The folk culture and art of Ukrainians are justly considered a part of the most abundant gains of the European cultural inheritance. Diversified genres and perfection of forms, poetic and exquisite lyricism, profound philosophical thought and irrepressible fieriness are defining the colors of the Ukrainian folklore.
For centuries, the unwritten folk account was almost the sole means to epitomize the Ukrainian lifelong experience and embodiment of popular wisdom, world outlook and high ideals. In addition to the most important events in the Ukrainian history starting from the princedom age, folklore reflected and preserved numerous archaic pagan motifs and symbols often hidden under the cover of Christian tradition. Thanks to the folklore heritage, those living today are able to familiarize themselves with the way of life of the remote and not far off generations, their red- and black-letter days filled with magic and fascinating ceremonial rites.
The Ukrainian folklore tradition one could classify into two blocks: music and poetic (songs, dumy (ballads), folk-tunes, etc.) and prose (fairy tales, legends, anecdotes, and so on) forms.
In addition, the music and poetic art is separated into the basic groups: ceremonial folklore, epic and lyrical folk tradition. The ceremonial folklore includes calendar events and domestic ritual songs; the dumy, historical and epic poetry songs belong to the epic group, while the lyrical one contains social and everyday life poetics.
One of the ancient layers of the Ukrainian folklore is incantation, that is, short oral mythological texts used by our ancestors in looking after the house, to avert misfortune or disease, as well as in the field of romance. Both groups of the ritual songs, that is, calendar (koliadky, schedrivky, vesnianky, rusalni, tsarynni, kupalsky and petrichansky, zhnyvasksy) and domestic ritual songs (the ones for marriage and burial rites, and christening) are rated as the oldest examples of the traditional folklore.
The calendar-ceremonial tradition is divided into four cycles commensurable with the seasons.
The most fully represented and applied at present is the winter cycle of the Ukrainian tradition. Primarily, it is the songs dated for Christmas: koliadky (carols) and scenarios for the Christmas Day activities. The winter cycle also include the so-called schedrivky that are structurally similar to koliadky and meant for singing on Christmas Eve. These are especially rich with wishes of happiness, good health and prosperity to the host of the house of attendance.
The so-called vesnianky or hayivky, numerous texts for games played on Easter while leaving the church represent the spring folk tradition. The motifs of nature awakening together with that of sensuality of human body dominate here. These songs accompanied by round dance, a choreographic element, are part of the spring cycle from antiquity, as well as rusalski (water-maid) songs representing the most ancient layer.
Since times immemorial the Kupala celebrations and games fell with Ukrainians to the days of the summer solstice. These holidays were linked with dancing and singing and were of orgiastic character. It originated at the times the cult of the Sun and worshiping of pagan gods Yarylo and Dazhdboha reigned among the grain-grower tribes living on the territory of Ukraine. Later on, already in Christian time these rituals laid over the celebrations of the major religious holidays: the John the Baptist Day and Peter and Paul Day with the petrichanski songs sung during the petrivka, the fasting preceding the later holiday. The major themes of these songs were romance, wedding, and married life.
Obzhynkovi (or reaping) songs are the constituent of the rituals connected with crop harvesting actually crowning the calendar cycle. Although a period of very intensive labor, they marked the end of the tillage year with dominant themes of the obzhynkovi songs being glorification and praise for the masters (the host and hostess) of the house.
Within the complex of ceremonial songs, the domestic ritual songs that attend the rites of passage in a person’s life occupy a highly important place. These are baptizing and wedding songs, as well as the so-called ‘folk hollering’ - a unique phenomenon in the spiritual culture of the Ukrainian people.
A significant feature of the Ukrainian musical and poetic folk art is the immensity and beauty of the epic genres: the historic songs, dumy, ballads, and chronicle songs.
Dumy, the most unfolded vocal and instrumental compositions requiring long training, outstanding talent, and perfect knowledge of traditions, are the most significant piece of the Ukrainian verbal epos. The preceding bylyny, folk epic songs and sagas of heroes, had transformed completely and have preserved only in the European part of Russia. Experts believe dumy have their roots in even older form of lamentations and are telling about the Cossack life, wars waged against invaders, expeditions to the other lands and everyday life of the families that stayed in Ukraine. In the 17th to 19th centuries the so-called kobza-player’s brotherhoods or guilds existed that united the performers of dumy and songs on historical events. The organizations had the charter and regulations of their own, as well as strict subordination and fixed stock of songs or other pieces that a player or company was prepared to perform and the occupation was respectable ssince 17th century.
The newest of the vocal folklore is lyrical songs and their kinds with their coming-to-be taking place in the 16th to 19th centuries. All of them are grouped into two large categories, that is, social and household. The former includes Cossack, recruit, chumak (peasant engaged with transporting and selling salt), hireling and emigrant songs, while the latter are virtually all the songs about family life as well as those that concern private life (songs about love and woman’s hard lot; orphanage, funny chants, lullabies and songs of kids, youth and adults).
Quite curious examples of household vocal lore are also the dance songs (to accompany dancing) and Ukrainian kolomyiky subdivided into groups ‘for chanting’ and ‘for dancing’. Actually, this kolomyika form expanded actively to different genres of folklore, having stricken roots also in professional Ukrainian poetry.
The system of genres of the traditional Ukrainian folklore also comprises dramatic forms (folk theater, vertep (puppet shows)), prose (fables, fairy tales, short stories, anecdotes, narrations, and legends), and gnomic varieties (proverbs, sayings, riddles, wishes, etc.).
Since 17th century, on a Christmas Day performing literate commoners, clerics, pupils, students and church choristers moved a puppet show called vertep from house to house. The performance consisted of two parts: the Christmas events enacted with stable religious and festive plot, and automatically entailing satirical interlude of everyday life; worldly and popular, its story line changed in accord to local situation, historical span and capabilities of the performers themselves.
Ukrainian fairy tale is rooted deeply in the past which evidence is numerous features of mythicized outlook and animistic conception about the world around. The subjects of the Ukrainian fairy tales are extremely diverse. They tell about animals and nature, concern the everyday life, and are humorous, magic and adventurous, with features of archaic consciousness reflected by the fantasies. Despite diversity of story lines all the actions are about marvelous events, ordeals and exploits on the road of gaining a bride. Stories about animals seem somewhat simpler that fairy tales: they are shorter and have satirical or moralistic sounding. The majority of plot lines hark back to the times primordial, to totemistic myths that linked kinship of one or another human community to a common animal totem protecting the clan and embodying the soul of the late ancestor. In contrast to the fairy tales, stories of everyday life emphasized ordinariness of the characters and events. In stories like that, as in all the fairy tales in general, the good always wins, and in contrast to the facts of life a fabulous hero, a poor peasant or hireling, takes the upper hand over his social rival (the rich). At somewhat later phases of development the tales of everyday life took on features of social satire with the spear of it directed at such human vices as stinginess, volubility of women, sloth, adultery, etc.
The latest form of folklore is the student lore and that of informal social groups, as well as aphoristic genres, that is, popular anecdotes, toasts, salutations, and so on. Archaic and ‘classic’ varieties of vocal tradition take a new life in modern arrangements. In the 90s, Victor Morozov, bard, arranged and released an album of the batiarski (vagabond) songs of Lviv; Marichka Burmaka performed the most popular koliadky during the same period, while a decent selection of songs of the insurgents belongs to Taras Chubai and the rock-group Skriabin offered their album of streltsi (infantryman) and insurgent songs. Ukrainian folklore motifs are also addressed such rock-groups as Haidamaky, Mandry, and Perkalaba, etc. The popular rock-group VV and its leader Oleh Skrypka offer their versions of classical folk songs. Pop singer Ruslana produced the Wild Dances album based on Hutsul songs in 2003: the title song of the album brought her the first prize at the 2004 Eurovision song contest. Actors, artists and singers of today are also extensively using folklore motifs and forms not only in the sphere of music but in literature, fine arts and design.
