Гори наші Карпати. Лемківська пісня. Hory nashi Karpaty (Our Carpathian mountains). Ukrainian Lemko song. In Lemko dialect of Ukrainian language. By Anychka. Lemko folk dress and culture. Lemkos are western group of Ukrainian highlanders, actually they are the westernmost Ukrainians. Their original homeland is in what is now south eastern corner of Poland but unlike Poles they are Orthodox / or Greek-Catholic Christians and speak Ukrainian dialect. Most of them (105.000) have been forcefully deported by Polish authorities into western areas of Ukraine, while Poles from western Ukraine were deported into their lands instead. It was Ukrainian Lemko tragedy - "ethnocide". A few misguided (or rather ignorant) Polish & American citizens (not in Ukraine) of Lemko descent claim they are not Ukrainian and say they belong to a separate "Rusyn" nation (by this, they steal name Rusyn from Ukrainians, as term Rusyn (noun) is old name for Ukrainian be it from Dnieper or Galicia / Bukovyna, which in early 20th century was substituted with a term Ukrainian, a forced move to differentiate ourselves from Muscovites (group of a different genetic, linguistic and cultural composition) after those adopted Russian (Russkiy, adjective) as a selfname. All Ukrainians called themselves Rusyns / noun (except Russians who even today use only an adjective form russkiy a a selfname) in the past, not just Lemkos. This problem applies to only to a foreign individuals (often amon them are rootless Americans who cant even speak Ukrainian / Lemko), it is not found among Lemkos in Ukraine, who entirely identify as Ukrainians and are among the staunchest patriots of Ukraine. By chosing a separted identity these Polish and American citizens are doomed into assimilation / self destruction (if not already assimilated / polonized / slovakized) as it is impossible to maintain any sort of a stateless national life for a group of a scattered individuals living abroad wwithout even a homeland (as Poles forcefully deported most of Lemkos (bcs they viewed them as Ukrainians) into Ukraine during "population exchange" (Action Vistula in late 1940s) when also Poles from west Ukraine were deported back to Poland. Note, that Lemko dialect is little different from Ukrainian (but a few words). My advise for those Polish and Slovak citizens of Lemko descent, if you wish to survive and preserve Lemko / Ukrainian language & culture stick to Ukrainian mainstream, as only we whom God granted state (biggest in Europe) and can make it through into the future. Hutsuls for example (being even more distinct from the rest of Ukrainians than Lemkos are) thrive very well in Ukrainian community, but also Lemkos do (Lemko "heretics" are only to be found among certain Polish & American citizens as I told). Both cultures are becoming popular in Ukraine bcs of their originality. Each group of Ukrainian highlanders (Lemkos, Boykos, Hutsuls) each have distinct genetics (Boyko and Hutsul genetics are not Slavic, miles part from Slavs) but nevertheless they all speak forms of Ukrainian and identify as Ukrainians (Itanian Sardianians are also miles aprt from Italians but they are Italians anyway, so are Kaszubs and Gorals among Poles, Jaszok (Jasses) & Kunok (Cumans) among Hungarians arent originally Magyars but got merged with Hungarians). Rusyns (Ukrainians) of Vojvodina (north Serbia) in majority are not Lemkos. These are peasant immigrants from west Ukraine (Austrian rule, West Ukraine and Vojvodina was one empire) - Trancsarpathian or Galician Ukrainians and culturally little different from west Ukrainians. Those just got "isolated" when Ukrainian nationalism was forming in 19th early 20th century and unlike most of Ukrainians who switched name from Rusyn to Ukrainian, "got stuck in the past", also they speak 19th century west Ukrainian dailect just as English immigrants to New Zealnd (New Zealenders) speak 19th century English.

• published: 03 Feb 2013
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