Ukrainians

The Ukrainians from Maramures and Bucovina – the GuzulsThe Ukrainian settlements in northern Moldavia and Maramures, situated in areas neighboring the Ukrainian ethno-linguistic massif and its prolongation, are the oldest in the country. Archeological and linguistic testimonies prove that a Slav population from the East settled thereabout in the 6^th century A.D., living together with the Romanian population. Most of the villages Ukrainians have been living in to this day are mentioned in the old historical documents (Slavonic ones in Moldavia and Latin-Hungarian in Maramures) from the 14^th and 15^th centuries. In 1998 for instance, the village Ruscova in Maramures celebrated 625 years from its first certification in documents. The linguistic, cultural and spiritual identity of the Ukrainians from Maramures and northern Moldova were insured and maintained by a continuous ethnic addition from Transcarpathia, Galicia, Pokutia, and northern Bucovina. The Guzuls or Hutsuls (called "hutzani" by Romanians) live in the mountainous regions of Bucovina, in the upper valleys of the rivers Suceava, Moldova, Moldovita and Golden Bistrita. When they came here in the 17^th century, they found favorable conditions to pursue their traditional occupations: shepherding, breeding, foresting and rafting. They founded several villages and hamlets where they have been living to this day. In the old documents from Bucovina, they are referred to as "Russians". The Guzul vernacular is related to the Ukrainian vernaculars in the Carpathians and to the one spoken in Bucovina. They are all part of the common Ukrainian language. The Guzuls are famous horse breeders (they even developed a breed of horses) and masters in manufacturing and adorning objects of wood, hide and antler. They also make great weavers and embroiderers. Painting Easter eggs (a custom preserved especially in the villages of Ulma, Brodina, Breaza and Moldovita) brought them international fame. The Ukrainians from Dobrogea The settlement of the Ukrainians in Dobrogea (the Danube Delta and the adjacent areas) is linked to one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Ukraine: in 1775, the Russian Tsarina Catherine II destroyed and liquidated the Zaporozhian Sich. In order to escape reprisals, about 8000 Zaporozhian Cossacks settled down in the Danube Delta, with the approval of the Sublime Porte. There, at Dunavatul de Sus, they set the military camp "Zadunaiska Sich" in 1813, which would exist for 15 years until it was abolished by the Turks. Beside Cossacks, this promising land attracted, until the second half of the 19^th century, peasants from the southern areas of the Ukraine, who thus escaped serfdom and recruitment in the army of the tsar. They set up places, built churches, and generally had such occupations as agriculture, fishing, hunting and breeding. In order to set them apart from their neighbors who are Lipovan Russians, the natives call them "haholi". The Ukrainians from Banat The Ukrainian community from Banat, settled in several villages around Lugoj, Caransebes and Arad, was set up especially between 1908 and 1918, by colonizing some large landowner estates sold out by their German and Hungarian owners, situated in the southern part of the Austria-Hungary of that time. The Ukrainian colonists who bought lots of lands came from the poor and mountainous areas of Transcarpathia, from areas situated on the right shore of Tisa river. Others, smaller in number, came from the Guzul region of Bucovina. Their exodus continued after 1918. After 1970, numerous Ukrainians from villages in Maramures and Bucovina bought the households of the German émigrés, and became the majority population there.  Religion and education Most of the Ukrainians living in Romania are Christians of Orthodox confession. The Ukrainian Orthodox Vicarage, with its headquarters in Sighetu Marmatiei, was founded in 1950, and organized 40 years later. This is a church institution with administrative autonomy under the canonic jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is made up of two rectories (Sighet and Lugoj) with 36 parishes served by Ukrainian priests. After the Greek-Catholic Church was re-activated in 1990, the General Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Vicarage was founded, with its headquarters in Sighetu Marmatiei as well. It is subordinated canonically to the Roman Diocese United with Rome, and consists of several parishes in the counties of Suceava (Radauti, Siret, Cacica) and Maramures (Sighet). As a result of the 1948 reform of public education, in the following years compulsory general education in the mother-tongue was also introduced in areas where Ukrainians formed the majority of the population. After 1990, education in the Ukrainian language became more active. In several schools of Maramures, classes and groups were formed in order to be taught in Ukrainian. In 1997, the "Taras Sevcenko" bilingual high school was reestablished in Sighetu Marmatiei. In the "Mihai Eminescu" pedagogical high school of Suceava, there are special classes in which pupils are educated to become teachers in the Ukrainians' schools. There are several publications of the Ukrainian community issued in Romania: "Curierul Ucrainean" (in Romanian), "Ukrainkyi Visnyk" ("The Ukrainian Courier"), "Vilne Slovo" ("The Free Word"), "Nas Holos"("Our Voice") – the magazine of the Ukrainian writers, and "Obrii" ("Horizons") – a yearbook for Ukrainian culture, literature and language.


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