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Title: Ukrainian folk songs
A historical treatise
Author: Humphrey Kowalsky
Release date: March 24, 2026 [eBook #78295]
Language: English
Original publication: Boston: Stratford Company, 1925
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78295
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UKRAINIAN FOLK SONGS ***
UKRAINIAN FOLK SONGS
UKRAINIAN FOLK SONGS
_A Historical Treatise_
By
REV. HUMPHREY KOWALSKY
1925
THE STRATFORD COMPANY, _Publishers_
+Boston, Massachusetts+
Copyright, 1925
By
REV. HUMPHREY KOWALSKY
Contents
Chapter Page
Foreword i
I What are the Folk Songs in General and
the Ukrainian Folk Songs in Particular? 1
II The Influence of the Ukrainian Folk Songs 4
III The Theme of the Ukrainian Folks Songs
and Their Kinds 6
IV A Brief Review of Ukrainian Folks Songs 10
V Historic and Political Songs 20
VI Songs of the Cossack and of Haydamaki
Era 32
VII Historic and Political Songs, Continued 40
VIII Professional Songs 46
IX Songs of Family and Private Life 49
X Wandering Songs, Ballads 59
XI Conclusion 62
Bibliography and Sources 67
Ukrainian Folk Songs
FOREWORD
It is the opinion of most scholarly critics that there are no other
Slavic people so rich in folk lore as the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian
songs and airs are innumerable. A Ukrainian peasant is a singer in
the full sense of the word; singing is his daily bread; no work, no
walk, no family, social entertainment, no engagement of any kind goes
without singing or “ex tempore” improvisation of some air and words;
the proverb is well known that “a Cossack (a Ukrainian) laughs and
sings through his tears,” which means that even in time of his woes
and worry a Ukrainian sings: sighs and sings! A Ukrainian, provided
he be not depraved and deprived of his original native intuition by
a foreign, and especially the modern urban culture (and thanks be
to the Providence the aboriginal feeling, the poetry of soul still
predominates and is the express characteristic of every Ukrainian of
all social and cultural degrees), is a singer, nature’s own musician of
no base quality. He has hundred-fold ways of expressing his hilarity or
sadness in every instance, corresponding to and depicting every motion
of body and soul: whether he be bringing the muck out of his stables to
his fields, or the cattle to pasture in the spring, or thrashing his
corn, or his wife weaving her cloth in winter; whether he be mowing,
reaping, or at some trade in fall, or resting and merry-making amid the
heat, verdure and fragrant Ukrainian nature in summer--he constantly
sings, alone or in company; even his prayers are mostly performed
through singing.
A student well acquainted with Ukrainian geography and the beauties
of her nature, will agree with the author that nature herself prompts
the Ukrainian to express his very soul in spontaneous singing; by
the fragrance of meadows rich with the odors of a thousand flowers;
by the song of the nightingales that wake the infants from their
slumber in the early morning; by the rich black earth, plains, wide
steppes, balmy forests and lofty hills of the Carpathians and the
Caucasus; by the gentle, sweet Slavonic temper educated in the bosom
of nature’s luxuries; and last but not least--by the history which
fortune, otherwise so bounteous with the Ukrainians, has made so harsh
and strenuous for them, making the Ukrainians a subject of almost
continuous struggle with foreign invaders--Tartars, Turks and the Poles
and the Russians especially.
It is to be lamented that many of us do not understand or sufficiently
prize the value of the folk songs of whatever origin or language they
may be; we fail to see their beauty and meaning in the life of every
living national organism; we can not see why so much stress is put on
them by the educators. Some regard these songs as merely a pastime
or extravagant folly of youthful revelry. True, that some original,
charming, pensive songs are and have been adulterated and the effect
soiled by wanton pornology and perverted sentences--yet these ought to
be easily eliminated from the sacred treasury of the people.
It very seldom happens that the Ukrainian songs are changed in meaning
and effect except it be by some foreign, usually Polish or Russian,
words; sometimes even a whole, new worthless song is introduced among
the Ukrainians, but on tracing its origin it is found out that it was
of Polish, Russian or other foreign source brought about by men serving
in foreign armies, or being in contact with other nationalities;
such songs are commonly avoided with care, and traditional Ukrainian
compositions are sung exclusively. This is true also regarding other
Ukrainian folklore such as rural tales, ritual songs and ballads.
A noticeable decline in purity and beauty of Ukrainian folklore is
observable where Polish or Russian influences have gained their access.
The author of this study himself saw this decline twenty-two years ago
in the western Ukrainian government of Kholm and Podlakhia, where he
was born and brought up in his early childhood. He well remembers how
in that part of the country the two foreign cultures wrangled with
each other in an attempt to strangle the ancient Ukrainian culture.
The Russian culture, by way of the state school system, and the Polish
culture by means of the Polish Latin Catholic church wherein Polish
national propaganda had its mainstay; both endeavored to deprive the
Ukrainian peasantry of their nationality by forcing on them silly
imitations of the alleged “higher” culture. It causes the author great
pain to recall how the Polish landlords and priests have gradually
made the good-natured Ukrainian peasants abandon their “pagan” ritual,
Easter and Christmas folk songs and hymns; their beautiful out-of-door
ceremonials, weddings, and christenings, which are inseparably
connected with singing, changed their aspect to a great extent in the
above mentioned Ukrainian territories. Polish religious songs may
be more numerous, but the Ukrainian folk-songs thus lost under the
forceful introduction of the Polish “Kultura” is a whole treasure
lost to the local population--because the Ukrainian folk songs are
unequalled, incomparable with any others in the world.
CHAPTER I
What are the Folk Songs in General and the Ukrainian Folk Songs in
Particular?
Various peoples have different traditions and beliefs as to the origin
of the folk songs. The ancient Greeks thought that songs were composed
by the gods themselves, and all the famous singers claimed their
parentage from the gods.
The author of the ancient Ukrainian-Ruthenian[1] poem--“Slovo o Polku
Ihorevi” (The Lay of the War-Ride of Ihor[2]) relating the expedition
of Prince Ihor upon the Mongolian Polovtzi--mentions some great singer
Boyan,[3] “the grandson of god Veles,” who composed beautiful epic
poems about the activities of the ancient Ruthenians. The renowned
Ukrainian Kobzar[4], that is, a singer (composer) and player on the
bandore, Ostap Veresay, who sang with profound emotion the beautiful
historic songs, was wont to say that songs come from God Himself.[5]
Even in most recent times the Kobzars and singers, whether feeble old
men or cripples, when they appear at bazars and church festivals are
treated with highest respect. The people believe that the singers,
especially the composers, are exceptionally beloved and endowed by God
with talent to express the feeling of a rational human soul, common to
all mankind; to move men to pity, charity and love of God and one’s
neighbor; to proclaim the manifold human activities and thus instruct
and educate weak human nature, uplifting men mentally and morally.
There is something in Ukrainian songs that attracts the entire being
of those who understand the words; nay, those who happen to hear
Ukrainian melodies are captured by the force of their expression of
mirth and gayety, but principally by that of sadness and resignation.
They teach us meditation concerning ourselves and appreciation of
others’ dispositions and ailments; they teach us to love the truth and
abhor falsehood; they teach us to love mankind, one’s native tongue and
country; they produce noble aspiration, a spiritual conception of man’s
existence; they develop the sense of beauty and art.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ruthenian or Ruthen is the Greek form for Rusin or Rusitch--the
original name for Ukrainian; for the last few decades it was applied
to the Ukrainians of Galicia, Bukovine and Hungary. It now becomes
obsolete.
[2] Translation of the Word of Igor’s Armament was made by Prof. A.
Petrunkevitch of Yale University; published in “Poet Lore,” 1919.
[3] Prof. John D. Prince of Columbia University wrote a dissertation on
Troyan-Boyan, published by Am. Phil. Society.
[4] Kobzar is a player on kobza or bandura which is a Ukrainian
national instrument being used most frequently in the accompaniment of
recitations; derived from Lat. pandura, Gr. πανδοῦρα; an instrument of
the god Pan. Usually a blind elderly man, lover of the people, nature
and song, gifted with great talent for emotional singing. Kobzars knew
the songs by heart.
[5] Ostap Veresay, one of the many famous Kobzars from whom Kulish,
Rusov, Chubinsky, Lysenko, etc.--the Ukrainian scientists, ethnologists
and composers--copied the historic songs--epics, called Dumy in
Ukrainian. Dr. Filaret Kolessa: “Ukrainski Narodni Dumy,” Lviv, 1920,
p. 58.
CHAPTER II
The Influence of the Ukrainian Folk Songs
Throughout the vast Ukrainian territory--irrespective of various
forceful political allegiances, foreign influence and domination in
the past--the same motives, airs, wording and other peculiarities are
found in all Ukrainian folklore, although there may be some dialectal
differences, which, however, are the least noticeable in songs. This
of course only goes to affirm the one Ukrainian national soul of the
forty-five million Ukrainians who in the past unfortunately were
divided for centuries by surrounding foreign powers. A Ukrainian
may have forgotten his native language and may speak the Russian,
Polish, Slovak, Rumanian, Madyar or German--but he expresses his soul
in his native, incorrupt language of song; the songs were so deeply
impressed upon his soul by his mother at the cradle that he never
forgets them; on the contrary we notice such an anomaly that these
beautiful, affectionate songs are being sung by Russians and Poles,
who otherwise may hate everything that savors of Ukrainism; one may
hear these so-called “Little Russian”[1] songs chanted in the heart of
Warsaw, Petrograd and Moscow by the foreigners themselves. It is said
that wherever the Ukrainian song is once heard its charm enchants the
listeners and creates in them the desire to learn the air at least.
Other Slavic nationalities are well acquainted with Ukrainian songs
and melodies; it is said that in Canada, where Ukrainians are quite
numerous, a great many of the English and French speaking population
love to sing Ukrainian songs.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Little Russian is an artificial name introduced by Peter the
Great, Czar of Russia, in order to Russianize the Ukrainians the more
effectively.
CHAPTER III
The Theme of the Ukrainian Folk Songs and Their Kinds
Quite many among the songs treat about the Ukrainian Cossack life,
their love affairs, heroic deeds, courage and raids on Russians, Poles,
Tartars and Turks. There are songs about general heroic deeds--the
epopees--which are much older than the Cossack period. There are ritual
and religious songs, the Kolyady or Christmas and New Year carols, the
Eastern songs; the occasional holiday and festive songs; the spring,
Kupalo and Obzhynkovi; political and patriotic songs; soldier, Cossack
and recruit songs; the songs of the Cossack Sitch and Sokol (Falcon),
hymns and marches which are stately and martial in character; historic
and traditional songs; the Chumak songs composed by waggoners or
drivers who traded in salt and fish; professional songs and ballads;
Kolomeyky[1] or the brisk, lively tunes and love words, originated in
the vicinity of the city of Kolomya, Ukrainian East Galicia; wedding
songs; burial songs; baptismal songs. But most numerous and diverse are
the love songs; their multitude of airs, difference of shades and depth
of sentiment is as varied and beautiful as the fragrant flowers of
Ukraine. We must certainly distinguish the religious from the secular
songs, for there are many of the former ones used exclusively in the
church and home by the faithful. Their purpose is the glory of God and
of his faithful servants--the saints--whose good works or miracles are
being celebrated.
It is only in the rarest cases that the author of a celebrated popular
song may be traced; as a rule the authors of Ukrainian folk songs
are unknown, but the beauty, strength and popularity of their words
and airs demonstrate that they were real masters of human souls who
either lived themselves through what they afterwards sang or else
their intelligent, susceptible minds keenly felt the heart’s emotions
of others; they were the nation’s long forgotten philosophers, although
the simplicity of their verse and contents show that these authors were
simple, kind-hearted, themselves. It may be that some of them were
accomplished scholars, but through many centuries their productions
underwent such a metamorphosis through oral transmission by the people
that they no longer show signs of erudition.
It quite often happens that because these songs reflect so much
individual and national suffering, the singers, particularly women and
girls, sob while they sing; they cry while singing about a dramatic
love affair which usually ends with death of the lover Cossack or with
the captivity of his fiancee.
There are some ancient songs antedating Christianity officially
introduced in Ukraine by St. Vladimir in 988, and these songs are
sung with as great an interest as if they were recent compositions.
They have to do chiefly with the pagan worship of the natural forces
and celestial bodies, by the ancient Ukrainians; some of them are
sung side by side with the Christian productions of later date, on
various religious occasions. Ukrainian philologists and ethnologists
such as Maxime Drahomaniv, Pantaleymon Kulish, P. Chubinsky, Michael
Maximovitch, A. Metlinsky, I. Holovatsky have recorded many hundreds
of these songs, most of which have been published; but it is said that
at least another half of these popular songs have not been as yet
collected and written down.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Kolomeyka, a short form of song, composed of two verses, fourteen
syllables; it makes up a complete thought; it is being produced
continually by the common people. Sometimes a few of these stanzas are
linked together. Most of the truths of life are expressed in this form
of people’s poetry.
CHAPTER IV
A Brief Review of Ukrainian Folk Songs
A. Religious and Ritual Songs; the Kolyady and Shchedrivky
(a) Most of these songs are from the obscure pre-Christian
era--expressing the adoration of natural forces, especially of the
celestial bodies. Svaroh was the god of heaven and earth. Dazhboh was
god of the sun; Perun was god of the thunder bolt; Stryboh was god of
the winds; Zoria, the star goddess, and numerous other gods in whose
honor hymns were sung at the appointed time. About the most important
were the _Kolyady in honor of the birth of the sun in the spring_,
as the life-giver to all. The deification of the sun as the most
potent factor in the Universe was the fundamental religion. The word
Kolyada[1] is derived from Kolo or Koleso, meaning a wheel, because the
sun appears to be a round, shining wheel. These songs were recited
about the end of December at the winter solstice when the god-sun
begins to prevail over the darkness. They are generally sung now as the
Christmas carols, both at home and church, by troups of boys and girls
carrying a beautifully decorated star with a lighted candle inside,
going to the windows of every home in the village, and expressing their
wishes to all inmates, whereupon many gifts are handed in response
therefor:
OY KOLYADA--KOLYADYCIA[2]
O! Kolyada, little Kolyada,
Give some poppy to the Kutia;[3]
If you refuse, do so promptly,
Do not waste my little feet.
* * * * *
VSELENNAYA VESELYSIA
Rejoice, O Universe!
God is born to-day of Virgin,
In the cave, among the beasts,
Whom to adore
The Magi came.
* * * * *
(b) _The Shchedrivky were also the sacred lyrics, hymns_ to honor and
entreat the god of warmth. Shchedry means liberal, bounteous, as the
god-sun was considered such. Nowadays these carols are sung at the
New Year’s Eve, and during the coming week, when various customary
celebrations are taking place, and a rich feast is served; it is as
it were a repetition of the Christmas Eve. The forces of nature and
heavenly objects are usually personified, and even often referred to as
opulent husbandmen or landladies, who give bounteously to all that sing
them a pæan:
SHCHEDRYK[4]
Shchedryk, Shchedryk,
Dear little Shchedryk,
A tiny swallow
Perched on the house-roof;
She began chirping,
Calling for the master.
Come out, my lord, come forth!
Look into your stable:
The ewes gave birth to lambs,
Behold thy beautiful kine;
Thou wilt become rich
But money is nought;
Thou hast a pretty wife
With black eyebrows.
Shchedryk, Shchedryk,
Shchedrivochka[5]--
A little swallow has arrived.
(c) _The Vesnyanky, or spring songs_ (Vesna-spring) are the celebration
of the radiant god over the dark ones. They are sung at the Easter time
and in Spring generally and imply a great amount of love, courtship
(romance), common instincts in life of mankind and nature’s influence
on man. In some parts of Ukraine an effigy representing the god of cold
and winter, Kostruboh, is burned on top of a hill with spring songs
(Easter songs), dances and general rejoicing accompanying the rite.
Some ethnologists think that the Ukrainians worshipped the goddess of
spring, Vesna (Spring) being analogical to the ancient Indian Vasana
or Huli (changed into the Ukrainian Hala), hence another name for the
spring songs Hahilky:
OY, CHY YE, CHY NEMA*[6]
1. Is the husbandman at home,
Or is he not?
(Refrain)
The New-Year’s Eve, the God’s Eve--
Is the landlord at home?
2. He is not at home,
He is in thick forests,
The New-Year’s Eve, the God’s Eve--
In the thick of forests.
3. For he is in the dark woods
Where he splits the stones,
The New-Year’s Eve, the God’s Eve--
And he splits the stones.
4. There he splits the stones,
And he builds a pretty church,
The New-Year’s Eve, the God’s Eve--
He builds a pretty church.
5. A cozy church he does build
And erects the altars,
The New-Year’s Eve, the God’s Eve--
He erects the altars.
VINKU MIY ROZHEVIY*
1. My rosy wreath,
Where wert thou?--at Lviv;[7]
What was offered for thee?
A pair of black horses
And a hundred ducats.
2. My rosy wreath,
Pick out a maiden
Whichever thou wishest--leap around,
Choose one--jump around!
OY TY IVANCHIKU--TARABANCHIKU*
Oh, thou Johnny
Thou little drummer,
Swim, come along
The pretty little Dunay,
Comb your hair--fresh with dew,
With hands on your hips
Look around for a mate.
VESNO, SOLODKA VESNO!
Spring, Oh! sweet Spring!
Where is thy daughter?--
She seweth a shirt in the garden,
Embroidereth it with silken threads,
And forwards it to her beloved,
Oh! Spring, sweet Spring!
(d) _The Kupalsky Pisny_--are songs sung in commemoration of Kupalo, a
festivity dating from immemorial pre-Christian times. It is not certain
whence the word comes, but etymology would show that it is derived
from kupaty--to bathe or to swim. The feast of Kupalo is observed
on the 24th of June, which falls on the Christian birth of St. John
the Baptist, according to the Julian calendar. The bathing here has
reference to the sun and its rays; the spring and summer rain, the
thunderstorm, the lightnings, etc., during which time the earth, as
it were, bathes and will surely produce abundant fruit in the autumn
as the result of their action. Although primarily it is the adoration
of the god-sun and all the good forces, yet secondarily, it is the
worship of Marena, the goddess of the clouds, waters and death, for
now she gradually prevails over the god-sun who decreases in his power
after the twentieth of June. Christian piety has connected this pagan
festival with St. John the Baptist, introduced names of some saints in
the lore and in some instances even changed the name of goddess Marena
into christianized name Maryna (Mary). At Kupalo’s ceremonies the
effigies representing the god-sun and goddess Marena are usually thrown
into the water and a great entertainment follows: the girls in wreath
dance with the boys around a fire, all sing and foretell their fortune:
HEY, NA IVANA, HEY NA KUPALA
Hey, during the feast of St. John the Kupalo, Hey, Hey, Hey!
A beautiful maiden sought her good fortune.
She plucked the flowers and wreathed a garland,
Sending it down the stream;
“Swim, little wreath, along the swift stream,
Swim by the house, where my loved one lives.”
The little garland swam down the stream,
Taking the lass’s heart along with him.
Early next morning the garland withered away,
Kupalo bestowed not his favors on her.
Hey, on the feast of St. Ivan the Kupalo, Hey!
This pretty maiden dug herbs at midnight;
At midnight she dug and boiled them,
At sunrise she fell infected with poison.
OY, PIDU YA DO MLYNA, DO MLYNA
1. To the wind mill, wind mill shall I run,
At the wind mill shall I hear some tidings, tidings:
There is the miller, mother dear,
There is the kindly miller;
There is the handsome one, dear mother,
He grinds the buckwheat free of charge.
2. He grinds and grinds and heaps the corn in hopper
Each time he heaps it--he embraces me:
(Refrain).
3. He grinds and grinds and sieves the flour,
Each time he turns the stone--he kisses me:
(Refrain).
(e) _The Obzhinkovi pisni_--the harvest songs, from obzhinaty--to
harvest around, to reap around, and finish the harvest--are the
expression of thanksgiving to gods of bounty and harvest for the
benefits received; they are sung both on thanksgiving days and on the
way to and from the work of harvesting, while it lasts; these gods have
been consequently changed into hospitable husbandmen and house-wives:
VECHIR[8]
1. The sun is hid beyond the mountains high,
All things slumber in silence: meadows, groves and hills.
The tolling bells are heard, the moon enlightens heavens,
Pretty little nightingale sings in the balmy wood.
2. The world is like God’s church forsooth,
Peace and quiet all around;
After daily toil and moil
People enjoy relaxation.
3. The moon is like a sentinel;
She eagerly views the world
And rejoices at her heart,
Seeing all in quietude.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Some claim that “Kolyada” is composed of the word “ko”--to, and the
name for the goddess Lada, which denotes the turning of one’s prayers
towards goddess Lada.
[2] Diminutive. The translation of the following cycle of songs and
folklore are my own and original, unless stated otherwise. Some of the
quoted songs are those I remember from my childhood in Ukraine; others
were suggested by friends, or translated from books of references or
song books.
[3] Kutia is the boiled wheat with honey for Christmas Eve; one of the
indispensable dishes.
[4] Shchedryk, one who sings Christmas or New Year’s carols.
[5] Diminutive, feminine for Shchedryk.
[6] * Songs marked thus were suggested to me in Ukrainian by a lady
sixty-five years of age, a Pole by origin married to a Ukrainian;
Madame Zazulak of 951 Washington Ave., Bronx, New York City.
[7] Lviv--Lemberg, Capital of Ukrainian Galicia, written in other
Slavic languages--Lvov.
[8] The evening.
CHAPTER V
B. Historic and Political Songs
With the introduction of obligatory Christianity by Vladimir the Great,
the grand duke and ruler of Ukraine and other territories which later
developed into the white Ruthenian and Russian countries respectively,
at Kiev in 988 (unofficial Christianity existed in Ukraine centuries
before; even Olha--St. Helen--Vladimir’s grandmother, had been formally
baptized at Constantinople on her visit thither), the production of
heathen ritual and religious folk songs gradually diminished, for it
was in the interest of the Church to eliminate these pagan beliefs;
or, where this appeared difficult, this pagan lore and ceremonial
were merged with Christian tenets, other personalities having been
substituted; the Christian songs appear to be less indigenous and
original than the ancient pagan songs.
(a) _Songs from the age of Ukrainian Principalities of the earliest
date._
These songs may be justly styled the political annals that celebrate
the exploits of the Ukrainian heroes who formed and consolidated the
Ukrainian Kiev Empire of the Ruriks that ruled until the Kiev Ukraine
fell under the foreign Lithuanian domination of the Gedymins after
Ukraine was weakened by constant Tartar invasions from the East. For
almost two centuries did the Lithuanian grand dukes hold their sceptre
over Ukraine, but they adopted the ancient Ukrainian culture and
language. In the vicissitude of fate both Ukraine and Lithuania were
forced to unite with Poland in the so-called “Union of Lublin” in 1569.
The subject of these songs is the heroism and chivalry of the Ukrainian
princes and their retainers while advancing upon foreign cities and
distant lands.
The lyric-epic poem: “Slovo o Polku Ihorevi”--The Lay of the War-Ride
of Ihor, or the Word of Ihor’s[1] Armament, is the best and most
famous production of the Ukrainian antiquity written by an unknown poet
of the twelfth century, such as no other nation possesses.[2]
SLOVO O POLKU ÍGOREVI[3]
Were it not meet, brothers, to begin the sorrowful lay of the
war-ride of Ígor, Ígor Svyatoslávlitch after the old fashion?
But let us picture events of our own day, not fancies in the manner
of Boyàn.
For whenever inspired Boyàn wished to make a song of praise, he would
let his fancy stray, now as a gray wolf over the ground, now as an
eagle among the clouds.
Recalling the strife of olden days, he flew ten falcons against a
flock of swans and whatsoever swan was reached first, would sing the
praise of old Yaroslàv or of old brave Mstislàv who slew Redédya in
sight of the hosts of Kosógi, or of comely Romàn son of Svyatoslàv.
Yet were they not ten falcons that Boyàn flew against a flock of
swans, but his impassioned fingers with which he struck the live
strings and these of themselves sounded forth the praise of the
princes?
Let us then, brothers, begin this tale of the times from old Vladímir
unto our own Ígor who girded his mind with strength, steeled his
heart with courage and filled with the lust of battle, led his brave
hosts against the Pólovtzy in defense of the Russian land....[4]
Galician Osmomysl Yaroslav! High art thou seated upon thy
gold-wrought throne.
With thine unyielding hosts thou hast borne the weight of the
Hungarian mountains.
Thou hast blocked the path of the king, closed the gates of the
Danube, hurling bolts from thy clouds, sending forth ships as far as
the Danube.
In storm thy thunder reaches unto many lands.
Thou openest the gates of Kiev, strikest from the golden throne of
thy sires, sultans and distant lands.
Strike, sir, Kontchàk the Pagan nomad, for the Russian[5] land, for
the wounds of Ígor, the valiant son of Svyatoslàv!
* * * * *
Boyàn, bard of olden times, sang the encounters of Svyatoslàv and of
Yaroslàv and of Olèg, saying, “Though evil it is for thee, oh, head
lacking body, worse farest thou, body without head,”--Russian[6]
land without Ígor.
The sun shines in the sky, prince Ígor in the Russian land.
Maidens sing on the Danube.
Their voices are borne across the sea to Kiev.
Ígor rides through Borítchev to the holy shrine of the Mother of God.
The lands rejoice; the cities are glad.
Having sung to old princes, now we shall sing to young ones, “Glory
to Ígor Svyatoslávlitch, to dauntless warrior Vsévolod, to Wladímir
Ígorevitch!
Hail! princes and retinue fighting Pagan hosts in behalf of the
Christians!
Glory to princes and retinue! Amen![7]
(b) Of somewhat later period are the _Ukrainian Dumas_.[8] Stanislaus
Sarnicki, a Polish historian, in his “Annals” of 1506 is the first one
to mention the Ukrainian Dumas, saying that “The Ruthenians call these
elegies their Dumas.”[9]
Dumas of the earlier period are of lyric-epic character, as well as
didactic; they resemble the popular Ukrainian folk songs, and may
have been derived from the ancient ones. The later period Dumas, from
the middle of the XVII Century, are less poetic; they are realistic,
humorous and with traits of sarcasm. They differ from the folk songs,
and may not be considered verse in its strict sense, in that they
are, as it were, a free improvisation without rhythm or rhyme, with
constantly changing, irregular succession of arsis and thesis (beats),
sung in melodious recitation, accompanied by the Kobza. There are
twenty Ukrainian national Dumas of the older, and nine of the later
period with many variants (same themes but different readings). There
are some dumas falsified by the Russificators, which are easily
distinguished from the genuine ones by contents and form, which we do
not take account of here.[10]
PLACH NEVILNYKA--
(The Cry of a Captive)
A poor captive sends his greetings
Out of the Turkish land and from the faith of Mussulmans,
He sends regards to the Christian cities--to his father and mother.
Yet he can not bring his greetings in person
But forwards his salute through a gray dear little dove.
* * * * *
UTECHA BRATIW Z AZOVA
(The Flight of the Brothers from Azov)
When out of the Turkish land
And from the faith of Mussulmans
A small regiment flew
From the Azov city:
A rather small troop,
And there were not great dust clouds.
Three own brothers were escaping,
Three belovèd friends.
Two on horse-back; the third one on foot
Runs, approaches the riders,
Grasps the stirrup
And speaks out these words:
* * * * *
ROZMOWA DNIPRA Z DUNAYOM
(A Colloquy of Dnieper with Danube)
The Dnieper river asks silent Danube:
“Why, quiet Danube,
Do I not behold my Cossacks on thy waters?
Hast thy mouth devoured my Cossacks--
Hast thy Danube-water carried them away?
* * * * *
KORSUNSKA BYTWA
(The Battle of Korsun)
* * * * *
Soho, Sir Potocki![11]
Why hast thou, hitherto, a woman’s brain?
Thou knewest not how to behave at Kamianets of Podolia,
How to use a roasted suckling pig, a chick with pepper and saffron;
And now thou wilt not know how to battle with us Cossacks,
Thou wilt be unable to live on rye flour and fish sauce;
Unless I deliver thee into the hands of the Crimean Khan,
That his whip may teach thee to chew the mare’s raw meat!
* * * * *
(c) Some of the _recent historical songs_ are:
SHCHE NE VMERLA
1. She lives on, our Ukraine, her glory and freedom!
Once again, young brethren, shall good fortune smile on us.
Our foes shall perish like the dew in sunshine,
Once more will we, brethren, prevail in our own dear country.
(Refrain)
Soul and body shall we offer for our longed for freedom,
We shall yet prove, we are, brethren, of Cossack descent.
* * * * *
3. Oh, Bohdan, our Bohdan, our celebrated Hetman!
Wherefore hast thou sacrificed Ukraine to Moscovites?
We shall lay down our lives for our former prestige,
Proudly shall we call ourselves Ukraine’s faithful children.
(Refrain)
4. Our Slavonic brethren are under arms already;
Forward promptly must we go, but not lag behind.
Let us all, Slavonic brethren, cheerfully unite
That our enemies may perish.--Gain freedom and right!
(Refrain)
NE PORA
1. ’Tis no time, ’tis no time, ’tis no time,
To serve the Moscovites and Poles!
Repeatedly they wronged our Ukraine.
For our Ukraine alone must we live.
* * * * *
4. For this is the favorable time!
In the headstrong and obstinate fight
Shall we perish to gain honor, freedom and right
For thee, our native and glorious land!
VZHE BILSHE LIT DVISTA
1. Over two hundred years ago since Cossack was enslaved;
He wanders along the river bank, calling out his Fate:[12]
“Come forth, come out of the water,
Deliver me, my dear, from this misfortune.”
2. “My falcon dear, I shan’t come out,
Though willing; for in bondage am I, too;
In bondage, under the yoke of servitude,
In Moscovite Custody, cast into prison.”
3. “Young Cossack Destiny that I am,
To the Moscovites was I sold as a slave,
Into captivity, heavily fettered,
Thou unwise Hetman Bohdàn, see, what you’ve done!”
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Ukrainian pronunciation and transliteration into English of
the name of the heroic Ukrainian prince is Ee-h-o-r, not Ee-g-o-r,
Ihor not Igor as is faultily pronounced and written by Russians and
their uncritical followers. The only excuse for the Russians is that
their alphabet does not possess the equivalent English h sound; they
pronounce the Ukrainian г = h as g. The Ukrainian g is ґ, which again
does not exist in Russian.
[2] It is a pity that until recently both the Russians (Moscovites)
and some foreigners unacquainted with historical facts presented the
“Word” as being “Russian” instead of Ukrainian. The language of the
oldest, mistakingly so called “Russian” literature is chiefly old
Slavonic with ample admixture of the early Ukrainian. The earliest
Ukrainian literature written during the Kiev period of the Ukrainian
Empire, which also included the present European Russia and White
Ruthenia, differs linguistically from the literary documents written on
the Moscovite territory at the same period. Until Peter the Great the
Ukrainians and the Russians were officially recognized as two different
nations with two entirely different languages. He introduced the
“theory of the union of the Russian nation,” and styled the Ruthenians
or Ukrainians as the “Little Russians” with a “Russian” dialect. True,
that the Ukrainians were also called “Russi” and “Rossi,” but it meant
not the present day Russians (Moscovites); the historic word was
“borrowed” from the Ukrainians, to say it gently.
[3] As translated from the ancient Ruthenian-Ukrainian by Prof. A.
Petrunkevitch of Yale University in “Poet Lore,” 1919. The reader is
also referred to Prof. Leo Wiener’s “Anthology of Russian Literature,”
Vol. I, p. 80 ff., G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York and London. Giving the
translation of Prof. Petrunkevitch, the author of this study disagrees
with him as well as with many others who translated the words: Руський,
Русь, Русич as if identical with the modern “Russia” and “Russian.” The
author’s position is supported by the self consciousness of the entire
over-forty-million Ukrainian nation as well as by Ukrainian and foreign
historical authorities.
[4] За Землю Руськую,--_Za Zemlu Rus(i)kuyu_ means _for the land of the
Rusyns--Rusyts(i) or Rusytch(i)_, these words having been Latinized
into Ruthenus (Ruthenia) in the 9th century; another appellation was
introduced in the 12th century: “Ukraine,” Ukrainians, which latter
name was generally adopted by all the Ukrainians during the struggle
for independence with Poles and Russians in the 17th century similarly
as the name “Rumanians” replaced the former names Moldavians and
Wallachians; the word _Rusyn_ means _Ruthenian_; is still locally used
by the Ukrainians. Since the “Word” was written in Ukraine by the
Ukrainians it is self evident that this precious ancient Ruthenian
masterpiece as well as many others cannot be and is not the “Russian”
literature; and that therefore “Земля Руська” means the Ruthenian or
Ukrainian land of the princes of Kiev and Galicia--Volhynia. Russian
is always and invariably written by double _ss_, whereas Ruthenian is
invariably written by one _s_ with a sign of softening added ь: Русин
adjective: Руський equals Ruthenian--Ukrainian.
The Russians (Moscovites) wrongly claim the foundation of the Kiev
empire to themselves; they have fed, so to say, on the ancient
Ukrainian culture, language, state and civilization which were
already known historically in 8th century, while the Russian state
began forming itself in 13th century around Suzdal and Moscow by the
amalgamation of the Slavic tribes of Radimitches and Viyatitches with
the Mongolian Finns.
These facts are undisputed by all modern unbiased students of
history. That the Russians succeeded in overwhelming the Ruthenians
temporarily and have favorably impressed the world as the inheritors
of the ancient Ukrainian empire--ah!--it is another story, a story of
ruthless oppression and extermination of the Ukrainian people and their
independent state.
[5] _Vide supra_, the note on Руська Земля--_Rus(i)ka Zemla_, which,
when rightly translated means the Ruthenian land, i. e., the Ukrainian
land, and not the modern “Russian.”
[6] Ruthenian--Ukrainian land.
[7] The Word of the Armament of Ihor being an epic poem, the author
of this study fancies that instead of prose--like continuation of
sentences, each sentence should be written separately forming a strophe.
[8] Duma--_dumaty_ means _to think_, to meditate on some deeds of the
times of yore. They are the Ukrainian epopees, epic rhapsodies about
heroic deeds, usually of Cossacks in their struggle against the Turks,
Tartars, Russians and Poles. Equivalent in meaning to the Bilinas
(bylo byti means that which has happened, been done or performed)
which though of Ukrainian origin, became known as exclusively Russian
epic poetry. One must remember that the “Word of the Armament of Igor”
is called the “Ukrainian Duma of the XII Century” by all Ukrainian
ethnographers.
[9] Ivan Erofeiv: “Ukrainian Dumas (Epos) and Their Arrangement”
(Redaction); Zapiski Naukovago Tovaristva, Kiev, 1909, VI.
Annales sive de origine et gestis Polonorum,--“... elegias, quas dumas
vocant.”
[10] Dr. Filaret Kolessa: “Ukrainski Narodni Dumy,” Prosvita, Lviv
(Lemberg), 1920, p. 63 ff.
[11] Nicholas Potocki (pronounced Pototski), a Polish military
leader in the war against the Ukrainians in 1648, badly defeated by
Chmielnitsky.
[12] Figuratively: Ukraine.
CHAPTER VI
(d) Songs of the Cossack and of Haydamaki[1] Era
After the Union of Lithuania with Poland, whereby Ukraine was also
forced to join the latter, the Ukrainian and Lithuanian nobility became
gradually Polonized as a consequence of Polish political tactics and
repressions--so much so that the Ukrainian people felt the necessity
of providing for some measure of national defence. As a consequence of
this feeling there arose on the lower left bank of the river Dnipro
(Dnieper), a Ukrainian knighthood--the Cossacks who at the end of
the Fifteenth century organized in Sitch under Ostap Dashkevitch,
and consequently organized into a strong military force under Prince
Demetrius Wyshnevetsky in 1515, and became the bulwark of the
Ukraine against Turks, Poles and Russians. This excellent Ukrainian
organization, called also the Zaporoghian Cossacks or Sitch[2] (since
the first settlements were located beyond the cataracts of the lower
Dnipro and on the islands of the River)--was the first to revolt
against the mediaeval intolerable economic conditions and national
oppression by Poles; insurrections followed in quick succession under
Ataman[3] Kosinsky, 1592; Loboda and Nalywayko in 1596; Tryasylo, 1630;
Pavliuk, 1637, until Bohdan Chmelnitsky, one of the greatest leaders of
the modern times, proclaimed war for independence in 1648. The entire
nation became insurgent. The Poles were defeated many a time; Ukraine
was liberated, but when Chmelnitsky saw that Turks, Poles and Russians
were bent either on ruling wholly or on partitioning the Ukraine, he
entered a free alliance with Russia at Pereyaslav in 1654, to save
Ukraine from Poles and Turks. Ukraine was promised entire freedom and
independence; but soon she was again partitioned by Russia and Poland
in the treaty of Andrussow (1667); at that time all freedom and rights
were abrogated and serfdom gradually introduced.
The Cossacks as the flower of the Ukrainian Nation, and inheritors of
glorious national traditions from the period of Princes, were always
struggling for Ukraine’s independence and for the privileges of the
common people, and this is the reason why the people have celebrated
this era most of all. The variety of subjects is greater than in any
other period; love and exploits are the main themes.
What the Cossacks were for Ukraine let this folk song demonstrate:
A Cossack drives over the mountain
And thus he addresses it:
“Why, Oh, why, thou mountain white
Hast thou not burned long ago?”
--Reason why I have not burnt
Is because I am soaked with blood.
--What sort of blood?--Cossack blood,
Intermingled with Turkish.[4]
Terribly did the Ukrainians suffer in the Turkish Yassir.[5]
... Thrice, they flogged and cut to the bone in the same place the
poor captives,
The young white Cossack flesh was torn from the bones
* * * * *
Thou Turkish land, thou Mussulman faith,
Thou which separated Christians!
Many a one didst thou separate from father and mother,
A brother from sister,
A husband from a faithful wife.
Deliver us, O, Lord, the poor captives
From heavy Turkish yassir,
From the Mussulman galley
Into the quiet waters;
Under the bright stars,
Into the joyful land;
Unto the Christian people,
Into the Christian cities....[6]
There were a very few instances in which some did abandon the Christian
faith for the Turkish luxuries and became the lords and ladies of the
land:
... Thou becamest a Turk, a Mussulman
For the sake of Turkish luxuries,
Out of fatal greediness....[7]
Thus many different features were dealt with in song by the people.
The terrible economic conditions of the times are deplored in folklore,
showing how the Polish nobility, idle and without initiative, resigned
most economic matters into the hands of the Jews--possessors, usually
the liquor dealers, and inn-keepers:
... More than a year or two have passed already,
Since there has been prosperity in this Christian land.
... How the Jews the inn-keepers
Have leased all the Cossack highways.
* * * * *
How in this renowned Ukraine, Jews took lease of the Cossack trade.
And levied taxes--customs,
* * * * *
How Jews took lease of all the Cossack churches in the renowned
Ukraine,[8]
* * * * *
Hetman Chmielnitsky ordered these outrages and abuses stopped and
conditions changed, and then both the noblemen and the Jewish
expropriators suffered, and both were compelled to flee from Ukraine
for their lives; the populace meant revenge for the extreme suffering:
... Then the Jews--the inn keepers
Cried with a bitter voice:
Stop Poles, stop if ye care for us,
Open the gates to Poland
And let us in beyond the Vistula, though we have nothing but shirts
on.
We shall teach our children all good deeds,
We shall teach them not even to glance at Cossack Ukraine.[9]
Chmeilnitsky won a few decisive battles over the Poles, for example,
at Zhovti Vodi, Korsun, Pylava; annihilated a great many of them and
liberated Ukraine:
... Our famous Ukraine is sorely afflicted
But we shall pick up this red cranberry
And we shall yet cheer our renowned Ukraine.[10]
* * * * *
Be not surprised, oh, good folks,
What happened in our Ukraine:
Beyond Dashev, nearby Soroka
Many Lachs[11] have perished.
Perebeynis[12] has but few of them,
Seven hundred Cossacks at his side.
He takes off the Poles’ heads from their shoulders,
While the rest he drowns.[13]
But Chmielnitsky met with a heavy defeat just outside of Berestechko
in 1651, solely on account of the treachery on the part of the Tartar
Khan whom the former summoned against the more numerous Poles and their
mercenaries, so that the Poles returned to Ukraine for some time:
... The Lachs,
The nobility,
Took up the Cossacks’ and peasants’ abodes
And made expensive quarters of them.
Took the keys away from the proprietors
And began to husband in them.
* * * * *
Permit us to ask the Russians’ assistance
Or else let us make an insurrection against the Lachs....[14]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Haydamaki is a Turkish word for a robber, a highwayman; this word
was originally applied to the Ukrainian Cossack bands who inveighed
guerrillas against the Turks. With the progress of time the Ukrainian
peasants rebelled against the Polish rule of nobility and the economic
oppression and expropriation by Poles and Jews in Ukraine--applied this
word to themselves as a meaning for self-defense.
[2] Sitch (or kish-basket) was a camp of the Ukrainian Cossacks of the
Dnipro River, who inhabited the country beyond the porohi (thresholds),
i. e., rapids or cataracts of Dnipro; derived from “sitchi” or “sikti,”
to hew or cut down, because the virgin forests were hewn and extensive
territory cleared up and prepared for cultivation.
[3] Ataman or Hetman are words corresponding to the English Head-man;
he was the elected chief or president of the Ukrainian Cossacks and of
the entire Ukrainian people.
[4] Lysenko: Collection of Ukrainian Songs, Vol. IV, p. 11.
[5] Yassir, a Turkish imprisonment, captivity, detention.
[6] Antonovitch and Drahomanow: “The Historic Songs of the Ukrainian
Nation,” Vol. I, p. 88.
N. B. The translations made by the author of this study are free,
without any consideration to rhythm or rhyme, but just so as to convey
the thought alone; such a translation in many instances is rendered
difficult on account of so many idiomatic expressions implied in the
Ukrainian folklore.
[7] Antonovitch and Drahomanow: “The Historic Songs of the Ukrainian
Nation,” Vol. I, p. 230.
[8] Antonovitch and Drahomanow: “The Historic Songs of the Ukrainian
Nation,” Vol. II, pp. 20-22.
[9] Antonovitch and Drahomanow: “The Historic Songs of the Ukrainian
Nation,” Vol. II, pp. 20-25.
[10] Antonovitch and Drahomanow: “The Historic Songs of the Ukrainian
Nation,” Vol. II, pp. 20-25.
[11] Lach is another name for a Pole; supposed to be derived from a
legendary Polish King Lech.
[12] Perebeynis or Kryvonis, a famous Cossack Colonel.
[13] Ibidem, Vol. II, p. 114.
[14] Antonovitch and Drahomanow: “The Historic Songs of the Ukrainian
Nation,” Vol. II, p. 50.
CHAPTER VII
Historic and Political Songs, Continued
Once more, after the Union with Russia at Pereyaslav, the whole nation
arose against the Moscovites under the leadership of Hetman Mazepa,
who made a covenant with Charles XII, King of Sweden; but both were
defeated near Poltava, Ukraine, in 1709. Peter the Great and Catherine
(II) the Great abrogated all the liberties of the Ukrainian nation and
destroyed the last camp of the Cossacks in 1700 and in 1775 razed all
Ukrainian schools, and forbade speaking and praying in Ukrainian. It
is estimated that 170,000 Cossacks perished at the compulsory building
of St. Petersburg, making canals and general improvements in Northern
Russia, while hundreds of thousands perished in Siberia, dying from
disease and hunger!
“... So it came to pass that the famous Zaporoghians became
melancholy
And no wonder, for the Moscovites besieged them all around,
The hateful Russian lords, generals, the heretic sons
Have wasted the serene land and the wide steppe.”[1]
* * * * *
The Zaporoghians have shed tears on their way to Turkey....”[2]
“... Alas he went to Moscovy and there he perished[3]
Never has he abandoned his native Ukraine....”[4]
The sad condition of affairs owing to the economic slavery, and
compulsory labor or servitude, that were gradually imposed by the
Russian and Polish land owners, caused the Haydamaki war or the peasant
uprising first under Simon Paley who desired to reunite the Left and
Right-Bank Ukraine in 1704, and then in 1768 under the two national
leaders Gonta and Zalizniak, who were the authors of the renowned
massacre at Uman (1768); it was a chain of bloody reprisals of the
people for the many abuses and sufferings:
... Let us go, beloved brethren,
Into the steppes, and become the Haydamaki,
We may, perchance, some day
Revenge ourselves on the oppressors.[5]
... Do not ask, O, Lach, for any direction in Ukraine,
Just look up and see how Cossacks are hanging from the oak trees.[6]
(e) _Songs of the Servitude and Compulsory Army Service._
After the partition of Poland (1772-1795), the entire Ukraine--except
East Galicia, Bukovina and Hungarian Ruthenia which fell to
Austria--went under the Russian yoke, and Catherine the Great razed the
last remnant of the Zaporoghian Sitch in 1775, just when the United
States were struggling for independence; both Russia and Austria began
recruiting soldiers from among the Ukrainians; thus, recruited soldiers
had to serve twenty five years in the army and one was never certain of
seeing home and relatives again; life was lost for such a one forever,
for if not killed, he returned home old and maimed.
... When shalt thou return, dear brother?
Take, my sister, a handful of sand,
Sow it, sister, upon a stone.
When this sand begins to grow
Then thy little brother will return.[7]
Just then the servitude or compulsory labor and slavery were introduced
in Ukraine with all the hardships, for, while the feudal system and
servitude were much older, they received the sanction and protection of
both these governments again:
... It was well for the fathers
To live in Ukraine,
While now their sons
Must perform servitude.[8]
... A priest walks in the church, reading a book,
Why good folks, don’t you attend the church?
And how can we, reverend, come to church,
If they tell us to thresh grain from Sunday to Sunday?[9]
(f) _Songs about Freeing the Peasants from Servitude._
Austria, in order to acquire the sympathy and support of the peasantry
of all nationalities, officially abrogated the servitude in 1848,
and Russia in 1861, mostly on account of democratic principles,
disseminated by Ukrainian savants and writers best expressed by
tenets of the Cyryllo-Methodius Society of Kiev; this caused a great
jubilation among the Ukrainian peasantry, uttered in numerous songs:
OY LETILA ZAZULENKA
Flying, did the little cuckoo cry:
Stay, good folks, I have ought to say!
On my return trip to you, the groves grew green,
I sat in the thick of the forest and reposed.
It clattered and roared, so I turned around
And saw such a marvel that it made me wonder.
Freedom drove out and pursued Servitude;
She drove Feudal Service into woods and down precipices.
Lords and masters followed her, earnestly entreating
“Come back, return, oh, Servitude; no incomes to live from.”
While Servitude retorted: “’Tis not my fault,
A trusty servant was I--ye dismissed me.”
“We know not how to thrash, nor our wives to reap,
We’re aware how hard it is to earn one’s livelihood.”
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Antonowitch and Drahomanow: “The Historic Songs of the Ukrainian
Nation,” Vol. II, p. 40.
[2] Antonovitch and Drahomanow: “The Historic Songs of the Ukrainian
Nation,” Vol. II, p. 40.
[3] Ibidem, Vol. II, p. 114.
[4] Drahomaniw: “Political Songs of the Ukrainian Nation,” Vol. II, p.
114.
[5] Drahomanow: “New Ukrainian Songs about Community Affairs” p. 34.
[6] Holowacky: “National Songs of Galician and Hungarian Ruthenia
(Ukraine),” Vol. I, p. 16.
[7] Lysenko: “A Collection of Ukrainian Songs,” Vol. VI, p. 7.
[8] Drahomanow: “New Ukrainian Songs about Community Affairs,” p. 36.
[9] Ibidem, p. 25.
CHAPTER VIII
C. Professional Songs
(a) _The Chumak[1] songs._ Chumaks or merchants were well organized in
groups and eagerly protected by the Ukrainian forces before attacks
of nomadic tribes, as ones who were indispensably necessary for the
progress and improvement of Ukraine. They were guarded by the Cossacks
who collected toll from them.
Many of them met with ill luck. Here is a stanza from a song about the
pair of oxen, that drove home alone, leaving their dead master far away
from home:
... The eldest sister came out first:--
Oh, my little Chumak, Oh, my little brother, where hast thou met thy
death?
“We left our landlord in a foreign country.”
The little oxen amble along and bellow:
“We have left our landlord on our way home.”[2]
(b) Quite numerous are the _songs about the servants and small rural
farmers_, that treat of the general home life, the toil and blessing
connected with agriculture:
I shall sow my little wheat,
I shall sow a piece of land,
And when God blesses its growth
I shall make two stacks of it.
All birds came flying, sparrows flocked together,
Ate and sucked out the little wheat, leaving only stalks alone.
Oh that all these birds may die
For having eaten the poor widow’s precious little wheat![3]
(c) There are but few _Artisan songs_ in Ukrainian, since the city’s
population was composed largely of a foreign element and was not so
creative:
... We have all gathered together,
We are not common people but craftsmen:
Some clerks, some painters,
Some blacksmiths, some locksmiths,
Some musicians, some moulders,
Some little shoemakers, some shop-keepers;
Kuperyan is the master of the straw corporation.[4]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Chumak is a Tartar word for a waggoner, carter, carrier or driver;
this word became identical with a trader or merchant. The Ukrainian
peasants occupied especially with import and export of grain, textiles,
dry fish, salt and other useful articles in wagons called mazha, were
named Chumaks.
[2] Ivan Kolessa: Ethnographic collections.
[3] Ivan Kolessa: Ethnographic collection, Vol. XI, p. 242.
[4] Lysenko: “Collection of Ukrainian Songs,” Vol. III, p. 80.
CHAPTER IX
D. Songs of Family and Private Life
(a) The oldest songs and ones that give a good insight into home life
are the _Ritual Songs_, and especially the _Wedding Songs_. In these
we see traces of the so-called Matriarchal Age, when the mother was
considered the head of a family, which denotes great antiquity for
these songs; in most of them the father is rarely mentioned. The
main subject is the grief and reluctance of the bride to leave her
parents, relatives and home. It is a litany, so to speak, of all
the happiness of childhood and virginity and fear for the uncertain
future. In these songs, and even at the present day, the people call
the bridegroom a prince; the bride, a princess; the best man, ushers
and bridesmaids,--the high nobles, etc. The ceremonies are antique,
very religious and of great variety. In some parts of Ukraine there
still exist the reminiscences of the ancient times when candidates for
marriage stole girls for wives, or bought them for a considerable
amount of money. This was done away with at the introduction of
Christianity.
The author remembers well from his childhood, the wedding rites in his
own village of Choroshchinka, in the western part of Ukraine, Podlakhia
(Cholm Government). These ceremonies were identical with those of
centuries ago. The following brief description may facilitate in the
understanding of the beauties of a Ukrainian rural wedding.
After the bans of the marriage are proclaimed, the bridegroom, usually
from another village, is preparing in his own home for the marriage
reception, while the parents of the bride are doing their best to get
ready for the wedding. On Saturday afternoon the bride, with wreaths
or flowers on her head and many ribbons hanging from her coiffure,
accompanied by some of her maids, goes from house to house kissing
elderly persons on the face and hands, with view of obtaining their
blessing, and asking everybody to come to the wedding. Some understand
that this is a mere formality and although they thank the bride and
promise to come, they do not appear, unless they be very dear friends
or relatives.
About seven o’clock in the evening almost all the young and middle-aged
married women come to the house of the bride and make the Korovay--a
wedding cake, and various other small fancy cakes, all sitting at a
long family table, singing until about eleven o’clock, chanting in a
kind of plaintive voice:
... Oy Korovay, Oy Korovay
What an expensive thing thou art!
A korets[1] of wheaten flour is needed,
And a gallon of spring water....
and other inexhaustible strains of wedding songs are sung.
In the meantime the bridesmaids are making wreaths, loosening the
bride’s tresses and hair and asking the parents’ blessing. One must
remember that there are songs prescribed for every action. On Sunday
morning the bridegroom comes with his mates and many guests in as
many wagons as are needed, and brings his future wife many presents.
After an introductory reception which consists of bread and salt and
consequently (inseparably) some drink for the guests--the young pair
kneel down before the bride’s parents, asking for blessing. For this
purpose many of the oldest folks of the village (some centenarians) are
invited to bless the young by making the sign of the cross over their
heads. There is much crying and lamentation while the rural music plays
on.
The entire gathering then starts for Mass and the marriage at the
church to the accompaniment of musicians; everybody walks. The bride on
her way, kisses all the older folks she meets, asking their blessing.
The essence of the blessing is wishing for temporal and eternal good,
and, especially, marital happiness and a numerous progeny.
After the imposing church ceremonials according to Greek Rite, on
returning home, the wedding party sings among others the following
song:
* * * * *
We have fooled the pope (priest)
We have fooled the priest
As if he were an uncouth peasant;
We gave him three pence,
But he thought it was an old ruble....
The assembly feasts until midnight when the bride-princess is getting
ready to leave her parents’ home, with all her trunks and effects,--an
action called locally “Perezviny,” perhaps “Perevozyny,” meaning
carrying over, transfer. The wedding continues at the bridegroom’s home
for at least two days more:
... Do not cry my little mother after me,
I shall not take all the goods with me.
I shall leave thee my footsteps outdoors,
I shall leave thee my tears upon the table,
I shall leave thee my fragrant herb in the chamber.[2]
(b) _Cradle songs_ are sung by every mother who lulls her baby to
sleep. These songs are very emotional because there is no language in
the world that is so captivating as the conversation from the heart of
a mother to the part of her own body and soul:
It is bright and pretty, it is bright and pretty,
Wherever the little sun shines,
But it is still brighter, it is still prettier,
Where the little mother walks....[3]
(c) _Love themes_ are most numerous in every walk of life. The songs
relate the natural affection of sweethearts; but many of them complain
of the unsteadiness and treachery of the other party, for example:
Rise, O, bright little evening star;
Say, come out, come out my faithful lass!
Oh, the little evening star would appear, but a black cloud
interferes,
“I should be eager to come out to see you, but my little mother
forbids.”[4]
Or
... When the rye had blossomed,
News came to the village
That the Cossack would no more return to thee
For he lay asleep forever in the steppes.[5]
(d) _Songs of the Conjugal Life._
Though some celebrate the marital happiness and mutual accord, yet
most of them tell of the sad disappointments we so often meet with in
actual life. In them the woman’s position is attractively depicted,
her superior, delicate nature, her suffering and humiliation and
patience well described. There is always some third person, usually a
relative, who becomes the bone of contention. It is usually the bad
mother-in-law; a drunkard husband; an unfaithful husband; the elopement
of a wife; unsteadiness of a wife; mistreatment of an orphan by the
step-mother, etc.:
I SHUMYT I HUDYT
1. The wind blusters and roars,
Sending down drizzling rain;
Here I am, a young married woman;
Who will lead me to my home?
2. A young Cossack[6] replied
Amid drinking sweet honey,
“Black browed woman dance on
I shall bring thee to thy house.”
3. Do not show me the way,
I beseech thee, do not;
For my husband is bad,
He will object and beat me.
4. Not because I use his salt
Enjoy dainties and bread,
But for loving other men
Will he take vengeance on me.
(e) _Funeral Songs._
Outside of the numerous religious Christian songs about the two
elements in man: material and spiritual, the eternal truth that every
man must die and decompose, the reward of the soul and body for
every good deed, the resurrection of the body, the second coming of
Christ-God in his majesty to judge the living and the dead, there are
many remnants of the ancient pagan singing, and soliloquy. One might
say that a Ukrainian peasant woman, on losing her child or other
beloved person, keeps on crying uninterruptedly for three days--the
time prescribed for the body to lie in state. She usually cries loud
with a wailing, plaintive air that moves to tears all the visitors.
It is said that the Ukrainians are the most emotional of the Slavic
peoples. While she wrings her hands, she invokes the Deity, clamoring:
Look at your father, consider the bereavement
Of your mother and return to us again!...
... O, God, my God, why hast thou taken my child?
... O my little darling,
My golden child, why hast thou left me forever?
In most of these crying monologues, there is rhythm and rhyme. No
doubt in many instances there is the spontaneous outburst of poetic
phraseology, but many are sung alike by all. Now, taking into
consideration the frequency of diminutives[7] for the dear departed
persons and possessions and the intensitives for the grave, death,
sickness, calamity--one sees a great poetic beauty in these expressions
of despondency:
KOLOMEYKA
How beautiful are the flowers that begin to blossom
How fortunate are the children whose mothers are alive,
Others’ children--happy children, but I am a poor orphan,
Others’ children have their mothers--mine is with dear God.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Korets, a measure, a bushel.
[2] Collections of Osyp Rozdilsky.
[3] Collections of Osyp Rozdilsky.
[4] Ivan Kolessa: Ethnographic collection, Vol. II, p. 118.
[5] Lysenko: “Collection of Ukrainian Songs,” Vol. VII, p. 16. Steppes
of Ukraine are the extensive plains not unlike the American prairies,
but now rendered very fertile.
[6] Figuratively, and in every day use a Cossack means any young man,
wooer, lover or a man of courage; a Ukrainian.
[7] The frequency of diminutives used in the Ukrainian renders the
language most harmonious of all Slavic tongues; a word may be used in
two, five and even ten different ways.
CHAPTER X
E. Wandering Songs, Ballads
The Ukrainians have many of the common songs whose themes are proper
to all the rest of the world’s peoples--_songs that are the common
treasury of mankind_; such as songs of the mediaeval chivalric
knighthood, or adopted according to the characteristic views and
inclinations of the Ukrainians. The general, universal ballads were
remodeled into typical Ukrainian; popular heroes and fictitious persons
introduced so as to render them indigenous. Following are some of the
general subjects:
1. A widow and her daughter by mistake marry their own son and
brother.
2. Sweethearts drown themselves because parents opposed their
marriage.
3. A man commits suicide on the grave of his wife whom he killed
through misunderstanding.
4. A father sells his daughter to bandits, while her brother rescues
her.
5. Foreigners seduce a girl, promising to marry her, but they burn
her having tied her to a pine tree.
6. A woman marries another man, thinking her husband to have died in
war; he appears at her wedding.
7. A Cossack kills his perfidious sweetheart.
8. A girl poisons her perfidious fiancé.
A mother is the cause of the death of her grand-child and
daughter-in-law through her severity. The daughter-in-law had been
compelled to do most of the work; she went to reap the corn on Sunday
leaving her child asleep. Being in a hurry to milk the cows, she
forgot the infant in the field. Being reminded of her child by the
mother-in-law, she ran wildly and was told by an eagle that three
hawks--“nurses”--have killed the child:
... The first one pecks the eyes
The second one plucks the little heart
The third one pulls the little bones....
In her despair the young mother returned home asking the mother-in-law
to hand her a knife, ostensibly to cut some cloth, but stabbed herself
therewith, exclaiming:
... There, mother, thou hast three sins on thy soul:
The first sin--the holy Sunday
The second sin--the little infant
The third sin--I, young Hala....[1]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Lysenko: “Collection of Ukrainian Songs,” Vol. V, p. 17.
CHAPTER XI
Conclusion
Most of the Ukrainian folk songs are, as a rule, of ancient date. The
Serbs are the nearest to the Ukrainians of all Slavs with the quantity,
contents and quality of their folk songs.
The leading ideology of these songs is the constant moralization,
desire for liberty, and protest against violence. This popular poetry
is the true picture of a Ukrainian soul that consciously strives to
better conditions of self and of all humanity. Such a nation--such
songs!
One of the greatest authorities on the subject, Drahomaniv, says that
Ukrainian popular poetry is more of historic than of fictitious and
fabulous origin.
Ukrainian folk song naturally had a great influence on national
literature. In 1819, Prince Tsertelev published a collection of
Ukrainian historic songs. Michael Maksymovich, a Ukrainian professor
at the Moscow University, published another compilation of songs
in 1827. Among the greatest students and collectors were Ambrose
Metlynsky, 1854;[1] Pantaleymon Kulish, 1856; Nicholas Kostomariv,
1859; Alexander Rusov and Paul Chubinsky, 1874; Jacob Holowatsky, Rev.
Markian Shashkevich, 1837 (in East Galicia); Osyp Fedkovich, 1860 (in
Bukovina).
These collections of folklore made a decisive turn in national
literature. Latin and Church Slavonic were abandoned in writing,
national consciousness awoke and the Ukrainian masses began the
struggle for liberty and independence, both under the Russian and
Austro-Hungarian governments. Ivan Kotlarevsky was the first one to
introduce the pure living Ukrainian language in his works, 1798,
without an admixture of Russianized and Slavonic words. It was
this very source that produced the immortal poet Taras Shevchenko,
1814-1861, who is classed with the German Schiller and Goethe, the
English Shakespeare, the Polish Mickiewicz and the Russian Pushkin.
Among the greatest students and ethnologists of Ukraine are two
Kiev professors, Volodymyr Antonovich and Michaylo Drahomaniv, who
collected many volumes of Ukrainian folklore; there is a host of other
men of erudition, writers and poets who devoted their lives to the
investigation of the Ukrainian folklore. Among these were Potebnia,
Zhytecky, Manzhura, Hrinchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, Filaret Kolessa,
Ohorowych, Horlenko, Sumtsow, Malynka, Kalash, Martynovych, Slastion,
Speransky, Domanytsky, Tkachenko-Petrenko, Lysenko, Yerofeew, Zelenyna,
Rubets, Marko Vovchok, Franko, Lomykowsky, Tomachynsky, Iwashchenko.
Excellent school books of latest date, with treatises on the subject
were written by Dr. M. Pachivsky, Prof. Lukachivsky, A. Barvinsky,
Serhey Ephremov, Michael Hrushevsky. To quote the German, F. M.
Bodenstedt:
“In no other country did the tree of people’s poetry produce such grand
fruit; nowhere else did the spirit of a nation reflect so vividly and
forcefully in songs as with the Ukrainians. What a sensitive breeze
of sorrow, what immaculate human feelings are expressed in these
songs sung by a Cossack in a foreign land! What a subtle delicacy in
part with heroic force, masculine strength pervade his love songs!
A special attention should be called to the tact and purity, as the
chief factors of these songs. One cannot help but admit that a nation
which sings such songs and is so fond of them--must be far above a
low degree of cultural development.... The Ukrainian language is the
most melodious among all the Slavic tongues, having great musical
properties.”[2]
A Serbian, V. Lukich has this to say: “The Ukrainian language is
distinguished for its harmony and beauty, and is the most adaptable to
music and singing among the Slavic tongues.”...
“The national poetry of the Ukrainians is the richest one in Europe; it
is distinguished for its esthetic properties and poetic inspiration and
harmony of wording; it contains something grand, uplifting, the essence
of feeling, melancholic and invigorating.”
“... the celebrated Russian music is the music of the Ukraine, and
it is the Ukrainian, Gogol, who has opened the way to the Russian
romancers of genius.” (Charles Seignobos, Professor at the Sorbonne.)
A race that has such an inexhaustible source of inspiring poetry which
denotes a great wealth of spirit, inborn intelligence and talented
souls, shall never perish, but its aspirations to a united, free,
independent national existence will be realized:
... No one will chain a live soul,
No one will chain a live word.
* * * * *
The darkness of thraldom will disappear
The light of truth will shine,
And the children of bondage
Shall praise God in Freedom.
Taras Shevchenko.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The years quoted refer to dates of publication of the works of
these Ukrainian savants.
[2] Translation of the quotations rendered by the author of this study.
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Kharkiv, 1833-8.
+Sumtsow, M.+--_Kolomiyki_, “Kievskaya Starina,” 1886.
+Sumtsow, M.+--_Sovremennaya Malorusskaya Ethnografia_ (Contemporary
Little Russian Ethnography), Kiev, 1893-1897.
+Sumtsow, M.+--_Noviy Variant Dumy ob Aleksieye
Popovitchie_--“Kievskaya Starina,” 1885, I, 186-91.
+Svientsitsky, Ilar+--_Pokhoronne Holosinnie i Tserkovno Religiyna
Poeziya_--Funeral Dirges and Church-Religious Poetry, in “Memoirs of
Ukr. Scientific Society of Shevchenko,” XCIII-IV, 1910.
+Tkachenko-Petrenko, E.+--_Dumy v Izdaniyakh i
Izsliedyvaniakh_--Epics--those published and searched for, “Ukraina,”
1907, p. 144-185.
+Tomachynsky, V.+--Kievsky Telegraf, No. 59, 1872.
+Trutowsky+--_Sobranie Russkikh Piesien s Notami_ (Collection with
Music), St. Petersburg, 1776.
+Tsertelev, M. A.+--_Malorossiyskia Piesni_--Little Russian Songs,
Moscow, 1827.
+Tsertelev, M. A.+--_Opyt Sobrania Starynnykh Malorossiyskikh
Piesniey_, (Review of Collection of Ancient Little Russian Songs),
1819.
+Tykhovsky, Jul.+--_Prozoyu ili Stikhami Napisano “Slovo o Polku
Igorievie?”_--Was the “Word of the Armament of Igor” Written in Prose
or in Verses? “Kievskaya Starina,” X, 1893.
+Ukrainian Scientific Society+ of Shevchenko, Literary Review
of--_Variyanty Melodiy Ukrainskykh Narodnykh Dum, Ikh Kharakterystyka
i Grupovannye_, CXVI, Liviv, 1913. (Melodies, Characteristics and
Arrangement of); Also Epics in comparison to Songs, Verses and
Funeral Dirges, CXXX, CXXXI, CXXXIV.
+Viesielovsky, A.+--_Tri Glavy iz Istorii Poetiki_--Three Chapters on
History of Poetry, p. 137, Petersburg, 1899.
+Vladymirov+--_Istoria Literary Kiivskoho Periodu_--Phototypic reprint
of the first edition of the “Slovo o Polku Ihorevi,” St. Petersburg,
1914.
+Waclaw z Oleska+--_Piesni Polskie i Ruskie Ludu Galicyiskiego_, Lviv,
1843.
+Zakrewsky+--_Starosvyetski Bandurist_ (The Bandurist of Old),
1861-1862.
+Zegota, Pauli+--_Piesni Ludu Ruskiego w Galicyi_ (Polish)--Songs of
the Ruthenian People of Galicia, Lviv, 1839.
+Zelenyna, D. K.+--_Bibliografichieskiy Ukazatiel Russkoy
Etnografichieskoy Literatury o Vnieshniem Bytie Narodov Rossii._ The
Bibliographic Guide to Russian Ethnographic Literature concerning
the External State of the Peoples of Russia in the (Zapiski) Memoirs
of the Imperial Russian Geographic Association, Vol. XL, I edition,
1913, p. 255-82.
+Zhdanow+--_Literatura Slova o Polku Igorevi_, “Sochinenya,” I, St.
Petersburg, 1904.
+Zhytetsky, Paul+; +Kotlarevsky, A. A.+; +Lomykovsky+--_Mysli o
Narodnikh Malorusskikh Dumakh_--Thoughts about the Little Russian
National Epics, 1893.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Little Russian and Red Russian (Galician) names for the Ruthenians
or Ukrainians according to the Russian and Polish State ideology, which
appellations every conscious Ukrainian resents, because they are used
for purpose of dividing the Ukrainian nation.
Transcriber’s Notes
Possible printer’s errors in punctuation, hyphenation, spelling, and
spacing were generally retained, except for changes listed below.
_Italics_ and +Small Caps+ were converted as so.
Cyrillic and Greek script were transcribed as printed.
Footnotes were reindexed and moved to the end of their respective
chapters. Some footnote links within the text were silently moved due
to odd punctuation.
On songs
Where the line spacing between close songs could cause confusion about
whether or not they were different, spacing was added.
Some punctuation was altered or added to, or to near, the songs.
Thought break formatting indicates ellipsed text, as do ellipses within
the songs.
On page 17, “St” was changed to “St.”.
Notably, on page 29, “row” was corrected to “raw”.
Other retentions
Variable diacritics, as with “Bohdan” and “Bohdàn”, were retained.
The author’s romanization/transliteration of Cyrillic script was
retained as is; there are many variations in names and places.
Here are some illustrative examples of the many retained variations
in names: “Drahomanov”, “Drahomaniv”, “Dragomanof”, “Drahomaniw”,
and “Drahomanow”. “Chmielnitsky”, “Chmelnitsky”, and “Chmeilnitsky”.
“Antonovich”, “Antonovitch”, “Antonovytch”, and “Antonowitch”.
Other changes
“Moskow” and “Moscou” were silently standardized to “Moscow”.
“Moskovite” was standardized to “Moscovite”.
The words “vol.” and “vols.” were standardized to “Vol.” and “Vols.”.
Volume number was standardized to uppercase, i.e., “Vol. i” to “Vol. I”.
Periods and spaces were added to “ff”, “p”, “pp”, “vol”, and “vols”
where missing and appropriate.
On page iv, “somtimes” was corrected to “sometimes”.
Chapters IV through X have letter section headings to organize and
divide the poems. The higher division is in the form of “A.” and is
always at a chapter division. The lower division is of the form “(a)”.
The heading of Chapter VI was changed from “D.” to “(d)” to better
reflect that division.
On page 35, the sentence that begins with “Terribly” was reformatted as
a normal paragraph.
In the 9th footnote of Chapter VI, an aberrant quotation mark was
removed.
In the 14th footnote of Chapter VI, “Drahomaow” was corrected to
“Drahomanow”.
“Conclusion” was added to the chapter heading of Chapter XI to match
the Table of Contents.
On page 65, the quotation that begins with “In” and ends with
“properties” was presumed to be a single quotation, so some punctuation
was removed. In the book, the punctuation was along a line break.
The Bibliography was partially standardized while maintaining its
variable formatting style. Primarily, some of the punctuation was
standardized; italicization was added to a title if partially missing,
due to a line break or other cause; and italicization was removed,
mainly from the English translation of a title whose transcription was
already italicized.
On page 71, “Wondering” was corrected to “Wandering”.
On page 71, under “Chubinsky, Paul”, the page numbers “847” and “933”
were exchanged so that the page numbers would increase in the list. The
3 numbers in the list should be accurate since their unifying feature
in the referenced work is that they are folk songs collected by N. I.
Kostomarov.
In the bibliography’s footnote, “appelations” was corrected to
“appellations”.
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