Hutsuls#History and origins

The origin of the name Hutsul is uncertain.{{cite book|title=ГУЦУЛИ|url=http://www.history.org.ua/?termin=Guculy|author=Ковпак Л.В.|work=Encyclopedia of Ukrainian History|year=2004|publisher=Naukova Dumka, NASU Institute of History of Ukraine|volume=2|language=uk|isbn=966-00-0632-2|quote={{lang|uk|Г. – нащадки давніх слов'ян. племен – білих хорватів, тиверців й уличів, які в 10 ст. входили до складу Київської Русі ... Питання походження назви "гуцули" остаточно не з'ясоване. Найпоширеніша гіпотеза – від волоського слова "гоц" (розбійник), на думку ін., від слова "кочул" (пастух).}}}} The most common derivations are from the Romanian word for "outlaw" (cf. Rom. hoț "thief", hoțul "the thief"), and the Slavic kochul (Ukr. kochovyk "nomad") which is a reference to the semi-nomadic shepherd lifestyle or the inhabitants who fled into the mountains after the Mongol invasion.{{cite book|author=Nicolae Pavliuc, Volodymyr Sichynsky, Stanisław Vincenz|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CU%5CHutsuls.htm|title=Hutsuls|work=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0802033628|volume=2|quote=According to K. Milewski and Józef Korzeniowski, the name hutsul was originally kochul (‘nomad,’ cf literary Ukrainian kochovyk), which became kotsul and then hotsul, and referred to inhabitants of Kievan Rus’ who fled from the Mongol invasion into the Carpathian Mountains. Other scholars (eg, Ivan Vahylevych) believed that the name derives from a subtribe of the Cumans or Pechenegs—the ancient Turkic Utsians or Uzians — who fled from the Mongols into the mountains. S. Vytvytsky proposed that the name derives from Hetsylo, the brother of Prince Rostislav of Moravia, or from the name of a tribe allied with the Ostrogoths—the Horulians-Hutsians. Since the 19th century the most widely accepted view (held by Yakiv Holovatsky, Omelian Kaluzhniatsky, Omelian Ohonovsky, Ivan Krypiakevych, Volodymyr Hnatiuk, I. Pătruţ, and others) has been that the name comes from the Romanian word for brigand, hoţul/hoţ. The Soviet scholar Bronyslav Kobyliansky claimed that the Hutsuls are descended from the Slavic tribe of the Ulychians who resettled in the Carpathian Mountains. Based on the first written mention of the name (1816), Stefan Hrabec and Volodymyr Hrabovetsky believe the name is of recent origin and that it was originally a nickname given to the region's inhabitants by the neighboring Boikos ... The Slavic White Croatians inhabited the region in the first millennium AD; with the rise of Kievan Rus’, they became vassals of the new state.|orig-year=1989}} Other proposed derivations include from the Turkic tribe of the Utsians or Uzians, and even to the name of the Moravian Grand Duke Hetsyla, among others.{{cite web |url=http://www.kosivart.com/eng/index.cfm/do/hutsulshchyna.name-origin/ |title=Hutsulshchyna: The Name and Origin |access-date=2008-07-23 |publisher=KosivArt}} As the name is first attested in 1816, it is considered to be of recent origin and as an exonym, used by neighboring groups and not Hutsuls themselves, although some have embraced it. The region inhabited by Hutsuls is named as Hutsulshchyna.{{cite book|title=Hutsul region|work=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CU%5CHutsulregion.htm|author=Volodymyr Kubijovyč, Nicolae Pavliuc|year=2001|orig-year=1989|publisher=University of Toronto Press|volume=2|isbn=978-0802033628}}{{cite book|title=ГУЦУЛЬЩИНА|url=http://www.history.org.ua/?termin=Guculshchyna|author=Закревська Я.В.|work=Encyclopedia of Ukrainian History|year=2004|publisher=Naukova Dumka, NASU Institute of History of Ukraine|volume=2|language=uk|isbn=966-00-0632-2}} Their name is also found in the name of Hutsul Alps,{{cite book|title=Hutsul Alps|work=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CU%5CHutsulAlps.htm|year=2001|orig-year=1989|publisher=University of Toronto Press|volume=2|isbn=978-0802033628}} Hutsul Beskyd,{{cite book|title=Hutsul Beskyd|author=Volodymyr Kubijovyč|work=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CU%5CHutsulBeskyd.htm|year=2001|orig-year=1989|publisher=University of Toronto Press|volume=2|isbn=978-0802033628}} Hutsulshchyna National Park,{{cite book|title=Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park|author=Volodymyr Kricsfalusy|work=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CH%5CU%5CHutsulshchynaNationalNaturePark.htm|year=2011|publisher=University of Toronto Press}} and National Museum of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttia Folk Art.{{cite book|title=Kolomyia Museum of Hutsul Folk Art|work=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CK%5CO%5CKolomyiaMuseumofHutsulFolkArt.htm|year=2001|orig-year=1989|publisher=University of Toronto Press|volume=2|isbn=978-0802033628}}

Image:Huculi 1902.png.]]

Image:Huculy 1933, Verkhovyna district.jpg

Hutsuls inhabit areas situated between the south-east of those inhabited by the Boykos, down to the northern part of the Romanian segment of the Carpathians. Several hypotheses account for the origin of the Hutsuls; however, like all the Rusyns, they most probably have a diverse ethnogenetic origin. It is generally considered to be descendants of the White Croats, a Slavic tribe that inhabited the area,{{cite journal|title=The Carpatho-Rusyns|first=Paul Robert|last=Magocsi|author-link=Paul Robert Magocsi|journal=Carpatho-Rusyn American|volume=XVIII|number=4|year=1995|url=http://carpatho-rusyn.org/cra/chap3.html|quote=The purpose of this somewhat extended discussion of early history is to emphasize the complex origins of the Carpatho-Rusyns. They were not, as is often asserted, exclusively associated with Kievan Rus', from which it is said their name Rusyn derives. Rather, the ancestors of the present-day Carpatho-Rusyns are descendants of: (1) early Slavic peoples who came to the Danubian Basin with the Huns; (2) the White Croats; (3) the Rusyns of Galicia and Podolia; and (4) the Vlachs of Transylvania.}} also Tivertsi, and possibly Ulichs who had to leave their previous home near the Southern Bug river under pressure from the Pechenegs.{{cite web |author=George Shevelov|author-link=George Shevelov|title=A Historical Phonology of the Ukrainian Language|year=2002|orig-year=1979|url=http://www.litopys.org.ua/shevelov/shev03.htm |access-date=2008-07-23 |language=uk |quote=Говорячи про Україну, слід брати до уваги такі доісторичні слов’янські племена, перелічені та/або згадані в Київському Початковому літописі, як деревляни (Середнє Полісся), сіверяни (Східне Полісся), поляни (Київщина, цебто ядро Русі), бужани (називані також волинянами або дулібами), уличі або улучі, тиверці (Подністров’я) та хорвати (Карпати? Перемищина?). Дуліби востаннє згадуються в записі за 907 р., уличі за 922 р., поляни й тиверці за 944 р., деревляни за 990 р., хорвати за 992 р., сіверяни за 1024 р. Дивлячись суто географічно, середньополіські говірки можуть бути виведені від деревлян, східнополіські від сіверян, західноволинські від дулібів; висловлено також гіпотезу, обстоювану — з індивідуальними нюансами — низкою вчених (Шахматовим, Лєр-Сплавінським, Зілинським, Нідерле, Кобилянським та ін.), що гуцули, а можливо й бойки, є нащадками уличів, які під тиском печенігів залишили свої рідні землі над Богом, переселившися до цієї частини карпатського реґіону. Проте нам нічого не відомо про мовні особливості, якими відрізнялися між собою доісторичні слов’янські племена на Україні, а отже будь-які спроби пов’язати сучасні говірки зі згаданими племенами ані довести, ані, навпаки, спростувати незмога.}} There is also considered a relation to Vlach shepherds who later immigrated from Transylvania,{{cite book|title=ГУЦУ́ЛЫ|url=https://bigenc.ru/ethnology/text/3432422|author=И. А. Бойко|work=Great Russian Encyclopedia|year=2016|publisher=Bolshaya Rossiyskaya Entsiklopediya, Russian Academy of Sciences|language=ru|quote=Г. сложились в результате заселения в 14–18 вв. возвышенной части Украинских Карпат выходцами из равнинных областей Украины, испытали влияние румын и других соседних народов.|access-date=20 June 2019|archive-date=4 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204160323/https://bigenc.ru/ethnology/text/3432422|url-status=dead}} because of which some scholars like Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga argued that "huțuli" or "huțani" are denationalized Vlachs / Romanians.Nicolae Iorga, Românismul in trecutul Bucovinei, BUCURESTI, 1938, pag.1{{cite journal|author=Ewa Kocój|title=Heritage without heirs? Tangible and religious cultural heritage of the Vlach minority in Europe in the context of an interdisciplinary research project|date=2015|journal=Balcanica Posnaniensia Acta et Studia. Baner|publisher=Jagiellonian University, Faculty of Management and Social Communication, Kraków, Poland|volume=22|issue=1|pages=141–142|quote=The prevailing religion among Lemkos and Boykos, who are the representatives of the Vlach minority in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine, includes the Orthodox faith and then the Greek Catholic Church ... Hutsuls, who inhabit the south-west of Ukraine (Chornohora) and the north of Romania, are mostly Orthodox and, to a much lesser extent, Greek Catholics}} According to the 1930 Romanian census, in Romania within its borders at that time, including northern Bukovina, currently a part of Ukraine, there were 12,456 Hutsuls.[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Recensamant1930-II-XXIV.jpg Recensamant 1930] Wikimedia According to the Romanian census of 1941, in addition to the mostly (51.2%) self-identified ethnically Ukrainian population of Northern Bukovina, almost all the 6,767 inhabitants of the Seletyn district (plasa) were self-identified ethnic Hutsuls.I. M. Nowosiwsky, Bukovinian Ukrainians: A Historical Background and Their Self-Determnation in 1918 (New York, NY: The Shevchenko Scientific Society, 1970), p. 168.

In Ukraine, Hutsul is considered to be a dialect of Western Ukrainian with some Polish and Ukrainian influences{{dubious |Nonsensical - "a dialect of ... Ukrainian with ... Ukrainian influences". Edited to death? |date= April 2025}}{{cite news |title=Youth organizations of Prykarpattia initiate giving regional status to Hutsul dialect |url=http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-158390.html |publisher=Ukrainian Independent Information Agency |date=2006-06-21 |access-date=2008-07-23}}{{cite web |url=http://www.brama.com/travel/clark/4kosmach.html |title=Kosmach |access-date=2008-07-23 |last=Clark |first=Kathy and Bill |date=1997-07-12 |work=Kathy and Bill Clark's Ukrainian Vacation}}{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/galychyna/hutsuls_people.html |title=The Hutsuls People |access-date=2008-07-23 |publisher=Ensemble "Halychyna"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522110424/http://www.geocities.com/galychyna/hutsuls_people.html|archive-date=2008-05-22}}{{cite web |url=http://membres.lycos.fr/bucovine/page3.html |title=Hutsules |access-date=2008-07-23 |language=fr |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080521105810/http://membres.lycos.fr/bucovine/page3.html |archive-date = 2008-05-21}} along with Pokuttia-Bukovina dialect and the dialects of the Lemkos and Boykos - however, all three are often also often classified as either their own languages or as dialects of Rusyn.

Since the annexation of western Ukraine regions, including Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi Oblast as well as Transcarpathia by the Soviet Union, compulsory education has been conducted only in standardized literary Ukrainian. In recent years there have been grassroots efforts to keep the traditional Hutsul dialect alive.{{update needed|date=June 2022}}

Image:Kosiv Dress.jpg]]

Traditional Hutsul culture is often represented by the colorful and intricate craftsmanship of their clothing, sculpture, architecture, woodworking, metalworking (especially in brass), rug weaving (see lizhnyk), pottery (see Kosiv ceramics), and egg decorating (see pysanka). Along with other Hutsul traditions, as well as their songs and dances, this culture is often celebrated and highlighted by the different countries that Hutsuls inhabit.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

Ukrainian Hutsul culture bears a resemblance to neighboring cultures of western and southwestern Ukraine,{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/D/R/Dress.htm|title=Dress|publisher=encyclopediaofukraine.com|access-date=2014-09-14}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nat.com.ua/ukrainian_folk_costume.html |title=KIEV, UKRAINE: Ukrainian folk costumes |access-date=2006-07-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227124605/http://www.nat.com.ua/ukrainian_folk_costume.html |archive-date=2007-12-27 }} particularly Lemkos and Boykos. These groups also share similarities with other Slavic highlander peoples, such as the Gorals in Poland and Slovakia.{{cite web |url=http://www.pgsa.org/Towns/Gorale.htm |title=PGSA - Gorale[Highlanders] |access-date=2006-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060215064607/http://www.pgsa.org/Towns/Gorale.htm |archive-date=2006-02-15 |url-status=dead }} Similarities have also been noted with some Vlach cultures such as the Moravian Wallachians in the Czech Republic, as well as some cultures in Romania.{{cite web|url=http://home.swipnet.se/roland/ukrainiantribes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010629062908/http://home.swipnet.se/roland/ukrainiantribes.html |archive-date=2001-06-29 |url-status=dead |title=Ukrainian Tribal Divisions and Ethnographic Groups |access-date=2014-09-14 }} Most Hutsuls belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Hutsul society was traditionally based on forestry and logging, as well as cattle and sheep breeding; the Hutsuls are credited with having created the breed of horse known as the Hucul pony. One of the main attributes of Hutsuls' is their Shepherd's axe (bartka), a small axe with a long handle that is still used to this day for chopping wood, as a cane, for fighting and traditional ceremonies. They would often be intricately decorated with traditional wood carving designs and passed on from generation to generation especially upon marriage.{{cite web|url=https://destinations.com.ua/travel/authentic-ukraine/510-unique-traditions-of-hutsuls-in-ukraine|title=Unique Traditions of Hutsuls in Ukraine|access-date=2020-04-03|archive-date=2022-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226234239/https://destinations.com.ua/travel/authentic-ukraine/510-unique-traditions-of-hutsuls-in-ukraine|url-status=dead}} They use unique musical instruments, including the "trembita" (trâmbiţa), a type of alpenhorn, as well multiple varieties of the fife, or sopilka, that are used to create unique folk melodies and rhythms. Also frequently used are the duda (bagpipe), the drymba (Jew's harp), and the tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer).

The Hutsuls served as an inspiration for many artists, such as writers Ivan Franko, Lesya Ukrainka, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Vasyl Stefanyk, Marko Cheremshyna, Mihail Sadoveanu and Stanisław Vincenz, and painters such as Kazimierz Sichulski and Teodor Axentowicz—noted for his portraits and subtle scenes of Hutsul life—and Halyna Zubchenko. Sergei Parajanov's 1965 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Тіні забутих предків), which is based on the book by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, portrays scenes of traditional Hutsul life. Composer Ludmila Anatolievna Yaroshevskaya composed a work for piano based on Hutsul folk music (Fantasy on Hutsul Themes).{{cn|date=July 2022}}

Every summer, the village of Sheshory in Ukraine hosts a three-day international festival of folk music and art. Two Hutsul-related museums are located in Kolomyia, Ukraine: the Pysanka museum and the Museum of Hutsul and Pokuttia Folk Art. Traditional Hutsul sounds and moves were used by the Ukrainian winner of the 2004 Eurovision song contest, Ruslana Lyzhychko.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

The Romanian Hutsuls have a Festival of Hutsuls at the Moldova-Sulița village in Suceava county.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

In the 1996 elections to the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, the General Union of the Associations of the Hutsul Ethnicity (Uniunea Generala a Asociatiilor Etniei Hutule) obtained 646 votes (0.01% of the total).[http://www2.essex.ac.uk/elect/database/indexElections.asp?country=ROMANIA&election=ro96cd Archived copy]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614133919/http://www2.essex.ac.uk/elect/database/indexElections.asp?country=ROMANIA&election=ro96cd|date=14 June 2011}} In the 2000 elections to the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, the General Union of the Associations of the Hutsul Ethnicity (Uniunea Generala a Asociatiilor Etniei Hutule) obtained 1225 votes out of 10,839,424 votes (0.01% of the total).[http://www2.essex.ac.uk/elect/database/indexElections.asp?country=ROMANIA&election=ro20cd Archived copy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020212080328/http://www2.essex.ac.uk/elect/database/indexElections.asp?country=ROMANIA&election=ro20cd|date=12 February 2002}} According to the representatives of the Hutsuls, in the 2002 census, they "preferred to declare themselves Romanians in order not to be included in the category of Ukrainians". [https://www.newsbucovina.ro/actualitate/10884/gheorghe-flutur-imputernicit-de-hutuli-sa-le-reprezinte-interesele-in-parlament Gheorghe Flutur imputernicit de hutuli sa le reprezinte interesele in Parlament] News Bucovina, 8 November 2004

• Matei Vișniec, playwright{{cn|date=April 2022}}
• Thomas Bell, writer{{dubious|Linked article identifies him as Lemko.|date=April 2022}}{{cn|date=April 2022}}
• Marko Cheremshyna, writer
• Oleksa Dovbush, leader of opryshky movement
• Vasile Hutopilă, painter{{dubious|Linked article identifies him as ethnically Ukrainian.|date=April 2022}}
• Mickola Vorokhta, painter, Merited Artist of Ukraine{{dubious|Linked article identifies him only as Ukrainian.|date=April 2022}}
• Volodymyr Ivasyuk, composer{{dubious|Linked article makes no reference to his Hutsul ethnicity. |date=April 2022}}
• Elisabeta Lipă, multiple world and Olympic rowing champion{{dubious|Linked article makes no reference to her Hutsul ethnicity. |date=April 2022}}
• Ivan Malkovych, publisher{{dubious|Linked article makes no reference to his Hutsul ethnicity. |date=April 2022}}
• Mariya Yaremchuk, singer
• Nazariy Yaremchuk, singer

• 49th Hutsul Rifle Regiment
• Hutsul Republic
• Hutsulka
• Kolomyjka
• Galicia (Eastern Europe)

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Hutsuls}}

• [http://hutsul.museum/ hutsul.museum] National Museum of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttya Folk Art
• [http://hutzul.googlepages.com/dictionarhu%C5%A3ul Romanian-Hutsul] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326074234/http://hutzul.googlepages.com/dictionarhu%C5%A3ul |date=2009-03-26 }} and [http://hutzul.googlepages.com/hutulschiienglish Hutsul-English] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615224752/http://hutzul.googlepages.com/hutulschiienglish |date=2009-06-15 }} glossaries
• [http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/minority-hutsul.htm Huţuls of northern Moldavia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204055920/http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/minority-hutsul.htm |date=2012-02-04 }}
• [http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20043/10 Introduction to Hutsul Country]
• [http://hutzul.googlepages.com/ Hutsul Portal (mostly in Romanian)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918221208/http://hutzul.googlepages.com/ |date=2009-09-18 }}
• [http://ucrania-mozambique.blogspot.com/2007/07/exibio-fotogrfica-hutsuly.html Photo exposition about Hutsul people in Ukraine]
• [https://green-ukraine.com/hutsuls-lifestyle-food-outfit/ Hutsuls: lifestyle, food and clothing]

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