians. Ruthenians being the collective name of the East Slavic people inhabiting the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which now includes Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Rusyns. Over the 19th and 20th centuries, as modern nationalism developed, many Ruthenians in the part of the former PLC historically controlled by Poland, began to adopt a Ukrainian national identity (distinct from the Belarusian identity developed in the part of the PLC controlled historically by Lithuania). This emerging Ukrainian identity drew heavily on the historical legacy and symbolic mythology of the Zaporozhia Cossacks. However, not all Ruthenians in this region followed this path. Particularly in the Carpathian highlands and Transcarpathia, many Rusyns retained a distinct linguistic (as opposed to standardized Ukrainian) and regional identity, resisting assimilation into the emerging Ukrainian national project. As a result, while Rusyns and Ukrainians share common historical roots, many Rusyns today do not identify as Ukrainians and instead assert a separate ethnolinguistic and cultural identity. This distinction remains a subject of debate, especially in Ukraine, where Rusyns are often officially regarded as a regional branch of Ukrainians rather than a distinct ethnicity. The problem is further complicated by the fact that certain Rusyn sub-groups, such as the Hutsuls, were some of the people most eager to adopt a Ukrainian identity and nationalism. Rusyns have had a historical presence in what is now northern Romania, particularly in the Maramureș region along the Carpathian Mountains. This area, once part of the Kingdom of Hungary and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire, saw Ruthenian communities settle as early as the medieval period. These East Slavic highlanders shared linguistic and cultural ties with Rusyns in neighbouring Transcarpathia and maintained a Greek Catholic faith, pastoral traditions, and distinct identity. Although today their numbers are small, Romania officially recognizes the Rusyns as a national minority, preserving their cultural legacy in the region. Unlike in Ukraine, a larger amount of Hutsuls in Romania have seen themselves as Rusyns and distinct from Ukrainians.

[severin32]

Old Koločava, Rusyn cottages, nowadays skanzen

Koločava, Zakarpattia region, Ukraine

[culture-and-the-stars]

i’m making this blog because i want to connect. to find purpose. to discover what life was like before.

a little bit about me: i’m a 19 year old girl living in the united states. i go to university, and i study nursing and public health. and i’m tired of how much of american culture is driven by marketing, capitalism, and consumerism. from valentine’s day, to halloween, to even christmas, american culture just seems driven by a marketing motor, just designed to sell us a product, not a connection or experience. yes, some american traditions are nice. but i want something deeper, something less superficial. so i decided that maybe “de-assimilating” myself would work. i want to connect to the culture of my ancestors, the very immigrants who came over to this wretched country and were pressured to assimilate: to lose their language, their food, their holidays, their customs.

my roots are mainly alsatian, german (franconian and baden), lemko/rusyn from poland, belgian (flemish), french canadian, and irish, though i also have ancestors from austria, switzerland, and luxembourg as well.

this is NOT a tradlife, fascist, racist, or any of that garbage blog. i’m a leftist, and any of those ideas or ideas adjacent to that will not be tolerated here.

[dvoeverie-stitches]

More older pieces.

The orange pattern is Rusyn and the blue/green is from Ukraine.