Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes
Фольклорна культура поляків України вперше отримала справжнє відродження в Україні на початку 90-х років ХХ ст. Протягом багатьох років з ініціативи Спілки поляків України майже щороку відбуваються фестивалі «Веселка Полісся» в м. Житомирі та «Квіти Поділля» у м. Городку Хмельницької області. У стат...
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Iнститут мистецтвознавства, фольклористики та етнології iм. М.Т. Рильського НАН України
2014
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| Cite this: | Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes / L.K. Vakhnina // Слов’янський світ: Зб. наук. пр. — К.: ІМФЕ ім. М.Т. Рильського НАН України, 2014. — Вип. 12. — С. 174-182. — Бібліогр.: 6 назв. — англ. |
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| citation_txt | Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes / L.K. Vakhnina // Слов’янський світ: Зб. наук. пр. — К.: ІМФЕ ім. М.Т. Рильського НАН України, 2014. — Вип. 12. — С. 174-182. — Бібліогр.: 6 назв. — англ. |
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| description | Фольклорна культура поляків України вперше отримала справжнє відродження в Україні на початку 90-х років ХХ ст. Протягом багатьох років з ініціативи Спілки поляків України майже щороку відбуваються фестивалі «Веселка Полісся» в м. Житомирі та «Квіти Поділля» у м. Городку Хмельницької області. У статті здійснено аналіз сучасного стану фольклорних традицій поляків України в контексті збереження їх ідентичності в умовах негативного впливу сучасних глобалізаційних процесів.
Фольклорная культура поляков Украины впервые получила настоящее возрождение в Украине в начале 90-х годов ХХ в. В течение многих лет по инициативе Союза поляков Украины почти ежегодно проходят фестивали «Радуга Полесья» в г. Житомире и «Цветы Подолья» в г. Городке Хмельницкой области. В статье осуществлен анализ современного состояния фольклорных традиций поляков Украины в контексте сохранения их идентичности в условиях негативного влияния и современных глобализационных процессов.
Folk culture of the Polish Ukraine received the fi rst true renaissance in Ukraine in the early 90th of the XX century. Over the years the initiative of the Union of Poles of Ukraine almost every year such festivals as «Th e Rainbow of Polissya» in Zhytomyr and «Th e Flowers of Podillia» in Horodok (Khmelnitsky region) took place. Th e article analyzes the current state of Polish folk traditions in Ukraine in the context of preserving their identity in terms of the negative eff ects of modern globalization processes.
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174
УДК 39(477=162.1):316.421
L. K. Vakhnina
POLISH FOLK CULTURE OF UKRAINE
IN THE CONTEXT OF CONTEMPORARY
GLOBALIZATION PROCESSES
Фольклорна культура поляків України вперше отримала
справжнє відродження в Україні на початку 90-х років ХХ ст.
Протягом багатьох років з ініціативи Спілки поляків України
майже щороку відбуваються фестивалі «Веселка Полісся» в
м. Житомирі та «Квіти Поділля» у м. Городку Хмельницької області.
У статті здійснено аналіз сучасного стану фольклорних традицій
поляків України в контексті збереження їх ідентичності в умовах
негативного впливу сучасних глобалізаційних процесів.
Ключові слова: поляки, фольклорна культура, ідентичність,
глобалізаційні процеси.
Фольклорная культура поляков Украины впервые получила
настоящее возрождение в Украине в начале 90-х годов ХХ в. В течение
многих лет по инициативе Союза поляков Украины почти ежегодно
проходят фестивали «Радуга Полесья» в г. Житомире и «Цветы
Подолья» в г. Городке Хмельницкой области. В статье осуществлен
анализ современного состояния фольклорных традиций поляков
Украины в контексте сохранения их идентичности в условиях
негативного влияния и современных глобализационных процессов.
Ключевые слова: поляки, фольклорная культура, идентичность,
глобализационные процесс ы.
Folk culture of the Polish Ukraine received the fi rst true renaissance in
Ukraine in the early 90th of the XX century. Over the years the initiative
of the Union of Poles of Ukraine almost every year such festivals as
«Th e Rainbow of Polissya» in Zhytomyr and «Th e Flowers of Podillia» in
Horodok (Khmelnitsky region) took place. Th e article analyzes the current
state of Polish folk traditions in Ukraine in the context of preserving their
identity in terms of the negative eff ects of modern globalization processes.
Keywords: Poles, folk culture, identity, globalization processes.
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
175
Th e research of national communities belongs to the prior directions
almost in the whole sphere of humanities nowadays. First, it is the
focus of interest for historians, sociologists, and political scientists. Th e
whole complex of questions connected with the culture of each ethnos,
both in the historical aspect and in its current functioning, remains
important as well. It is the cultural traditions, both the folk and the
professional ones that suff ered most from the ruinous infl uence of
totalitarianism, when the mentality of a nation as well as its national
consciousness and self-identifi cation had no right to exist.
Th e Stalinist period was tragic for the Poles of the former USSR
and especially of Ukraine that was then its part as to the scope
of repressions and genocide. Many people that inhabited its land
suff ered mass deportations, some of them were deported almost
totally just like the Crimean Tatars and the Germans. Th e Poles were
perhaps the fi rst people in this tragic Stalinist experiment. It was in
the districts of Kazakhstan, where once «120 thousand person from
the Zhytomyr region were deported, only as a consequence of mass
deportations of the Poles that had begun in the 30s thus, the Polish
population decreased in Ukraine from more than 1 million to 300
thousand. It was not occasionally that according to the defi nition
of the researcher M. Ivanov the Polish people entered the history as
«the fi rst punished people» [1].
All the complex functioning of the Polish culture in Ukraine in
this respect was destroyed and suff ered irreparable losses that even
now, under the conditions when all national minorities, owing to
the support of the creation and the formation of the Ukrainian
independent state, are enjoying processes of revival, are very
diffi cult to restore, as a series of generations suff ered assimilation
and even lost the knowledge of the native tongue.
Th e tragic end of those events was predestined with the very
system of the «communist» society and the epoch of Stalinism,
when the realization of human rights was rigorously restricted,
as the rights for the place of settlement, for the choice of work,
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
176
for culture and education. Some rights, such as the right of free
confession etc, were absolutely out of the question. Its echo was to
be heard still in the 70-es and 80-es, when its new refl ection was
found in the image of the «united soviet people». In that time some
monuments of culture and cult buildings were destroyed, and there
was not even a word as to the reopening of schools for the Polish
minority of the Ukraine. Th e only school with the Polish language
of teaching existed traditionally in Lviv.
Both the Poles and the other minorities began to express
themselves only in the years of the so-called «Gorbachev
reconstruction» at the end of the 80s. Th en they began to create the
fi rst cultural-educational organization according to the national
principle. Such a uniting, consolidating center was the Union of
the Poles of Ukraine that had achieved the tenth anniversary of
its foundation in August 1988 [2]. It was under its auspices and
with the support of the state, that the fi rst Ukrainian newspaper
«Dziennik Kijowski» in Polish appeared as a supplement to «Th e
Voice of Ukraine». Now it is published as a bimonthly. In these years
the magazine «Krynica» appeared, and in 1997 the fi rst book from
the series «Th e Library of the Union of Poles of Ukraine» appeared.
It was a bilingual Ukrainian-Polish edition in the Chief Specialized
edition of literature of the languages of national minorities of
Ukraine under the title «How diffi cult it is to be a Pole!». Th is
edition was dedicated to the memory of the fi rst president of the
Union of Poles of the Ukraine Stanislav Shalatski [5].
Owing to his initiative, Union of the Poles of Ukraine in Kyiv
started to create various circles and courses of the Polish language.
One ought to say that it was the educational activity, which became
defi nitive for the Union of the Poles. It was not accidental that at
fi rst it was called the Polish cultural-educational society. Th e whole
families started to study Polish language at Sunday schools. Such
an educational activity spread all over Ukraine to the places, where
there were branches of the Union of the Poles of Ukraine or of
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
177
other Polish organizations that were created later – the Federation
of Polish Organizations with the Polish House in Kyiv, in Lviv,
Khmelnitsky, Zhytomyr, Winnytsia, Kamianets-Podilsk, Horodok
and other Ukrainian cities.
A worse situation was observed at the regions of compact and
mixed settlement of the Polish community in the rural locality. Not
all the inhabitants of villages used the Polish language as the active
language of communication, but the folklore traditions and prayers
were still preserved in their memory. Th e texts of the folk songs
were oft en rewritten in the Cyrillic alphabet.
Some of them were sent to us from the leader of the folk
ensemble from the village Susly from the Novohrad-Volynsk
region, Antonina Shchyrska, who apologized in her letter for not
having an opportunity to study Polish language at school.
Such a phenomenon seems to us to be of a signifi cant order
because many a settlement in Ukraine even today, when under the
rule of the independent Ukrainian state, all the nationalities have
got their constitutional right of education.
Now the problems of culture and education are being solved
at the state level. To arrange the system of education in the Polish
language – both facultative and class study of the native tongue,
history, and culture – a bilateral covenant between the ministries of
education of the Ukraine and Poland was signed. A great assistance
is also granted by such organization as «Wspolnota Polska» (Th e
Polish Community) that protects the fate of the Poles that are
dispersed all over the world.
It was Lublin that became the center of the yearly summer courses
for the teachers, the leaders of music ensembles, and choreologists,
where the teachers from Ukraine improve their pedagogical and
linguistic qualifi cation every year as well.
Th e same can be said about the Ukrainian students and pupils,
a youth of non-Polish origin, who see their future in the common
European homeland.
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
178
In the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture
special departments for the matters of the national minorities have
been created. An extremely high support for the circles of the Polish
national community has been granted also by the Committee for the
Nationalities and Migrations. With its support the Federation of the
Polish Organizations of Ukraine has conducted the International
scientifi c conference «Th e Polish culture in the life of the Ukraine»
(November 7–8th, 1997, Kyiv).
Th e educational work is present also almost at all forms of
activity of the Polish national communities’ organizations. It is
not accidental that at the Adam Mickewicz Library in Kyiv they
created the Adam Mickewicz Cultural-Educational society. Th e
library itself has become a constant studying place for the students
of the junior high school No.48 in the city of Kyiv with the Polish
language of teaching. Th e students of the International Relations
Department of the Slavic University accomplish their referential
practice work concerning the Polish periodicals here too.
Th ere were also the courses of the Polish language at the Polish
House in Kyiv. Th e amateur movement of Poles in Ukraine has
begun to develop among those Poles who inhabit the regions of
compact settlements. It bears clear witness of the revival of Polish
language and culture. It is already many a year that due to the
initiative of the Union of the Poles of the Ukraine the yearly festivals
«Th e Rainbow of Polissya» and «Th e Flowers of Podillya» take place
in Zhytomyr and in the city of Horodok of the Khmelnitsky region.
Last year the fi rst festival of the Polish culture took place in Lviv. All
over the Ukraine one observes the multiplication of the amateur
folk ensembles, both of dance and song. Th e Polish language and
the Polish culture are becoming the incarnation of their self-
identifi cation. Unfortunately, it is not each of such ensembles that
promote building circles for studying the Polish language.
A sample of such a linkage between educational and musical
activity may be the ensemble of the ancient music «Canticles».
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
179
Another sample of education of the school youth in such a mood
are the Kyiv ensembles «Jaskółki» of Slavonic University (led by
the deserved worker of Arts of the Polish Republic, the soloist
of the Kyiv Opera Victoria Radik) and «Pierwiosnek» (led by
Boleslav Krasnopolski). One ought to notice that the quantity of
the children’s ensembles is growing steadily. A favorable factor as to
the mastering of the Polish language itself may be the assimilation
of the texts of Polish songs as well as concert tours to Poland or
the participation in the festivals and traditional concerts that take
place on the Day of the 3rd May Constitution, or on the Holiday
of Independence of Poland in the Teachers’ House in Kyiv or in
the Zhytomyr philharmonics. Such events fi ll the vacuum within
the education of the Polish language for the persons of the Polish
nationality or the mixed families that is, unfortunately, still present
in the regions of the compact settlements of the Polish community.
In particular, such a situation takes place in the Zhytomyr district,
which not only enjoys the revival of the Polish culture but also,
according to our opinion, has become the area of the formation
of their self-consciousness expressing itself in the events of the
kind [3; 6].
It is promoted with the eff orts of the Ukrainian independent
state that enlivens their contacts with their historical homeland
that begins to protect them. It is evident that it was just Zhytomyr
that the President of the Polish Republic Aleksander Kwasniewski
chose as the place of his meeting with the Poles while visiting the
Ukraine in 1997.
Th e Polish-Ukrainian connections enjoy today a particular
moment of their maximal favorable degree in all the spheres. Our
cultures fi nd new forms of expression, of the mutual learning and
of mutual understanding.
Since February 1999, the Polish institute in Kyiv has begun
to work actively. It is led by the fi rst secretary of the Embassy of
the Polish Republic in Ukraine, Mr. Piotr Kozakevich. Its activity
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
180
has already found favorable responses both among the Ukrainian
intellectuals and the representatives of the Polish community. It
will surely have positive consequences in the development of the
Ukrainian-Polish and Polish-Ukrainian cultural relationships.
Th e future of our countries and peoples depends essentially
upon the situation of the Polish ethnos of Ukraine. It depends
upon the fact whether all its representatives (as well as all the
other peoples that inhabit the Ukrainian territory) feel as the full
right citizens, whether they will be able to enjoy their rights and
in particular the right of education in their native tongue, and of
the development of culture and identifi cation. Th e same concerns
the rights and contemporary status of the representatives of the
Ukrainian community in Poland.
For the newly independent states that emerged on the territory
of the former USSR the problem of the interethnic relations is an
essential factor for creating models of a new democracy, where
an important place belongs to the ethnic and cultural traditions
of various communities. Positive consequences of the building of
such models have been achieved now in Hungary where, in the city
of Bekeschaba, international scientifi c conferences on the problems
of state building have become a tradition.
For Ukraine, as for the newly independent state that survived the
period of the formation of democratic institutions, the realization
of the experience of a multicultural society is possible. Th e manifold
picture of religious, linguistic, cultural and ethnic traditions is not
an obstacle for mutual coexistence of various national groups within
the borders of a common area that would be void of contradictions.
It can be a uniting factor.
Th e problem of international relations, which is immediately
connected with the above-mentioned topics, requires new
investigations and new elucidation because until recently it was
misinterpreted, being subject to these or those political realities.
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
181
Special attention should be paid to the problem of the national
identifi cation within the context of the Polish culture and the legal
questions of each ethnic community with the dependence of social,
family and cultural status of their representatives.
All the complex of the interrelations that stretches from the
rights of national communities to their concrete participation in
daily and customary life remains important in this respect. A model
can be the relation of the state structures and the representatives
of various ethnic communities, whose interests must be protected
with the corresponding civil organizations created according to the
national features, like for example the Union of Poles of Ukraine.
Interethnic marriages can here also play a positive role where family
traditions have to become a warrant of the protection of linguistic
and cultural values against the assimilation and destruction from
outwards.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Iwanow M. Pierwszy naród ukarany. Polacy w Związku Radzieckim 1921–
1939 (The fi rst punished People. The Poles in the Soviet Union). – Warszawa ;
Wroclaw, 1991.
2. Kupczak J. Polskie Stowarzyszenia Kulturalno-oświatowe (stan z 1990 r.).
Mniejszości polskie i Polonia w ZSRR. – Ossolineum, 1992. – S. 251–264.
3. Pid odnym nebom. Folklor etnosiw Ukrainy (Under the common sky.
The folklore of the ethnoses of the Ukraine) / Compiled by L. K. Vakhnina,
L. K. Mushketyk, V. A. Yuzvenko. Kyiv: The main specialized editorial board
for the literature on the languages of national minorities. – Kyiv, 1996.
4. Pieśni ludowe Polaków Ukrainy / Compiled by L. K. Vakhnina. Kyiv: The
main specialized editorial board for the literature on the languages of national
minorities. – Kyiv, 2002.
5. Vakhnina L. The Polish festivals in Ukraine // Jak trudno być Polakiem!
(How diffi cult it is to be a Pole!) / Authorized concept by Jerzy Szałacki. Editor
in chief V. Avksentieva. – Kyiv, 1997.
6. Vakhnina L. Polskie festiwale na Żytomierszczyźnie // Literatura
Ludowa. – 1997. – N. 4–5. – S. 112–117.
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
182
SUMMARY
Traditional folk culture became an important part of the implementation of
ethnic consciousness of Poles in Ukraine, preserved the ethnic terror and repres-
sion of Stalin. Field research of the Rylsky Institute of the Arts, Folklore and
Ethnology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and our work, carried
out over several years in the regions of Central Ukraine, indicates that the vil-
lage remains for Poles living in Ukraine their «little homeland», where folklore
traditions remain. In Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions there are
numerous villages, where folk songs remained the symptom of national identity
of Poles. Unfortunately, in rural areas people of Polish origin are often treated,
especially by local authorities, as the Ukrainian Catholics, once polonized...
Each of these villages can be considered a «small homeland», which combines
social and regional situation, family factors and local individuality.
The amateur movement of Poles in Ukraine began to develop among those
Poles, who inhabit the regions of compact settlements. It bears clear witness of
the revival of the Polish language and culture. By initiative of the Union of Poles
of Ukraine, such folklore festivals as «The Rainbow of Polissya» in Zhytomyr
and «The Flowers of Podillya» in Horodok (Khmelnitsky region) were held for
many years. We observe a big amount of different amateur folk choirs, musi-
cal and dance ensembles all over Ukraine. The Polish language and culture be-
comes the incarnation of their self-identifi cation. Unfortunately, such ensembles
does not promote the studying of Polish language. The mentioned documented
materials have gained a special value for the rebirth of ethnic music nowadays.
These materials became an essential part of some folk ensembles’ repertoire as
the researches worked on this fi eld. The paper examines the contemporary state
of folk, ethnic, educational and cultural traditions of Polish minority in Ukraine
and their changes over the past 10 years compared with earlier investigations.
Keywords: Poles, folk culture, identity, globalization processes.
Переклад з української І. М. Юдкіна
http://www.etnolog.org.ua
|
| id | nasplib_isofts_kiev_ua-123456789-72422 |
| institution | Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |
| issn | XXXX-0051 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-12-01T13:49:45Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Iнститут мистецтвознавства, фольклористики та етнології iм. М.Т. Рильського НАН України |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | Vakhnina, L.K. 2014-12-22T18:43:57Z 2014-12-22T18:43:57Z 2014 Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes / L.K. Vakhnina // Слов’янський світ: Зб. наук. пр. — К.: ІМФЕ ім. М.Т. Рильського НАН України, 2014. — Вип. 12. — С. 174-182. — Бібліогр.: 6 назв. — англ. XXXX-0051 https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/72422 39(477=162.1):316.421 Фольклорна культура поляків України вперше отримала справжнє відродження в Україні на початку 90-х років ХХ ст. Протягом багатьох років з ініціативи Спілки поляків України майже щороку відбуваються фестивалі «Веселка Полісся» в м. Житомирі та «Квіти Поділля» у м. Городку Хмельницької області. У статті здійснено аналіз сучасного стану фольклорних традицій поляків України в контексті збереження їх ідентичності в умовах негативного впливу сучасних глобалізаційних процесів. Фольклорная культура поляков Украины впервые получила настоящее возрождение в Украине в начале 90-х годов ХХ в. В течение многих лет по инициативе Союза поляков Украины почти ежегодно проходят фестивали «Радуга Полесья» в г. Житомире и «Цветы Подолья» в г. Городке Хмельницкой области. В статье осуществлен анализ современного состояния фольклорных традиций поляков Украины в контексте сохранения их идентичности в условиях негативного влияния и современных глобализационных процессов. Folk culture of the Polish Ukraine received the fi rst true renaissance in Ukraine in the early 90th of the XX century. Over the years the initiative of the Union of Poles of Ukraine almost every year such festivals as «Th e Rainbow of Polissya» in Zhytomyr and «Th e Flowers of Podillia» in Horodok (Khmelnitsky region) took place. Th e article analyzes the current state of Polish folk traditions in Ukraine in the context of preserving their identity in terms of the negative eff ects of modern globalization processes. en Iнститут мистецтвознавства, фольклористики та етнології iм. М.Т. Рильського НАН України Слов’янський світ Проблеми сучасної славістики Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes Article published earlier |
| spellingShingle | Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes Vakhnina, L.K. Проблеми сучасної славістики |
| title | Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes |
| title_full | Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes |
| title_fullStr | Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes |
| title_short | Polish Folk Culture of Ukraine in the Context of Contemporary Globalization Processes |
| title_sort | polish folk culture of ukraine in the context of contemporary globalization processes |
| topic | Проблеми сучасної славістики |
| topic_facet | Проблеми сучасної славістики |
| url | https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/72422 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vakhninalk polishfolkcultureofukraineinthecontextofcontemporaryglobalizationprocesses |