compiled by Phillip Ostapchuk, from the 1925 fieldwork of Stepan Makovskyi, foreword by Volodymyr Sichynsky

This study of the traditional folk art of Subcarpathian Rus' --
today's Transcarpathia -- was compiled and published by Phillip
Ostapchuk in 1957, drawing on fieldwork the ethnographer Stepan
Makovskyi had carried out in the region's mountain villages in 1925.
Volodymyr Sichynsky, who wrote the foreword, credits Makovskyi with
preserving a record of a folk-art tradition already fading by the
1920s. The book surveys wood carving, embroidery and weaving,
painted ceramics, and traditional costume, region by region across
the Carpathian foothills.

Foreword

Subcarpathian Rus', the south-western portion of the present Ukrainian
territory, extends from the southern slope of the Carpathian Mountains,
stretching from the Poprad River to the upper reaches of the Tysa River.
This land arouses considerable interest from the standpoint of territory,
population, customs and art.

The greater part of this province is in the Carpathian Mountains and
the foothills while a smaller part is in the black earth plain. The Carpathians
are the most picturesque mountains not only in Ukraine but in the whole
of Central Europe. The Eastern Carpathians, sometimes referred to as the
Hutsul Alps, rise for 6,500 feet in height and the western part with the
so-called Low Beskids reach all of some 3,000 feet. Mountains under 3,000
feet in height are covered with leafed trees and the evergreen forests
cover only 22 per cent of the whole wooded area. Around the forests are
the so-called plateau pastures which make excellent grazing-ground for
cattle and especially sheep. The "Green Carpathians" are noted
not only for their scenic beauty but also for their full ration with life.
They abound in many kinds of animals and birds, in direct contrast to the
Alps of Central Europe. However, the predatory management of the woodlands,
formerly under Austro-Hungarian domination and currently the USSR, has
greatly changed their character.

The area of Subcarpathian Rus' within its ethnographic boundaries is
about 7,600 square miles and within its present boundaries, as an oblast
of the Soviet Ukraine, 5,000 square miles. Not included in the present
Transcarpathian Oblast is a small part of Marmorosh, which is annexed by
Rumania, and the large western region, the Pryashiv area, subjoined to
Slovakia and included within the Czechoslovakian boundaries. The western
region of Subcarpathian Rus', with its chief cities of Bardejov and Preshov,
has a special significance for two reasons. Being the oldest part of the
country it contains rare historical monuments, architecture and art, dating
back from the thirteenth century and it was also the centre of the rebirth
of the Ukrainian national movement in the middle the nineteenth century.
Through the Pryashiv area lead the most convenient roads which join Western
astern Ukraine with Central Europe. Here also original examples of folk
art are found.

Within its present boundaries the Transcarpathian Oblast has a population
of about 850,000 according to the 1935 census, of which 63 per cent is
Rusyn. The average density of population is 108 people per square mile;
the urban population comprises 17 per cent of the total; the number villages
and towns is 490; the bigger towns are Uzhhorod, Mukachiv, Pryashiv, Khust,
Svalyava, Bardejov, Mykhaylivtsi and Yasinya.

The rivers of Subcarpathian Rus' are of a mountainous nature, emptying
into the Tysa River. They are Topolya, Ondavka, Lyaborets, Uzh, Lyatoritsya,
Borshava, Rika and Tereshva.

The wealth of the country lies not only in its picturesque situation
but in its minerals as well, such as rock salt of first grade, iron, manganese,
coal, kaolin, also some copper, silver and gold. Recently oil has been
discovered in the vicinities of Yasinya, Uzhok and Chop. The country is
particularly rich in mineral waters. Around four hundred springs are estimated,
especially waters containing alkali, iodine, iron, sulphur, carbonic acid
gas and salt. So far these springs have not been exploited to any great
extent even though in quality they surpass the famous mineral waters of
Hungary, Rumania and Czechoslovakia.

The majority of the people -- around 66 per cent -- are occupied in
farming, stock-raising and timbering. In the mountains, for lack of good
arable land, farming has not developed much but on the plains where the
average summer temperature is 75 degrees F. with a rainfall of approximately
31 inches not only grain is cultivated but also such tropical crops as
grapes, figs, chestnuts, corn, tobacco and fruits.

Subcarpathian Rus' major industry is lumbering. Besides a number of
sawmills there are four large plants for dry distillation of wood, one
of them in Bychkiv which was established in 1868 and is now one of the
largest and most modern in Europe. Other industries are the manufacture
of matches, paper, tobacco, wine, casting metal and the particularly well
developed home industry. The last industry, with its outstanding originality,
is the main theme of this publication.

The Subcarpathian Rusyn history is interesting for several reasons:
as an example of admirable fortitude of the autochthonic population, its
struggle for liberty, the preservation of its national face, customs, mode
of life and its national culture in general. It is even more remarkable
when we take into consideration that for more than 500 years the Rusyn
population of Subcarpathian Rus' was under the domination of foreign states
and foreign people who as regards race, origin, and mentality had nothing
in common with the native population.

The origin of the primeval Rusyn population of Subcarpathian Rus' dates
back to the seventh and eighth centuries, that is to the arrival of the
Magyar nomads in 895-896. More extensive colonization, from ancestral Ukraine,
took place in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In the tenth century
Subcarpathian Rus' was under the rule of the Kievan State; in the eleventh
century under the subordination of the Hungarian throne; at the end of
the twelfth century a part of the Galician-Volynian State; in the following
century it fell under Hungarian domination again. The Tatar invasion of
1241, which came from the upper reaches of the Stryy River as far as the
Lyatorytsya, wrought great havoc and devastation in the country. At the
beginning of the fourteenth century another attempt was made to unite Subcarpathian
Rus' with the Galician-Volynian lands. This was in the period of 1310-1320
during an uprising under the leadership of Petro Petrovych. At the close
of the fourteenth century and the start of the fifteenth century Subcarpathian
Rus' was ruled by Prince Fedir Koryatovych from Podilya although it was
really under Hungarian domination. He brought with him his own army and
a great number of settlers from Podilya (around the Dniester River) among
them craftsmen.

During the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Subcarpathian
Rus' was the battleground for numerous wars, revolutionary skirmishes and
uprisings against the Hungarian and Austrian crowns with the native Rusyn
population taking active part. In the middle of the fifteenth century they
were under the leadership of Czechs, Jan Iskra and Aksamit, at the beginning
of the seventeenth century under that of Stepan Bochkay and towards the
middle of the same century the Semyhorod princes - the Kakoczys, George
I and George II. The Rakoczy Princes had a military alliance with the Ukrainian
hetman, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, against Poland and units of the Ukrainian army
marched through Subcarpathian Rus' to join the Swedish army. At the end
of the seventeenth century and the first years of the eighteenth the insurrection
led by Francis Rakoczy was so successful that for the next ten years Subcarpathian
Rus' was under his rule. With the exception of such interval periods of
comparative freedom rigid feudalism reigned within the Hungarian boundaries,
about which beautiful folk songs have been preserved by the Subcarpathian
Rusyns. Moreover, during the period of the eleventh to twelfth centuries
intense religious wars were in progress for the conversion to such faiths
as Lutheran, Catholic and later the Uniate and the struggle with the Orthodox
Church.

In the nineteenth century Magyarization of Subcarpathian Rus' was conducted
with accelerated tempo. The native population was forbidden to have its
own schools and to hold church services in the old Slavonic language. As
a result of persecution of the intelligentsia the educated and cultured
people emigrated to the neighboring countries - Bulgaria, Serbia, Central
Ukraine and Russia. The period, "Spring of Nations," brought
about the revival of Subcarpathian Rusyns under the leadership of A. Dobryansky.
At first this movement progressed along a nationalist course but later
it was seized upon and used by foreign elements to spread the so-called
Muscophilism (Russianism). From 1867 until the end of World War I was the
time of the cruelest Magyarization and the decline of all Rusyn national
life. This resulted in a mass migration to America. After the downfall
of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918 National Councils were quickly
organized in the towns of Lyubna, Pryashiv, Uzhhorod, Svalyava and Khust.

On January 21, 1919, delegates from all over Subcarpathian Rus', representing
420 village and town communities, met in Khust and proclaimed the union
of Subcarpathian Rus' with the Ukrainian Democratic Republic with Kiev
as the capital. Then in accordance with the St. Germain agreement of September
10, 1919, Subcarpathian Rus' was joined with Czechoslovakia with a guarantee
of autonomy, which was realized only in 1938 when it became a federate
state of that country. On March 14, 1939, a freely elected parliament proclaimed
its native land an independent nation under the official name of Karpatska
Ukraina (Carpathian Ukraine, or as is more commonly known Carpatho-Ukraine)
with A. Voloshyn as president. But within several days, as a result of
Hungarian military aggression which was carried out with Hitler's permission,
Carpatho-Ukraine was occupied by that country. On June 29, 1945, with the
consent of the Czechoslovakian government, Carpatho- Ukraine was annexed
to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic as the Transcarpathian Oblast.

So far there has been scant literature published about the folk art
of Subcarpathian Rus'. Hungarian researchers only casually touched upon
the subject not wishing to emphasize the original features of the "Hungarian
Russ" art. Of the German researchers there is the exceptionally valuable
work by N. Biderman on the Hutsul region (Innsbruck, 1862). The most extensive
research was done by the Ukrainian authors: Y. Holovatsky, V. Shukhevych,
F. Vovk, V. Shcherbakivsky, V. Zalozetsky, ; V. Sichynsky. In 1920-1930
valuable research work was done by Czechs; on wooden buildings by J. ..
Vydra, F. Zapletal, V. Mencl, J. Reztcha, A. Stansky and on embroideries
by M. Tumova and A. Kozminova.

In spite of the many years of occupation by foreign countries and environment
by people of non-Slavic origin, the autochthonic population of Subcarpathian
Rus' has miraculously preserved its own language, customs and traditions.
In the Carpathians, as usually happens in similar circumstances when people
live in the mountains, for lack of communication and patriarchal manner
of living, very archaic traits have been preserved as regards life, customs
and craftsmanship. Therefore this area has a special significance so far
as the genesis and development of folk art is concerned. In the mountains
of Subcarpathian Rus' live three tribes -- who have preserved many antique
examples of art. In the south-eastern zone live the so-called Hutsuly,
in the central zone the Boyky and in the north-western part the Lemky.
The same ethnographic groups also inhabit the northern slopes of the Carpathian
ridge and for this reason this album includes a few examples of folk art
from the Galician side, such as carved wooden crosses, brass, glass, leather
and other examples.

As already mentioned the Carpathians offer an inexhaustible source for
the genesis and evolution of folk art. Examples of art, having come late
to the inaccessible Carpathian Mountains have been preserved here in their
original aspect better and longer than anywhere else. For the same reason
the urban influence has had little effect on the so-called historical styles,
or else they were creatively worked into the folk styles. Here folk art
has retained its freshness, creative originality and truly unfalsified
folk styles.

For example, among the Hutsuls an archaic type of house has been preserved,
called the osedok, which is considered to be the oldest type of
dwelling and from which springs the whole development of peasant dwellings
in Ukraine. Moreover, the osedokbears amazing similarity to the
Etruscan dwelling, e.i. the type of dwelling singular in the history of
home building in the ancient world.

The highly developed and skillful building of wood structures offers
considerable material for the history of the development of this branch
of architecture. The most creativeness, ingenuity and love was put by the
village craftsman into the building of churches and woodcarving. These
wooden churches are small in size, plain in decoration but grand in creative
thought and rich in the variety of forms of art. A special significance
for the genesis of this building has the so-called Boyko type of churches.
These are triple-aisled structures with three rooms, approximating a quadrangle,
covered with three pyramidally tiered towers. The oldest building of this
type is in Trochany near Pryashiv, built in the fifteenth century. Others
built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries also still remain. As
has been revealed by research this same type of building was prevalent
throughout all of Ukraine in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Further
development of this type of building were the churches in the Lemko region
which had begun to acquire a baroque style. In the neighborhood of Yasinya,
in the Hutsul region, an original type of church has been preserved, the
plan of which is in the form of a cross, with a central nave and a single
dome. It is thought to be the most original example of Ukrainian architecture
and has no counterpart anywhere in Europe nor among other Slavonic nationalities.

The plains of Subcarpathian Rus' have been influenced to a greater degree
by the styles from the outside world, such as, the gothic, renaissance
and especially the baroque. On the other hand it is here that, to a greater
degree, extraordinary skill of the local craftsmen is evident, particularly
in carved ornamentation of buildings which creates great interest among
experts and lovers of folk art.

As in wood buildings, so in other crafts we see unusual harmony and
suitability of materials, form and the technique employed. Every thing
and form meets the demands of construction and usability. There is nothing
disguised; nothing superfluous for outward effect. Always the form is subservient
to the content; there is no wholly decorative, exaggerated form. Everything
strictly answers the functional requirements.

Of wood crafts special attention is deserved by cooperage with burnt
in ornamentation, products turned on lathes and carved, axes, maces and
other articles for domestic use which are carved and inlaid with wood of
different shades and glass beads.

Brass products like knives, maces, chisels, tongs, buckles, neck crosses
and other crosses are interesting in form and ornamentation as well as
from a technical viewpoint. They take us back to the medieval Kievan State
between the tenth and twelfth centuries. The same character is manifest
in leather products with extraordinarily original examples which are pressed
and cut out.

Ceramics, particularly those from Khust, Uzhhorod, Sevlyush and Yasinya,
do not exhaust all the material but they give a picture of the principal
centres of this handicraft which besides wholly national and local characteristics
also shows influences from neighboring territories. This is also the case
with weaving which is only partly covered here, especially the rugs (kylymy).

More extensively presented here are the different types of national
costume and feminine decoration, embroideries in particular. Whereas women's
costumes have persistently preserved the Ukrainian type of clothing, common
throughout all of Ukraine, from Poprad to Kuban, the embroideries on the
other hand have a more varied character. Finally, and this applies to the
last few decades, the merchants and traders taking advantage of the unusual
industriousness of the Carpathian embroiderers and weavers demanded of
them a wide range of colors in very bright hues which was greatly detrimental
to this truly fine folk art. Wherever this foreign and harmful hand did
not thrust itself the art remained on a higher artistic level as for example
the decoration of Eastern eggs (pysanky), whose genesis reaches
back to times before Christianity and is closely connected with worship
of the sun.

S. Makovskiy, who originally compiled this collection knew Subcarpathian
Rus' only partly, he himself mentions in his 1925 publication, and used
mostly the Subcarpathian Rusyn folk art collection shown at an exhibition
in Prague in 1924 and other exhibits in Prague museums. Nevertheless he
deserves much credit for having in his time collected and published the
wonderful reproductions of Subcarpathian Rusyn folk art and thus adding
to their understanding and popularization. *V. Sichynsky. *

Wood Carving

CARVING

A large part of SubCarpathian Rus' is wooded. The Verkhovyna is covered
with forests almost continuously, except where it is varied by pasture
land. There is a fair number of meadows along the banks of the Uzh and
Latorytsya rivers but the farther we go to the east the more impenetrable
become the forests and from Vyshniy Synyovir onwards there are great expanses
which are completely uninhabited and thickly covered with pines. This region
extends right up to the north frontier and to the south as far as the upper
reaches of the Tysa River, where the Hutsul wood industry begins.

The chief occupation of the Hutsuls, besides sheep-breeding, is that
of floating down the rivers rafts made during the winter of enormous timbers.
This industry was developed since the construction of large reservoirs
at the source of the Black Tysa, which enable the level of the rapidly
flowing water of the river to be raised for the duration of some hours.
It is not for nothing that from time immemorial the axe has been the emblem
of the Hutsuls and the subject of their ancient songs. Although they have
not always had a major wood industry they are habitually forest dwellers.
Not being agricultural they never became serfs and through the freedom
which they have enjoyed they have always had enough leisure for art. They
lived in good circumstances and had no masters. They bred sheep which provided
them with food and clothing and built their huts on the slopes of the mountains
and in the valleys. If they sowed at all it was in their gardens and their
free time, of which they had much in winter, was devoted to home industries.
The Hutsul art flourished greatly while wood, naturally enough, became
the chief material which was worked upon.

There is splendid wood in this area. The powerful ancient oak with its
black bark and gleaming foliage, the spreading willow, the abundant alder,
the leafy beech and yoke-elm, swaying in the wind, the willow nearer the
water, the ash, wild pear, apple and plum trees, the popular and more rare,
the maple and finally the typical tree of the Hutsul country, the plane
tree with its hard, smooth, non-porous surface which acquires a beautiful
dark color with age. Farther up in the hills there are coniferous trees:
firs, pines, both green and blue, with resinous bark, and larches and spruces,
some them more than two hundred years old. How could the art of the carver
help developing in the midst of this abundance of material?

Wood carving has been the domestic trade of the Hutsuls for a long period.
There are icons from the XVII century with plainly carved crosses on beech
boards. Altar crosses of about the same period are also known. Another
large example of this talent was found in Yasinya dated 1758. The figure
of the four pointed orthodox cross with projections at the ends was borrowed
from another part of Ukraine but the charm of the wooden construction and
the feeling with which the craftsman has performed his task, the undeniable
taste revealed by him in simplifying the details of the original, cannot
be resisted. The typical Hutsul forms of decoration are already evident:
the frames consist of strips which are adorned with pictures the Crucifixion,
the Baptism, St. Luke, Cherubim, the Savior with the Bible).

A wooden carved Hutsul cross dated 1758 - Yasinya

These decorative strips are repeated on the Yasinya cross of 1758 .
We see the lightning-shaped strip beneath the Crucifixion repeated at the
back, above the Mother and Child, another ornament in more simple form,
round the figure of Christ, combining these two, and finally two rows of
little "teeth." This cross, splendid in its primitive simplicity,
has a design which already bears the local impress; it has eight points
or, to be precise, seven, since there is no projection above the cross-piece
at the top. Some of the crosses which are now in the Naprstkovo Museum
in Prague have also this ornamentation; one bears no date and the other
two are dated 1827 and 1841 respectively. The last has an original form:
a large figure of the crucified Christ in the centre and at the sides smaller
figures with those of the thieves added, resting on a light cross-piece.
Two other crosses resemble these first ones in their general style, although
they are not ornamented. One was carved at the end of the XVIII century
and another much later. The age of such examples is judged better from
the weight and condition of the wood than from stylistic details which
over a period of nearly two hundred years have remained unchanged.

This shows the conservatism of the village. For two hundred years the
same design was passed unmodified, the same representations of the crucified
Christ and the Virgin Mary against a background filled by the apostles
standing in a circle (to be exact only one figure is represented on each
side, the other being shown by vertical furrows), the same simplification
of anatomy and the conversion of the lettering on the horizontal cross-piece
into ornament (it rarely stands for anything), the continued use of the
same simple tool, the short peasant's knife, his inevitable aid in all
sorts of emergencies in life. And just as with the embroideries, so with
the crosses, never have two identical ones been made. Each has its own
"soul." This is the product of art in the full sense of the term.
One collects them as unique objects.

The Hutsul crosses have now become rarities but there are still many
of them in the churches of Subcarpathian Rus'. The most beautiful are said
to be preserved in the wooden churches of the Yasinya. Most of them no
doubt emanate from Galicia but it is not at all impossible that such crosses
were formerly made in the upper reaches of the Tysa. The tradition of carving
has not completely disappeared in that region even today. In many huts
some distance from the main road one may find plates, jugs, chests and
spinning-wheels with carved designs and there are still Hutsuls who are
capable of constructing these things with the same decoration as the old
ones. The extraordinary talent of the peasant, his innate taste and technical
skill is striking. Even up to a short time ago there were living and working
veritable virtuosos in this field.

About a year before the first World War there died in a small village
near Yasinya a carver by the name of Yuriy Mykhalchuk whose specialty was
the manufacture of wooden flasks, small ones holding about a pint and large
ones holding a quart, single and double in type and.decorated with carving.
The wood he used was that of the plane tree, firm and hard. He carved magnificently,
never splitting the wood. His carving was shallow, not sharp, and done
with a short knife and a chisel with a half-moon-shaped blade. His decorative
patterns were extraordinarily simple and repeat themselves on all the flasks
made by him and other carvers of his school: a stripe, straight or curved,
of half-moons cut with this little chisel. Two stripes, one opposite the
other and divided by a furrow, form a sort of knotted ribbon which is in
conformity with the whole style of the object. The Yasinya master arranged
these different ribbons in various ways on the rounded surface of his flasks;
at one time in close concentric circles in rows of four and five, at another
in little circles, in rows of one and two, in an effect which recalled
the sunflower, and in the form of half circles.

Shepherd's wooden carved flasks - Black Tysa

The flask itself was hollowed out and had thin bands around it. They
were put on wet and drying afterwards clasped the vessel firmly, thus preventing
splitting. The double form of flasks rest directly on hoops at the bottom.
To the round single one four little legs were very cleverly attached in
this manner. Under the rim between the bands were two carved ribbons of
the type which has been described and each pair of them opened out at the
bottom into paws with two legs.

Yuriy Mykhalchuk probably had no small number of predecessors in this
form of decoration. Both in age and individual style there are considerable
differences among the Yasinya flasks. In execution the oldest are the most
beautiful. Also found in Yasinya are other flasks more curved in shape,
almost circular in fact, of smooth manufacture and made on a lathe. These
are of extraneous origin. Through their eastern form they carry us back
to very distant times.

In the villages one hears of the existence of many carvers but it is
not easy to see their productions. Even if they have been preserved they
are dispersed about the mountain huts and it would take years to search
them out. Near the village of "Black" Tysa (adjacent to Yasinya),
at a spot in the mountains known as "White Cross", in the hut
of a very old woman the most interesting wooden bedstead was found decorated
with carving. In another place were discovered a number of wooden spoons
with typical Hutsul ornamentation. Here we have tiny triangles and lozenges,
cut with a small knife, taking the form of sharp-toothed bands, the edge
of the spoon being beautifully shaded with this delicate fluted design.
The wood itself is extraordinarily beautiful, with warm red coloring as
if burnt and very smooth to the touch. This is the result of the maple-wood
having been polished with olive oil a long time before, and in order to
make the pattern stand out more clearly fine powdered charcoal is rubbed
into it and adheres so strongly that it will not wash off. These objects
were all made by the owner's late husband. Of native origin also was an
originally constructed comb for wool with a hand wheel. It was found in
the same neighborhood along with a number of plates and jugs of the types
still preserved in the older households.

It is now more common to come across a form the design on which is not
carved but burnt in with an iron instrument. To this type belong the vessels
portrayed on page 13, right. It must be said, however, that even this simple
type of ornament is not devoid of charm. The arrangement of triangles,
crosses, little stars, circles, traditional six-petalled roses, which are
disposed in a circle, is sometimes extraordinarily tasteful. The stamp
of the individuality of the craftsman is not less apparent than in objects
which have been carved. Although the decorative elements are poor the combination
made of them are numberless, each example being unique. It is evident that
some time ago there was a great demand for wood ornamented in this fashion.
About thirty years ago lived a man by the name of Ivan Markulchyk who every
week took to the market in Yasinya a vessel ornamented in this way which
he had made himself at home in his wretched hut. His work found about the
huts - drinking jugs, milk pails, etc. -- show that Markulchyk had followed
an artistic tradition. This tradition has preserved itself better than
anywhere in the Kosivska Polyana, whence come the beautifully formed paskovtsi
shown on page 87 and the milk churn and spinning-wheel (depicted on page
61). This tradition of burned-in ornamentation is not scorned either by
those Hutsuls who have served their apprenticeship in the town, like, for
example Kurelo who made the wooden maces with handles in the form of axes
which are reproduced here and also the similar objects reproduced on page
67.

Wooden churn with burnt in ornamentation. Wooden spinning
wheel - Kosovska Polyana

The Hutsul maces are worth special investigation. They are the ancient
emblems of the woodcutter. It is only a short time ago since the rod with
a symbolical axe was for the Hutsul what a sword was for the courtier.
The symbolical axe is still preserved in wedding ceremonies. Having knocked
at the door of his betrothed with his mace the bridegroom hands it over
to her brother. (Is this a vestigial form of marriage by capture?). "One
cannot marry without a mace," they say in the village. The maces are
handed on from family to family. They were originally made of metal with
engraved designs. They are often very striking and decorative in form,
resembling the real axes which the Hutsuls use to this day, broad or narrow
with long blades, a form which recalls examples from the Bronze Age.

The bridegrooms in the Hutsul area still have engraved symbolic axes.
But there are none of the metal objects used for other purposes of the
type which may be found on the other side of the Galician border, such
as buckles, in the style of the kurgan "fibul", crosses worn
around the neck from the same period, sometimes whole necklaces made out
of crosses, awls, needle-cases, nut-crackers, powder horns, wallets. They
abound in decorative circles which are often concentric, arranged in series
and recalling Neolithic volutes. All the familiar elements are there: cicatrices,
ferns, ears of corn, plums, curls, wedges, etc. On the large objects, such
as wallets and powder-horns, the six-petalled rose in a circle continually
recurs. Here, on the other hand, we certainly have a kurgan element, perhaps
from the Bronze Age, from reminiscences of La Tene culture and on the other
the influence from the Caucasus. Borrowings of this type are more or less
episodes though a general link with the East seems evident. Asiatic themes
have been preserved from the remote past.

Three Hutsul wooden axes, ornamented with carving and burt
in ornamentation - Yasinya

The example of the distant past had a contagious effect on the new renaissance
of the Hutsul wood carving which was inspired by the art of a whole family
of carvers from Galicia -- the Shkryblyakivs: the father, Yuriy, and his
two sons. The beginning of the renaissance dates back to the middle of
the last century when Yuriy, who had learned the trade of a turner during
his long service in the army, brought it with him to the Hutsuls. Having
set up his own workshop he began to turn vessels for meat, tumblers, flasks,
boxes for tobacco, etc., giving his objects a rather "town" form
but carefully adhering to the tradition of his forefathers. The decorative
motifs, made fresh by the natural tradition, were worked out magnificently
by him, a great variety of combinations being produced. It would seem that
there are a large number of these primary motifs but actually there are
not more than ten. Shkryblyakiv introduced special chisels for the work,
manufactured with his own hand. At the same time his assistant, Marko Megedynuk,
has the honor of having invented a special form of incrustation on wood
with perforated colored beads. The method of decoration was a new one which
had not been used before. But it is easy to see in comparing the glasses
reproduced in this work (page 75) with the metal objects with engraved
designs and incrustation of mother-of- pearl that the beads pierced by
Megedynuk with the help of an ordinary drill resemble the circles and wheels
which are so favored by the Hutsul engravers.

The sons of Shkryblyakiv followed the example of their father. The three
of them together founded a unique type of home industry to the products
of which one cannot deny national coloration and technical perfection.
In its time the Austrian government instituted two schools for the development
of this industry, in one of which instruction was gjven by one of Shkryblyakiv's
sons.

The Shkryblyakivs, perhaps, are not purely peasant but their art was
appreciated amongst the people, found followers and became a tradition;
a convincing example of the way in which an individual gesture may become
a collective one. One cannot deny to the village the capacity of following
the old traditions with inspiration and that of assimilating new ones if,
for some reason or other, it finds them sympathetic. One may thus explain
the extraordinarily rapid way in which the native taste is sometimes corrupted
by alien influences, for it is profoundly wrong to imagine that village
industries are static and fixed in a definite form once for all. We have
other elements of Galician carving penetrating into Subcarpathian Rus'.
If we compare with the fine Hutsul products the work of villages like Volovets,
Vyshni, Rostoky, Zborovets, the coarsening of the form strikes the eye
at once. Here is a vessel very similar to those coming from Yasinya and
also made on a lathe but more heavy, more rudimentary in its features and
unornamented. Another object is similar to a Yasinya flask but with an
ungainly shape and the whole ornamentation consisting of six-point stars
or roses arranged in concentric circles.

This type of ornamentation, which has already been referred to several
times before, is found in other regions of Ukraine and in other countries,
both Slavonic and non-Slavonic, and if we trace it back through the ages
it will lead us to ancient Assyria. However, all this does not point to
the designs having been borrowed but rather to the borrowing of the instrument
with which it was made - the compass. This figure is produced by making
six circles which meet in a point which is in the middle of another circle
having the same radius, the centres of these circles being equidistant
from one another; all done, that is to say, by a compass. The instrument
itself leads to the creation of the pattern of the six-petallled rose wherever
and at whatever period it may be found. This applies also to the eight-pointed
star.

This rose, which without due foundation is sometimes described as the
"Slavonic sun," is constantly met with on pastoral birchbark
pipes on which the shepherds of the mountains sometimes play whole melodies,
especially on carved productions in the villages along the valley of Turya.
It is also found on tables, cupboards and, rarely, on beds which they have
inherited from their forefathers. Sometimes there is no decoration. Sometimes
they are bordered with familiar forms of ornamentation: ears of corn, small
crosses, small circles etc. The carving in the region of Uzhok, Lyubna,
Kostryna in most instances is more primitive. Decoration is limited to
toothed designs on spindles or spoons of domestic manufacture. Wooden reed
pipes with six apertures but unornamented are met with everywhere.

On the Turya there are fewer people who do carving than there are on
the Tysa. New objects are found more rarely, lightly decorated with a simple
design. They are all for domestic use: salt-boxes, shelves for spoons,
milk pails, chests, rollers for linen, etc. The form of these objects can
be extremely individual. For example large troughs for maize, full in shape,
have four projecting segmental edges. Unfortunately we have no photograph
of these objects but the elements of ornamentation are somewhat similar
to that of the distaffs shown on page 78. The spinning-wheels are provided
with a shelf on which the manipulator sits. They are covered with ornament
from top to bottom, lightly carved so that the hemp may be laid on it easily.

The patterns on the spinning-wheel are of the most simple type. The
ornamentation is a striking example of the way in which folk art as it
were generates itself. A vague desire to adorn the object induces the peasant
to make with his knife, which is used for every purpose, these elementary
notches and broken stripes on the wooden rod, parallels, sharp angles,
star-shaped forms. But even here the instinctive, primitive decoration
of the peasant is infused with the tradition of hundreds of years, which
has not evolved by itself but has taken over, together with the whole way
of existence, the whole national culture, from a mysterious past. It is
impossible to trace the influence of tradition in every detail, even in
the most elementary ones, but it may be said that the greater part of these
details are individual to a fair degree and that most always stylistic
analogies prove to be something more than casual coincidences. It is the
same thing with distaffs from Vorotsiv. Their carving is elementary but
at the same time by no means an affair of chance. It is so and not otherwise.
It is associated with the Subcarpathian Rusyn and Galician racial tradition
generally. The patterns are disposed in the form of little belts separated
one from another by spaces. The names of these patterns are often similar
to those used in Galicia. But there are other patterns which are not found
on the Tysa: sharp angles meeting at a point, a pattern of grains, of maize,
and others. The similarity in the names given to them by the peasants points
to a common origin for the design. Certain forms, like those known as kryuulky
and zubchyky, although they appear to be widely distributed decorative
emblems, are actually more ancient than this or that adaptation in a given
place.

The manner of carving in the valley of the Turya is practically the
same as that in the Hutsul area. In both cases the calving is made on hard
wood -- plane tree, ash, oak, pear -- is not deep and the methods of decorative
treatment are very similar. Deep carving on hard wood offers almost insuperable
technical obstacles. Hard wood is really unsuitable material for artistic
work. On the other hand the simple style of the Turya ornamentation, its
absence of richness, agrees very well with the character of the surfaces
which are used and is in effect an expression of artistic taste.

In order to gain an idea of this carving the best thing is to examine
the remarkable sketches of the architect A. Reikhart. The sketches show
a large number of decorative details which have been preserved from the
past in the churches, peasants' huts, store houses, on doors, etc. in the
Turya valley and in the neighborhood of Yasinya. More than revealing the
nature of the architecture in Subcarpathian Rus' -- of the churches for
the most part -- these details reveal the innate good taste of the population.

This, perhaps, cannot be said of all the wooden churches but there are
those which are the inspiration of the native soil delighting one with
their national character and at the same time with their relation to the
orthodox churches of Eastern Ukraine. Such are the churches of Yasinya
which are supposed to be the oldest, the ground-plan of which is in the
form of a cross and which are adorned with small cupolas, similar to the
many churches in Galicia. Then there are the churches of Uzhok, Kostryna,
Nyzhni Studeny built pagoda-like in three tiers. Thirdly there are the
churches of almost the same type but with a trace of the baroque in their
style, such as are to be found in Sol, along the river Turya, in Obava
and several other places. Less national in style are the churches the architecture
of which shows the gothic influence as in Danyliv, Sandriv, Saldobos, etc.
And even those churches whose style embodies features copied, perhaps uncouthly,
from the Charles Bridge and Powder Tower in Prague show not only the borrowing
but also the peculiar modifications in accordance with local tastes. Nevertheless
this architecture shows the influence of racial tradition. One forgets
about baroque and gothic and thinks of the wooden edifices throughout the
whole of Ukraine. There are many churches in Volyn, the Kiev region and
Galicia which, as regards plan, the form of the shingled roof, the gjlt
domes, etc., are almost identical with those in Subcarpathian Rus'. The
resemblance, of course, is explained by the similarity of material employed
and the extremely simple methods of architecture.

Wooden church in Lazeshchyna - Yasinya

The characteristic feature of the style of all these churches, whatever
types they may recall, especially by their various external ornamentations,
is a rectangular framework a beam or half a beam in length. The framework
of the building is erected directly on the levelled ground without any
foundations being laid. The beams are arranged lengthwise and joined by
swallow-tailing. When each side of this framework is extended, a similar
framework being added to each, a five-roomed building resembling a cross
is obtained, of the type seen in the churches of Yasinya. Three low frameworks
with smaller ones at the side arranged on the same axis give another characteristic
form, the Verkhovyna three-roomed type. In order to obtain from this the
type of St. Michaels church at Uzhok a second tier has to be added, a lofty
belfry at the front, and frames arranged like a Chinese pagoda above the
centre of the church and over the altar. Then it is only necessary to crown
the building with octagonal or quadrangular shingled roofs, cover all the
projections with similarly covered roofs and to extend the bottom roof
supporting it by pillars to form a verandah on three sides of the church.
Similar sort of shingled roofing is found everywhere on the farm sheds
and over the shrines which sometimes are ornamented with lofty crucifixes,
as for instance at Irshava.

The churches of the Verkovyna style are extremely picturesque and fascinatingly
primitive. But apartt from that they furnish rare examples of purely constructed
architecture free from any superfluous element. There are only a few examples
of this altogether in Subcarpathian Rus'.

The artistic taste of the village is also undoubtedly expressed in the
interior decoration of the churches although neither the modern and ancient
icons, the occasional decorative painting, the iconostasis, nor the furniture
of the church can be considered as products of folk art. Nevertheless the
local church baroque is often decorated in a very gracious style. Quite
magnificent, for example, is the carved iconostasis, ornamented with heavy
vine branches, dating from the middle of the eighteenth century in Poroshkiv.
Very interesting also is the iconostasis obtained from a ruined church
in Verkhovyna. The holy gates which are reproduced here (page 88) and are
extremely typical of the country were removed from another ruined church
in Shashvary.

Inside the churches there may often be found amongst the objects with
which it is furnished several which undoubtedly bear a local stamp. Besides
altar crosses which have already been referred to one may find a tablet
with a picture of the invincible St. George with the writhing dragon beneath
him or a decorated banner done by some crude native artist, or a tall candlestick
on voluted legs, or a three-branched carved candlestick on one side of
which is depicted the crucified Christ with the sun beneath him and on
the other the most naive cherubim. The three-branched candlestick depicted
on page 85 is characteristic of the older examples and possibly dates back
from the eighteenth century. This form continues to inspire the craftsman,
all the more so since the favorite themes of the local carvers are all
to be seen here: the six-petalled rose, the fern, the teeth. The tradition
of the Trinity is greatly respected in Subcarpathian Rus', just as it is
by Ukrainians everywhere, and the peasants carve it to this day. Very individual
types of candlesticks are to be found in the neighborhood of Yasinya but
the carving resembles that of the school of the Shkryblyakivs (page 81).

Embroidery and Weaving

WEAVING AND EMBROIDERIES

Embroideries, like particular portions of dress, vary strikingly according
to the district and even according to the village, a fact which will become
more comprehensible if it is remembered that costume is more closely associated
with locality than, for example, carving or ceramics. The plates made by
the Hutsul craftsmen adorn the peasant dwellings almost all over the Verkovyna,
the Hutsul wooden crosses may be found in the church of almost any parish,
but some small variation in the pattern of the embroidery on a shirt will
astonish a woman from another village where another type of design has
been the fashion from countless ages.

The embroideries which are reproduced here were selected from among
thousands of variations and contain typical examples from the various regions.
There are four main regions which must be differentiated with their corresponding
embroideries.

First comes the Verkhovyna with its special "cross," with
patterns in which red, blue and black predominate. The Turya River valley
offers a different type of embroidery with characteristic black patterns
and variations in the stitches. The cross is modified by stitches of white
thread (opletachka), indentures and flat stitching. The Turyan embroidery
is particularly simple in style. In several villages the sleeves and the
collars of the blouses, especially of the men's, are treated very plainly.
A similar type of embroidery but still more simple with a blue pattern
on a white ground is to be found in Marmarosh.

The third area, having the third type of embroidery, begins in Volove
and stretches to the south to the plains of Marmarosh. In this territory
the cross stitch is not so common as a particular kind called "simple"
by the inhabitants. The pattern is sewn with cotton threads or with wool
from the reverse side producing a smooth pattern on the right side which
stands out very sharply from the fabric. The size and shape of these embroideries
vary from village to village. Thus in one village we see large squares
on the sleeves of the women's blouses while in another there are narrow
longitudinal stripes on the sleeves. The girls' dresses are bright with
continuous spots which are sometimes successfully replaced by woven patterns.

Finally another type of embroidery is to be found among the Hutsuls,
who are neighbors of the Galician Hutsuls on the other side of the Carpathian
Mountains. In this region the most delightful ornamentation is to be found.
It is thought that this heavy embroidery -- a small cross mixed with half
crosses and other close stitches -- is derived from designs on very ancient
fabrics.

In all embroideries the designs and not so much the colors must be considered
for the tradition of color is less constant. The customs of villages in
this respect fluctuate through various chance causes. If the original traditional
color is preserved from the time when the village used vegetable dyes of
its own manufacture that village is confronted with too powerful a temptation
in the form of the manufactured material colored with aniline dyes which
has now become universal. The old style has preserved itself in remote,
out-of-the-way corners and even there it is quickly changing. For example
yellow has come into fashion in the Verkhovyna style of embroidering which
at one time used nothing but red and dark blue crosses or red and black
ones or again black ones only. And this is a common phenomenon. The many-colored
dots used in the Turya design are also comparatively a novelty. The dots
were formerly black. It is the same with the variegated colors of the Hutsul
ustavkywhich with the predominance of this or that color scheme
is a departure from the old color scheme. The color scheme changes in the
course of centuries and in this respect the influence of neighbors must
be said to be the most important one. Thus not so long ago in the neighborhood
of Yasinya a bright scheme of yellow-orange-green definitely superseded
the previous one of black- green-red, perhaps as an echo of the local sympathy
with Galicia and other parts of Ukraine.

Designs are much more static. They are preserved apart from the variations
in the coloring and their style is closely related to the traditional technique
of manufacture. This is apparent in Subcarpathian Rus'. The patterns of
embroidery have been preserved from a distant past. The most interesting
element of all, consequently, is the design itself, the stylistic skeleton
of the Subcarpathian Rusyn embroideries.

The basis of this design is exactly the same everywhere, from Stuzhytsya
to Yasinya. That is, a lozenge, which is a more or less prolonged quadrangle
with equal sides. The lozenge may also be regarded as composed of two equal
triangles joined at the base. A row of lozenges of equal size arranged
in a stripe gives a chain which in its turn appears as a combination of
two traditional kryvulky, that is, broken lines either meeting at
the angles in the form of little teeth or intersecting one another, which
does not alter the position as in the second case the links of the kryvulka
are twice as long.

All the variations in the basic design of Subcarpathian Rusyn embroidery
follow from this. The embroidery may thus be described as of the lozenge
type. What at first glance appear to be the most complicated designs can
finally be resolved into developments of this geometrical theme. And if
on rare occasions vegetable garlands are woven into the pattern they may
be regarded as decorative elements which have been introduced later, although
they have grown into the geometrical design and have themselves become
subjected to geometrical stylization.

In this lies the remarkable difference between the national design of
Subcarpathian Rus' and, that of Great Ukraine, where the designs have been
influenced by the colored Persian stylization which has done so much to
enliven those themes. The element of vegetable ornament is completely absent
in the Hutsul embroidery, for it is only found in places where influences
from other Slavonic countries have exerted themselves. It is possible to
speak of a purely geometrical tradition of embroidery in Subcarpathian
Rus' generally however much one is able to see in other themes of the embroideries
some sort of an imitation of nature. Although this last idea is supported
by various local designation of patterns like "sheep's horns,"
"feathers," "butterflies," "ears of corn,"
"fir tree," etc., more often than not these terms describe the
traditional geometrical motifs in terms of analogy.

It is sufficient to examine the Hutsul embroideries to see that the
lozenge pattern is the most fundamental one. The most typical design of
Yasinya, which is worked out in thousands of variations (see plate VI and
pages 122 and 123), consists of broad unbroken bands of lozenges meeting
at the angles and placed between straight strips in one or several lines,
the strips forming a border to the garment. And above them there are rows
of trubky. These decorative trubky, a number of which have a long
ornamental genealogy, are geometrically nothing but the produced sides
of a rhombus. If the bent ends are lost the trubky become "little
horns" or project in the form of fine bristles along the sides of
the rhombus. The bristles occasionally adorn all the outlines of the design
and give it a fine toothed effect.

Ustavky of womens blouse embroidered with wool - Yasinya

But the designs become still more complicated. Small lozenges with a
"little eye" in the center are placed inside larger ones and
are also spread out or clustered together, resulting in the whole surface
of the embroidery being covered with a checkered effect. Or they may be
united in groups of five in the form of crosses, while the crosses themselves
are ornamented with bristles etc. To these meander-like ornamentations
of the lozenge are closely allied the little hooks which are attached to
the sides of the rhombus on the inside. This treatment has particular significance
in the technique of embroidery and weaving in the district of Marmarosh
(page 131). In Yasinya they embroider as well patterns which consist entirely
of small lozenges with an "eye." At times the whole embroidery
consists of bands which are bordered with rows of these little lozenges
or with trubky on half lozenges as shown on pages 123, bottom and 125,
top. Occasionally there are also to be found strips which are crossed with
parallel lines on a smooth background (page 124, centre) as well as lozenges
with indentures at the top and "teeth" at the bottom, forming
crosses or eight-pointed stars (page 129). Half of such a star constitutes
a "butterfly." Borders are also formed of these "butterflies"
as well as of figures called chobitky. Half a "butterfly" gives
a "feather."

Embroidered ustavky from
the sleeves of womens blouses

Lastly there is an ancient type of figure recalling the symbol of endlessness,
in a number of variations (page 129, first and second from top left). It
is true that this figure also is simply reached through an arrangement
of lozenges (by rounding out the angles), and this idea is supported by
other Subcarpathian Rusyn embroideries in which the meander pattern, through
being broken, gives the figure of an S lying down, with sharp angles.

The designs to be found in Bohdan, Rakhiv, Kosivska, Rosushka and Kobelya
Polyana, generally speaking, repeat the combinations of those of Yasinya
differing from them chiefly in color. The delicacy of their coloring is
sufficiently well shown by plates VI - VIII. It may be said that in Roshushka
the strips of lozenges are less compact and ornamented with bristles to
a greater extent. In Bohdan the whole design is finer and the embroideries
noticeably narrower. Kobelya and Kosivska are distinguished by lozenges
which are sewn in the form of a cross along the edges of the material in
such a way that they resemble a string of beads (plate VIII). In addition
very characteristic of Rosushka and Kobelya are edgings consisting of hooks
which recall moulded cornices. On occasion the whole pattern consists of
ordinary bands placed between such "cornices." Typical of Rakhiv
are the rhombuses with the long "horns," resembling spider's
legs, as well as the bands of S's which are placed inside rhombuses and
zigzag hooks of an eastern carpet type.

Shoulders of womens blouses embroidered with wool - Kobelya
Polyana

There is a great deal of freedom and chance variation in this ornamental
counterpoint, and the more new the embroidery the more often do we come
upon a conscious departure from the tradition. It would be strange if in
our time the embroidered pattern had not been subjected to the influence
of the insouciance of the towns. But generally speaking it may be said
that the traditions of the past are still being adhered to. Apart from
that we must make a distinction between the Hutsul patterns done in the
cross stitch and the reversed stitch which is more characteristic of the
country and more closely allied with the technique of weaving, from which
it is derived.

This connection is more patent in the particularly fine, double-sided
stitch which is called by the inhabitants of Marmorosh naprosto
in which variety is obtained with a kind of sewing in which the stitches
are raised, known as the kucheryavequilting. Here the whole system
of embroidery is based on little hooks, of the type hitherto described,
which are attached to insides of rhombuses. For example, the embroidery
on the zaspulnytsiof Dovhe is in the form of lozenges which are
close together in strips about two inches in width, done in thick red thread
and some times having little blue spots. Apart from the blue spots the
stitching is often reversed and done from the left side, the basic figure
being the rhombus with hooks in the form of a flower, known as the ruzha.
The ruzhamay have two, three or four hooks on each side. This is
the scheme but the treatment is infinitely varied. With the lozenge is
associated the theme of "feathers" on the edges of the embroidery,
giving it a festooned effect. The hooks themselves vary. They may be long
or short, with this or that curvature. The whole ruzha can be more or less
complicated with the addition of various decorative elements, such as,
a small ruzha inserted in the middle, bands crossed by parallel lines,
"ferns," etc. The patterns are named according to these features.
Thus they speak of a "ruzha with two hooks," etc. One of these
patterns decorates the sleeves of the woman's blouse from Bereznyk, shown
on page 106. The large cross on the sleeve of a blouse from Lipsha Polyana
(page 132 left) is of the same design.

Left, Sleeve of a womans blouse embroidered in the "simple"
style - Lipsha Polyana

Right, Sleeve of a womans blouse embrodered with quilting - Gorinchevo

The embroidered blouse from Nyzhniy Synyovir (page 131) shows a more
simple figure of the hooked rhombus in close rows. We have here simple
ruzhi with two hooks and a small ruzha in the centre and ornamented below
with "feathers." In its whole character this finely embroidered
pattern suggests a woven design. Apart from this the same patterns are
still woven in Marmarosh with the exception of the bordering with "feathers,"
which are exclusively embroidered. These blouses with the hooked ruzhi
are found in the neighborhood of Izha in Boroniv. The resemblance is so
complete that on first examination it is hard to tell when it is woven
and when embroidered.

The rhomboid basic pattern is also generally evident in the woven materials
of Subcarpathian Rus', as may be seen from the patterns illustrated here.
This foundation is very noticeable in the woolen taystra from Rakhiv, illustrated
on page 102 left. It is not entirely obliterated in the complicated arrangement
of the threads in the characteristic weaving of the Hutsul zapasky (page
32 bottom). The linen towels and tablecloths are not less striking in this
respect, although in most cases only traces are left of the "horned"
rhombuses-in the form of red toothed strips of varying dimensions with
combinations of crosses and figures suggesting the Cyrillic letter "zh"(see
page 144 left and 145). The gradual development of this stylization is
shown by the sheet illustrated on page 146, 147 and 148, where there can
be seen rhomboid ruzhi, trubky, "little stars" and "feathers."

Woven tablecloth - Uzhhorod

It is interesting to note that even now in Neresnytsya, Niyagovo and
Seredna Apsha carpets are woven which, incidentally, are decorated with
rhombuses with hooks, as shown on page 102, right, a woolen sack from Apsha.
Only here the hooks are in fours on each side of a rhombus, with one hook
on the inside, and represent a typical eastern decorative theme with an
axe-like broadening of the hook; the same element which is so essential
in ancient Caucasian art, for example, in the ancient carpets from the
middle of the Caucasus. The genealogy of these hooks is also very ancient
and probably goes back to primitive patterns of the far east and to the
Chinese double meander, which has been considered to be a symbolical representation
of thunder. It is very plausible to see in the Mongolian hooks, which have
penetrated into Subcarpathian Rus', a symbolization of the claws of the
dragon. At any rate this is clearly shown by a seal of the Ming dynasty
which, as is known, took the place of the Tatar-Mongolian dynasty of the
Iyuans in the fourteenth century.

One is particularly struck by the resemblance to the Subcarpathian Rusyn
themes of the variegated flowering on Caucasian carpets. It is sufficient
to compare, for example, the taystra from Apsha, mentioned above, with
the ancient carpets from the once-existing Khanate of Karabakh (now Azerbaijan)
or the recent peasant art from the town of Shusha, which imitates the ancient
style of design, or with the individually stylized smooth Kurd yaman
(pages 149 and 150) in order to convince oneself of the identity of the
theme. Generally speaking it may be said that there is no doubt that a
large portion of these elements of the Subcarpathian Rusyn pattern, and
also the stylistic treatment of these elements, may be found in a complete
form in Caucasian carpets. Another example are the woven strips which are
used for decorating the kibitkiof the Kirghiz of the district of
Turgai, strips which not only in design but also in coloration correspond
closely with the Hutsul embroideries; rhombuses with hooks at the sides
(plate IIf).

Caucasian carpets

Two hooks turned in opposite directions and rounded at the ends form
a figure which the Subcarpathian Rusyn embroiderers describe as "ram's
horns" or "ram's heads." It is well shown on page 142, centre
left, where four "ram's heads" are sewn in the form of crosses
between two rows of teeth which meet at the top--all along the edge of
the bands.

The effect of two waves of such hooks meeting, recalling the Mycenian
"wave", and the Egyptian one, giving a zigzag stripe, is seen
on the man's blouse from Lyubna (page 105, left) while a form resembling
an S is evident on the woman's blouse from Poroshkiv (plate V, see also
the decorative "teeth" on the jacket from Yasinya).

"Ram's heads" are well represented on page 133 as well as
pages 130 left and 132 right. A large part of the embroidery on the sleeves
from Nyzhniy Synyovir is composed of them, a further development of the
theme already described, while the upper part of the decoration consists
of "feathered stars." It is easy to convince oneself that even
the theme of the eight-pointed stars relates to the same tradition or that
there is close connection of such stars with the eastern "palm"
pattern.

The carpet industry of Niyagovo, Neresnytsya and Apsha, already referred
to, bears a direct influence of eastern carpet weaving, probably through
Rumania and Hungary. A good many influences necessarily entered Subcarpathian
Rus' from the south where the historical and racial connection with the
cast remained unbroken. But nevertheless the rhombuses, trubky and "little
hooks" (not the axe- like in appearance) remained the general tradition
and therefore an ancient inheritance.

The most characteristic element of the Turya embroideries are strips
of truncated rhombuses bordered with narrow bands of the same theme. This
particularly applies to cuffs and facings, in which case the pattern is
usually finished off by a row of sharp little "teeth" as shown
on page 134, last three examples. "Teeth" of the same type may
be found on the narrow collars of the blouses. A variation of these rhombuses,
sometimes found, consists in the fact that the "cross" is combined
with the opletachka.

A special Turya characteristic, in the embroidery of shoulder-pieces
in particular, is produced by festooned borders of "butterflies"
and "feathers," which gives the whole pattern a quality of detailedness
and an effect of prickles. The typical pattern of Turya Polyana and Turya
Paseka, where the designs are much more fully preserved than in the remaining
villages, is an arrangement of these 'feathers" adorned with sharp
"horns." In other examples this original feathered bordering,
which here resembles flower ornamentation and the effect of which is sometimes
heightened by the addition of garlands, acquires the chief significance
and dominates the whole pattern. All that remains of the rhombuses are
certain scrolls.

The embroideries of Poroshkiv are also at times embellished with variegated
colors. To the original black, dark blue and red "cross" is added
another which is bright blue, green or yellow in color. In this case the
whole of the canvas is not used so that in places the white background
shows through and in its turn is embroidered with quilting, etc. This graceful
style of embroidery is very different from the Hutsul "woven"
style, but even here the original pattern shows through everywhere and
there can be no doubt of the fact that both styles have been inherited
from the past. Characteristic also of the variations in the Turya pattern
are the rhomboid crosses, eight-pointed stars, etc. In places the themes
of the trubkaand the "little hooks" may be seen (pages
134 and 137).

Top - Embroidered sleeves of womes blouses - Poroshkiv

Bottom: Cross stitch on cuffs of shirts - Holubyne and Poroshkiv

The designs of the Verkhovyna are on the same lines. They are simpler
and, it would appear, more geometrical, in the first place because they
are more closely sewn (at times without the material showing through at
all) and in the second place because the "feathers" are treated
less fully and there is an almost complete absence of conventionalized
curves. For the most part the patterns consist of the kryvulka,
single, double or treble, with a fine border (page 140, first four examples).
Two *kryvulky *crossing one another form a strip of rhombuses with
an "eye" in the centre. But here the rhombuses do not have "horns"
at the side and inside as with the Hutsul pattern. In these designs there
is simply no room for complicated patterns. The eastern tradition has only
been preserved in traces, in the most modest and approximate imitations
of what is highly developed in the Hutsul area. This can be clearly seen,
for example, on pages 138 and 139, where on the edges of the pattern are
rudiments of the Hutsul bocharky. The cross which is placed inside
a square or a rhombus, the star and the theme of the ram's head have the
same fate, which may be seen from the design from Stuzhytsya.

In conclusion one point may be made. Originally the type of design which
is found in the more remote parts of Subcarpathian Rus' was formerly preserved
there in almost complete purity more fully than in any other of the ethnographical
groups which have inherited the tradition. In the Balkans, where it has
been preserved, the influence of the tradition of carpet weaving in Asia
Minor is patent. In Russia also, as in a large part of the Caucasus, Persian
themes have been introduced, not to speak of those of the Renaissance.
But here there is not the slightest trace of the Persian stylization of
plants and animals, nor of the Renaissance, nor of the themes found in
Smyrna and Brussa although any number of such carpets, or carpets of similar
design, may be found in the adjoining Rumania. The tradition of this Subcarpathian
Rusyn rhombus pattern is indeed an ancient one which dates back from a
time when one culture exerted its influence on another very gradually.

However, national tradition is now dying quickly in Subcarpathian Rus'
and it is doubtful whether anything can arrest this process of degeneration
for it seems that history has no real love for beauty.

Ceramics

The people of Subcarpathian Rus' are extremely fond of ornamented pottery.
It is rarely that one comes across a peasant's hut in which there is not
a shelf of decorated vessels of different sorts and this peasant pottery
completes with the play of its variegated ornamentation the effect of the
red and white stripes of the towels, tablecloths and bedcoverings which
have been woven at home. Although the Slovakian and Bohemian potteries
flood the country with their glazed enamelled domestic utensils the cheapest
products are those of the craftsmen in Uzhhorod, Khust and Sevlyush. On
market days each craftsman brings everything he has made during the week
to the market place and arranges irregularly on the bare ground the pots,
plates and cups of different sizes, decorated with his own hand and only
just fired and glazed. The technique and form adopted by the different
craftsmen is the same but each one has his own genre, his favorite colors
and patterns.

Radiating from the centres mentioned above the pottery of Subcarpathian
Rus' penetrates into almost every village. In addition to this in two or
three places of the Marmorosh district a vessel of the most simple type
is manufactured. It is without decoration and unglazed. The following is
the method of its manufacture: the craftsman sets in rotation, with his
feet, a large wooden circular plate to the axle of which, level with the
hands of the worker, is attached another wheel, much smaller and rotating
at a much greater speed. This smaller wheel serves for the turning and
polishing of the objects which take form under the skillful hands of the
operator.

The pottery of the town of Uzhhorod is known outside the country. It
has found a market abroad, even in America. Unfortunately the most popular
types of this pottery are not the most artistic but those which appeal
to buyers who visit the country. Not far from Uzhhorod is the village of
Kapusyana where much of this pseudo-folk pottery is made. The many-colored
design consists of irregular flowers threaded, as it were, on strings of
bright beads. The favorite colors are dark brown, dark blue, black. The
glaze is bright so that the strings of beads stand out in a decorative
manner. It is not known who first invented this "blistered" style
but the pottery manufactured in this manner is exotically modern, although
motifs are occasionally used which are derived from the local traditions.

The other pottery which is sold in the market at Uzhhorod is much simpler
in style and proportioantley cheaper. Its cheapness renders it accessible
to the villages who, instead of the exotic products of Kapusyana, prefer
to buy the unstudied products of the Uzhhorod potters, who have no thought
in their heads of the prettiness appreciated in the towns and who sometimes
instinctively adopt primitive style which is so valued in folk products.

On page 95 are three plates which are instructive in this sense. The
combination of wave-like stripes, points, and circles -- on the edge of
the first plate -- with the dull star-shaped figure at the center must
be considered as the successful resolution of a decorative problem, primitive
and not free from ancient influences. For are not these zigzags and circles
the first written speech of man, the first decorative confession of the
cave in far-away Bronze and even Neolithic times? Long ago, but we know
that in order for this speech to be evolved there had to be a yet more
distant period when decorative patterns did not consist of geometrical
stylization but of direct representation, perhaps of a cuneiform character,
of nature and the animals which were the first friends and enemies of mankind.
Perhaps this white zigzag on a brown field found on Uzhhorod plates may
have been originally a snake and this triangle a bat. Thus do the significant
forms of folk art lead back into the dim past of pre-historic times.

Top - Plates made by unknown Uzhhorod makers. Bottom left - Pot made
by Stefan Grevnyak, Uzhhorod. Bottom center - Pot made by Yanosh Pyushpeka,
Sevlyush. Dottom right - pot made by Bembovyk, Uzhhorod

Actually there are certain elements in other types of decoration to
be found on contemporary pottery in Subcarpathian Rus' which surprisingly
recalls those jugs and amphoras, covered with broken and intersecting lines,
which are found in the area dating from the Bronze Age. Naturally there
is no question of direct tradition -- the Bronze Age was in its flower
here a thousand years before our era - but do not these coincidences in
form and ornament point to a common artistic psychology, as it were, and,
further, to decorative elements which have been indirectly adopted by the
craftsmen and which go back to the most distant past, although not a local
past? It must not be forgotten that a thousand years is a fabulous period
from the standpoint of the quickly changing European town but means much
less to the village which has absorbed a culture which has been spreading
from the Asiatic East from time immemorial. There is the striking similarity
of the Hutsul decorative themes to the Mycenian style on the bronzes of
Subcarpathian Rus'. The potter's wheel of Marmarosh, which has already
been described, is practically the same as that which was used in the La
Teneperiod. Does not this suggest a borrowing? The symbolical value
of certain village customs takes us back still further into pagan darkness.
Even if the primitive motifs of folk art were not borrowed from memorials
of the past by a long indirect path they have been followed nevertheless
throughout the centuries through the instinctive taste of the craftsman
with his reverence for the traditions of his forefathers.

A characteristic trait of Subcarpathian Rusyn decoration, geometrism
-- the absence of decoration which portray nature immediately -- can be
seen by turning again to the plate on page 95, bottom, second from left.
Here we have the combination of a geometrical design (concentric circles
and a wavy curve) with the depiction of a flower. The plate third from
left has a border of "firs" and the traditional six-petalled
rose drawn within a toothed circle. The plates shown at bottom of pages
96 and 97 are more primitive. Here we have stars, large and small circles,
crosses and zigzags. The tradition is patent in the design of the objects
shown on page 95, extreme left and extreme right. It is more uncommon to
find examples of a consistently geometrical pattern in the Khust pottery
for it is almost completely dominated by the Hungarian flowered stylization
(pages 96 and 97). Nevertheless the vessels made by the craftsman, Lenovych,
shown on page 94, are ornamented in the same primitive style. And in the
case of the other pottery from Khust and Sevlyush these primitive designs
are as it were an indispensable accompaniment to the colors of the tulip,
carnation, iris, daisy, etc., with which the pots, which are simple in
form and generally of a magyarized pattern, are adorned. The coloring varies,
each craftsman choosing it according to his personal taste. If, for example,
we find with the Uzhhorod potter, Grevnyak, a particularly delightful combination
of white and green and dark blue and coffee color, Petrovchyk excels in
dark brown backgrounds with a white or blue pattern and Bembovyk in white
stripes and dots on an orange field, etc. The work of other craftsmen recalls,
more than anything else, majolica. The harmony of the grey-white background
with the blue and orange pattern reveals innate taste, although the designs
of wild carnations and tulips are less happy (page 93, bottom).

Top - pottery from Khust by unknown makers. Bottom - Plate by unknown
artist, Uzhhorod

The most interesting ceramics are again to be found in the south-eastern
corner of the country in the Hutsul area. These are the plates (more rarely,
jugs) of Galician origin, which give a particular coloring to the huts
which lie at some distance from the roads in the regions of Yasinya, Kvasy
and Bohdan. The old-fashioned plate reproduced on page 100, top left, was
obtained from "White Cross." Round the edge large teeth alternate
with palm branches and the whole of the middle part is occupied with a
picture of a cow in rather fantastic surroundings. Here and there among
the decorative scrolls is to be seen a small eye with lashes radiating
in all directions (perhaps derived from a spell). On another plate of the
same type from Bohdan (page 100, top right) is depicted a bull. The whole
shows a combination of green, brown and yellow on a white background. Not
less interesting are two other plates from these villages (page 100, bottom),
the decoration of which approximates to the geometrical style, while completely
"eastern" in appearance is the wheel shaped jug with the same
colors shown on page 101. Finally there is also reproduced a series of
jugs the predominating color scheme of which is a dark blue pattern on
a white background (pages 98 and 99).

Hutsul plates of Galician origin

In all these cases there is evident influence from the heart of the
pottery industry for which Western Ukraine was famous, having traded in
such objects as early as the seventeenth century. In the middles of the
last century (the utensils which are reproduced here date approximately
from that time) there were more than eight hundred master potters in Western
Ukraine, 387 masters and 649 apprentices in the district under the Chamber
of Commerce in L'viv and 219 masters and 317 apprentices in the district
of Brody.

At this time there were four major pottery works and as many as forty
places where glazed pottery was manufactured. In whatever spot in the Yasinya
district plates with designs of this delightful greenish-brown color are
found they all agree in their character with the general artistic style
of the Hutsul area.

Costume and Personal Decoration

The national dress, together with the embroidery with which it is decorated,
is the most important element of the Subcarpathian Rusyn folk culture which
has been preserved. The old costume is still worn in most of the villages
along the Tysa River and its tributaries, in the Marmarosh area, in the
Turya valley and all over Verkhovyna. Only comparatively slowly is it being
pushed into the background by ordinary European clothing. The persistence
of the national dress may be attributed not so much to the backwardness
of the country but to the depth of the national feeling. Whether under
the rule of Hungarians, Czecha, Poles, Rumanians or Russians to Ukrainians
their national dress is sort of ensign. And this shows a healthy instinct.
The national costume is an efficient protection against spiritual absorption
by foreign elements. And if after centuries of every type of serfdom the
Subcarpathian Rusyns has not forgotten his native language and his aspirations
towards freedom from foreign domination he must thank for this the national
dress of his forefathers.

The national costume is most vivid in the regions where the local art
generally is most developed, that is amongst the Hutsuls. The greatest
freedom from Hungarian influence naturally is to be found in the Verkhovyna
and in the Turya valley, while the greatest variety is to be found in the
villages in the district of Marmarosh.

In the Hutsul region the people wear a blouse similar to an old-fashioned
type worn in Eastern Ukraine with a stiff, stand-up collar, the koshulya.
The blouse is worn over the trousers and fastened with a woven woolen belt
of different colors tied on the left side. The collar, breast and facings
are embroidered with cotton or wool as is also the lower border of the
blouse and in certain districts, as for example in Yasinya, the sleeves
also in thin stripes just below the shoulders All these embroideries are
connected by a general dark pattern.

In the warm weather the Hutsul wears cloth trousers (gati) over
which he puts on in cold weather dark blue or dark red trousers of wool.
On his feet he wears either high top boots or postoly, a kind of
sandals with pointed toes which consist of a piece of thick tanned leather
drawn together by a neatly arranged strap. These shoes are worn over woven
woolen socks, white, black and sometimes red in color with a colored pattern
at the top. The shoes are fastened to the feet by black threads of goats'
hair.

Mens postoly without heels - Dovhe

The finest features in the dress of the Hutsuls are a broad leather
belt with several buckles (cheres) and a short decorated sleeveless
garment. One of these belts, made in Yasinya, is illustrated on page 108
bottom.

Leather belt - Yasinya

It is usually dark red in color and ornamented with stamped patterns
and metal insertions. It serves as a pocket into which are thrust a knife,
pipe, tobacco pouch, etc., and serves as a protection for the stomach when
working with a boat hook and long oars on the heavy rafts. The garment
mentioned above is made of lambskin of the finest quality and is lined
with fur. It is always white and soft like fine leather and is embroidered
in different colors and cleverly decorated with little leather straps of
different hues, loops of lace and pierced metal rings. To the collar on
both sides there is sewn a thin white cord with green and red tassels which
is thrown back and hangs behind. In summer this garment is worn both by
the men and the women when they wish to appear in their best clothes. In
the cold weather they wear short coats with long sleeves made of thick
sheep's wool.

The wallets they carry are made of wool, spun at home and checkered,
and take the form of string purses or of a double sack which is carried
over the shoulder. They may be found more to the west (pages 102 and 109)

The traditional head-dress is not so frequently found among the Hutsuls.
It consists of a winter cap with flap of fur. It is either tied under the
chin or projects at the top. It may still he found in Bohdan. In other
places one sees the less picturesque circular shlyk. It is not every
old man who wears long hair down to his shoulders.

The dress of the young Hutsul women has been preserved more fully. The
younger girls still dress their hair beautifully and do not cover their
heads even in the hot weather. They divide their hair at the crown smoothing
it carefully and braiding it into two plaits to which they affix ribbons
of different colors. In wet weather they cover their heads with a cloth.
The married women are allowed to wear a cloth regularly, having twisted
their plaits around their heads in the form of a wreath. This is a symbol
of the loss of their freedom. At the ceremony of the crowning of the bride
both she and the bridegroom wear wreaths made out of the periwinkle plant
in the form of a cap, in accordance with ancient tradition. These wreaths
are decorated in different ways; in Yasinya with little paper flowers of
bright colors, green leaves and bright beads. The whole is covered with
gold tinsel and attached to the hair by red woolen threads.

The more simple women's dress consists of a long linen blouse reaching
almost down to the ankles, gathered in a little around the neck and at
the sleeves, with rich embroidery on the breast a little lower than the
shoulder and wider than those worn by the men. Instead of a skirt they
wear two woven woolen aprons (zapasky) illustrated on page 108,
top. The rest of the clothing is the same as that of the men: stockings,
leather coats and a pelisse in winter. The blouse is fastened with a narrow
ribbon in front and is held at the waist with an ornamental belt of different
colored wools interwoven with golden threads. The aprons (page 84, bottom)
are woven of thin wool in close stripes of light and dark red wool relieved
by silver and gold threads. The appearance of these aprons is generally
the same but they differ in the shade of color used and upon closer inspection
slight variations in the woven pattern are visible. They are fastened both
in front and back by a long woolen selvedge so that the front part of the
apron comes round over the back one. Every village has its own variation,
however, for example the bottom part of the blouse may show more or less
from under the aprons. -Reference must be made to the woven winter gloves
which are carefully decorated on both sides with a multicolored design
and also to the more beautiful neck ornaments of glass beads which are
worn by the girls and women. The pattern for the neck-ornaments has the
same character as that on the embroideries (plate II). They are usually
about two inches in width.

Woven stripe for ornamenting a Kirghiz kibitka

Of course, this is not all that may be said regarding the costume of
the Hutsuls. From Velykiy Bochkiv to Yasinya there is a whole scale of
local fashions. The garments of the women vary in design, choice of colors,
dimensions and the technique in sewing. The narrowest in size are found
in Bohdan, those of Rakhiv and Kvasy are wider, while the widest of all
are to be seen in Yasinya. Nevertheless in the enormous village of Yasinya,
which is really a congeries of smaller ones stretching for more than twelve
miles along the Tysa, the style of embroidery changes with each part of
the village. In some places the sleeves of the women's shirts are embroidered
all over, producing a splendid effect, (page 103 and plate III). The style
of the men's dress varies as well. However, these details are of secondary
interest.

Womens blouse - Rosushka

In moving westwards along the Tysa one is struck by the remarkable character
of the dress to be found there, recalling that of the dwellers of the Hungarian
plains, with short blouses beneath which can be seen the naked body above
the belt. This paradoxical and obviously borrowed costume is also worn
by the men in the neighborhood of Irshava and Dovhe. The shirt worn by
the women does not really differ much from the Hutsul one. The difference
lies in the fact that the seam is at the back as may be seen in the shirts
from Beraznyk, illustrated on page 106. In front at the collar a small
"front" is sewn in thick folds. The sleeves are also covered
with different kinds of stitches which are made directly on the material
of the shirt and in a different style for girls and women. The material
is spun at home and so closely woven that no canvas is necessary in embroidering.
The embroideries often occupy as much as three-quarters of the sleeve.

In the district of Marmarosh an apron is worn instead of a skirt. It
is sewn in folds on to the belt. The bottom of the blouse is visible beneath
it and it is tied in front in the fashion shown on page 117. Various bought
materials are used in these aprons. In Volovets, for example, black woolen
woven material is preferred and this is also used for the cloth which is
worn over the head (page 111,left). This black color also predominates
in other places but variegated colors are more the fashion in the south
of Marmarosh, where silks are also worn. Usually stripes of ribbon are
sewn on them and a belt is worn on the outside, (pages 114 and 117). Beautiful
aprons are found in the district of Dovhe. They are black and ornamented
with colored flowers and leaves. Here the women wear long woolen belts
wound several times around the waist.

Girls from Nizhne Selyshche

Instead of thekozhushokof the Hutsuls a short type of waist
coat is worn in Marmorosh. It is bordered in a toothed pattern, with ribbons
and tape (pages 108, top and 115, left). The rich village women wear waistcoats
of red leather bordered with lambswool on which are sewn flowers, cord,
tassels and metal buttons, (pages 112 and 113). This is an inheritance
from the earlier Subcarpathian Rusyn upper class. A common article of clothing
both in summer and winter is a short woolen coat, usually white in color,
with the collar, the bottom of the sleeves and the pockets covered with
dark blue cloth. In summer the men do not use the sleeves but throw their
coats over one shoulder.

The women and girls love to wear necklaces - glass ones around the neck
and others of different dimensions and colors on the breast. The method
of dressing the hair is traditional. The young girls part their hair exactly
at the top of the head and arrange it at each side lower down so that it
is slightly waved while they braid it from the temples in two plaits which
they join at the back with a long silk ribbon, further weaving pieces of
dark wool into the plaits (page 115, right). In the summer they adorn their
hair with wreaths made from periwinkle or with bunches of artificial flowers
(page 114) and pierced pieces of money. These ornaments, when they serve
as an addition to the wreaths take the form of bouquets hanging from the
temples almost as far as the shoulders. These bouquets may contain paper
roses, heavy beads, tinsel stars, etc. The wreaths are made of the same
materials: garlands with rows of glass beads of jet, or resembling a cap
made out of feathers and ribbons of the type shown on pages 109, 115 and
116. All the girls wear wreaths at marriage and the head-dress of a bride
is even more complicated.

In the region west of Marmarosh, along the valley of the Borshava River,
as far as Irshava to the south, wreaths are not worn but the plaits are
beautifully tied behind with a ribbon. Home-made fringed bands of red,
blue, white and green wool are woven into the plaits. The married women,
however, still wear the traditional cap, which is small and black and decorated
with ruby-colored ribbons and embroidery. A black or variegated cloth is
worn over the cap. In this region the girl wears a periwinkle wreath on
the occasion of her marriage only and removes it after the ceremony.

After the wedding feast old women crown her with the wreath of marriage.
In a more pretentious style the plaits are arranged round the head so that
the ends are joined over the forehead and visible from the sides (page
113).

In summer the men wear wide brimmed felt hats with low crowns, decorated
with flowers. In winter a hat of grey lambskin is worn and in places a
high fur cap.

On their feet the women usually wear high boots as well as low ones.
More to the north they also wear over their stockings or leg-wrappings
the kind of footwear shown on page 107. In going through the mud they are
obliged, so as not to soil their stockings, to walk on their toes and this
has affected the local gait. The more stylish villagers wear red leather
boots when on holiday. The women wear high boots more frequently than do
the men.

The most curious of all is the warm clothing which is found all over
Marmarosh as well as in many other places of Subcarpathian Rus'. It is
the gunyaand is worn by men and women alike. It resembles somewhat
the short Caucasian cloak and is made of homespun wool, white, grey or
black in color, without a collar and ornamented around the neck with red
cloth and fastened with a large woolen knot. In Marmarosh it is also frequently
bordered with white cloth. The sleeves are long although some types exist
with no sleeves at all. It is woven of lambswool and in such a way that
one side is smooth and the other side covered with tufts so that it resembles
the surface of a fleece. In the villages of Marmarosh these cloaks are
usually white and do not reach below the knee. Along the Borshava River
the cloaks are black and smooth all over. Consequently the inhabitants
of the region are referred to as "Blacks." This smooth type of
cloak is known as the petekand is worn in the villages along the
Tereshva and Rika rivers and among the Hutsuls. In the Verkhovyna the petek
is of a special type; shorter in front and with extremely long sleeves.

In moving northwards from Marmarosh to the Verkhovyna we reach the region
inhabited by the Carpathian Lemky. Here the women everywhere wear short
blouses and broad skirts. An apron is fastened above the skirt and both
of them are usually made of bought material of different colors, more commonly
black and dark blue. Only farther towards Uzhok does the village woman
go about simply dressed wearing no bought material and in this case her
skirt is of homespun hemp ornamented at the bottom with red and dark blue
threads and a special kind of home-made lace (page 94., top).

The blouses of the Lemky, and of the girls in the Verkhovyna generally,
are ornamented more modestly than the long ones in Marmarosh but they are
not less elegant. There is no broad ornamentation covering as much as two
thirds of the blouse. Instead one horizontal band stretches across it a
little below the shoulder and the facing is ornamented with a special design.
A "front" is stitched in folds in a particular manner which forms
a good background for a necklace, (page 121). The designs on the breast
and the cuffs are often extraordinarily delicate. Sometimes jewelry is
sewn on thick and heavy plush resulting in a most beautiful effect. The
breast pieces shown on page 120 and in plate IV serve to illustrate the
fine work done by the people of the Verkhovyna. Two needles are used at
once to sew them and the cuffs, one of which draws the thread through the
material while the other, which is finer, serves to make a checkered pattern
out of the stitches.

The woman's blouse preserves the same character throughout the whole
of the Verkhovyna. In the different villages there are only slight variations
in fashion and design. The quality of the weaving also varies. In the region
of Uzhok and in the villages on the Polish frontier the weaving is of a
coarser quality. The cloth becomes better as we approach Volovets. In these
regions the girls who are to be married and the young married women prefer
bought cotton fabrics with a fairly large web so that they are able to
count the threads when embroidering.

The women in the Verkhovyna wear headcloths of different colors and
in places caps. A betrothed Lemko girl goes to church both in summer and
winter with her head uncovered, her hair loose or carefully arranged around
her head. But from Volove to Volovets the girls never leave their cottages
without a cloth over the head, which is invariably white in color. After
being married they at once put on two head coverings, one small one which
is red or black and over that another one, larger, which may be of any
color and is tied under the chin. In both cases two plaits are braided
and in each of them a strip of red wool is entwined, the ends of which
are united in the form of a tassel. In the region of Uzhok, where the long
blouse has been preserved to some extent, the women wear a woven belt of
coarse red and green wool and fastened to it at the back some of their
hair-ribbons in the form of a tassel.

In this region on being married they wear a cap of white bought cloth
(page 118) which becomes more narrow at the top and is fastened at the
back with one or two long embroidered ribbons. The crown is adorned with
pieces of colored cloth or with a silk ribbon into which has been woven
colored flowers or with gold and silver lace. An original type of cap is
found in the neighborhood of Volovets. It is white in color with a bunch
of black ribbons at the back, oval and almost flat in shape and woven in
an old-fashioned style. This odd cap is only worn on two occasions and
on each of them it is placed on the head by the hands of a priest; once
in the church at marriage and the second time at death in the coffin.

Caps from left to right and top to bottom: Bystra, Verkhovyna, Poroshkiv,
Lyubna, Ushok, Uzhok, Volovets

The men's blouses in the Verkhovyna are generally slightly different
from those to be found in Marmarosh. The homespun material is more coarse
and they are ornamented on the collar, breast and cuffs, more usually with
simple black threads in the form of a cross. All the villagers wear wide
summer *gati *which are fastened with a strap. In the neighborhood
of Volovets the gati are fringed. In the winter they wear kholoshni.
Their warm winter caps are usually known as kolpakyand vary considerably
in type. They are more or less round in form and bordered with fur. Occasionally
they are provided with ear muffs and a woolen tassel at the crown. Their
outer clothing, both for men and women, consists everywhere of the same
type of vuyoshwhich is worn in the plain. It is made of rough homespun
material , grey or white, trimmed with dark blue or black bought cloth.
In winter the sleeveless gunyais popular throughout all the district
of Uzhok and southwards along the rivers Uzh and Turya. It is not common
among the Boyky. The Lemky have sustained for it the long-sleeved petek.
On their feet they wear openwork stockings, linen wrappings, as well as
boots.

In the Turya valley the town dress is rapidly taking the place of the
national costume and this is particularly to be regretted as the details
of the Turyan dress constitute an artistic rarity. The short blouse of
the women is more attractive, perhaps through its having a more modest
and dignified style than that found in the Verkhovyna. It is cut differently.
There is a fine border not completely around the collar but only at the
front and the back while the shoulders are left unornamented and the sleeves
are sewn in a way that the embroidered breast piece stretches across them.
The neckline is cut either round or square with a short opening at the
front either laced or fastened with buttons. On the breasts around this
opening are several strips of very fine embroidery and also a narrow strip
around the neck. Some the older types of blouses have sleeves additionally
ornamented with a vertical strip of embroidery, (plate V).

The skirts are full with heavy folds. Until some time ago such skirts
made of homespun were still worn secured with a belt which was embroidered
in different colors. Nowadays bought material is used for skirts, breast
pieces and sleeved bodices.

The girls dress their hair with a straight parting and wear one plait
with a broad ribbon entwined at the bottom of it. When dressed in their
best they do not wear a headcloth. The old fashioned caps have still not
disappeared in those villages along the Turya River which are some distance
from the railway. They are slightly different in form from those found
in the Verkhovyna; broad at the top with horns projecting at the sides.
In their hair they wear wooden combs which are now giving way to manufactured
ones. The cap does not have long ribbons but is adorned with strips of
ribbon which are arranged in pairs, sewn at the back above the braids and
hang in a fringe. The lower edge is ornamented with red and black thread
while other threads ascend to the top in a zigzag and the remainder of
the surface is sewn with red, blue and green. Over the cap a kerchief is
worn. Fine, fringed cloths are also worn. They are tied in a knot at the
waist, having been folded in the form of a triangle, the ends crossing
across the breasts in such a way that the fringe hangs over the shoulders.
In addition to necklaces black velvet ribbon is also worn.

The breast pieces of the men's blouses are very tastefully embroidered
in different colors. When the traditional cloth gati are worn they are
fringed. In most places of the Turya the costume is half urban in style.

The dress in the vicinity of important centers like Uzhhorod, Mukachiv,
Bereznyk, etc, is largely under the influence of that worn in the towns.
In the suburbs of the towns and in whole regions in the southwest having
mixed populations one only comes across portions of this national dress.

Peasants sheep-skin kozhushok - Yasinya

Colophon

Folk Art of Subcarpathian Rus', compiled and published by Phillip
Ostapchuk (1957), based on the 1925 ethnographic fieldwork of Stepan
Makovskyi, with a foreword by Volodymyr Sichynsky, is hosted at
carpatho-rusyn.org (Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base). Captured 2026-08-05
from http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/hutsul/forward.htm, carving.htm,
weaving.htm, ceramics.htm, and costume.htm. Published here under
permission held by the New Tianmu Anglican Church for this material,
recorded 2026-08-05; all rights remain with the original compiler's
estate/publisher. This edition credits the underlying 1957 book, not the
hosting website. Distinct from the Hutsul carpentry, foods,
spoon-making, and trough-making texts already in this room, which are
Good Works Translations from a different source, Volodymyr Shukhevych's
Hutsulshchyna.

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