Posted by Mirko on October 19, 1999 at 22:08:16:
In Reply to: Re: seeking.rusyn.info posted by Brian on October 19, 1999 at 03:36:23:
: hi mirko. thanks for your time and concern but i really am rusyn.
: it sounds like you have been doing your homework and that is commendable and appreciated but you have something else to learn. you need to realize that there is a difference between nationality and culture. i live somewhere 79 degrees west longitude and 40 degrees north latitude but i dont worship a sun-god or communicate via smokesignals. my culture and my soul is within myself and cannot be contained by the name of the place i happen to be in.
: the czechoslovakian boundary lines were made in homestead, pa in 1918 or 1919. what does that say about the sense of these boundaries? if you ask my opinion, i feel that the situation was ridiculous and the ones in charge were not well informed. (just like your OPINION of me being a ukrainian.)
: also, how can you explain rusyns speaking a different language, rusyns from slovakia, different style easter eggs, or the 19% of the people who voted on this ukrainian site(that most rusyns do not know exists)?
:
: i am posting messages here to learn about my heritage and yes, to hear the opinions of others. so with that in mind, i again thank you for your reply. i also apologize if i seemed rude in the above comments. i do not mean to make trouble just to discuss a topic that i take seriously.
::Hi Brian! In case you missed my point, being Ukrainian, I am, in fact, a Rusyn, the proper, and historical name for our nationality. I long for the day that I can call myself that without having to explain, no, I am not Russian. When "Russians" decide to revert to their historical roots as Muscovites, this semantic nuisance will disappear. I am an ex-Torontonian, living in Vancouver, so of course I speak a 50 year old version of the Lviv dialect. I have about as much difficulty with speakers of today's eastern dialects of Ukrainian as I would have with yours. I love both! They add color & spice to language. (ever hear a Newfoundlander speak English? or for that matter a South Caroliner, or a Georgia peach?) My grandmother had no confusion as to Rusyn/ Ukrainian: they were synonymous. Historically, the term Uk raine had a geographic meaning, more than an ethnic one, (it usually designated what is now Central & Eastern Ukraine). My favorite "Ukrainian" march, "Chervona Kalyna" sung by Western Ukraine's Sichovi Stril'tsi says "....vyzvolyaty bratiw ukrainciw, z moskovs'kykh kaidan...." referring to those east of wherever, Zbruch? as ukrainci, yet they themselves were called Ukrainski Sichovi Stril'ci. (a Ukrainian, historically was a Rusyn living in Ukraine, whatever land that conception of a Ukraine happened to occupy.)Think of these terms in relationship to the term Yankee. Within the USA it's a northerner. Ouside the USA it's any American! Welcome fellow Rusyn-Ukrainian, your family is a little bigger than you thought! (PS, I make Easter Eggs too, in various styles)
: please respond. -Brian