Rafal resides in Wroclaw and contacted us by e-mail several weeks ago and writes....
I have visited our mountains. I have been in Poland( Sandecki Beskid with charmfull Krynica kurort) and Slovak Republic (Cerhov Moutains in Bardejov and Stara Lubovla district).Beautifull spring weather with snow, beech forest and colorfull Carpatho-Rusyns villages, for example Kyjov ( beatifull painting houses (chyze)) was the most atractive. When I asked one old womam of a way she said me:
"Lem za tom zelenom chyzom"
It means, "Only behind this green home"
I have a beautifull suprise. I participated in Carpatho-Rusyns festival in Svidnik ( Slovak Republic) last year ( 14 th of June 1995). I have a beautifull Rusyns poems from Slovak paper "Dukla". It is mostly written in our native language.
N.Hvozda from Ladomirova
U BIDNYCH KARPATOCH
U bidnych Karpatoch tu jem sa narodil,
mi dido i nanko
tys s tadi pochodit
Nebyli bohace
byli to bidnaci,
ale byli hordy
ze oni Rusnaci.
Aji moja mama
kotra nia wrodila,
ze ona Rusnacka
tiz sja nehanbila.
Do kerstu na nesli
i kumiv klikali,
do krizmy Rusnacku
narodnost dali.
Aji do mitriky
kazali pisati,
Rusnak jesm sa vrodil
Rusnakom vmerati!
Mene u kociku
mati nevozila,
ale u kolysci bidna
na plecu nosila.
Narodnu spivanku
ona mi spivala
po jednu doserdca
hluboko vkladala.
Ono to tak bylo
toho sa netaju,
i teper nia zovut
menom Nikolaju.
Rafal also passes along...
One week ago I visited Volodyslav Hraban. He is an editor of Lemko's journal "Zahoroda" in Poland. "Zahoroda" is pro Rusyns papers with interesting articules in Carpatho-Rusyns language. Now it is possible to buy a new number of this 3 months journal with cover photo of "Lemko's church in Wojkowa in Nowy Sancz district. The price for USA is 5$. For futher information please contact:
Volodyslav Hraban
39 Stara Droga Street
33-380 Krynica
Nowy Sacz
POLAND
In closing, Rafal says...
I think that it is a good idea to present our people in homeland news from America. The most important problem is that most of our people in homeland have not Internet and don't know English......
Rafal will be translating information from the various areas of the Knowledge Base so that people in the homeland are able to keep up with Rusyn news in America.
This week's message brings us the following:
"42 Swiato Rusiniv i Ukrajinciv Slovacziny"
"42 Festival Carpatho-Rusyns and Ukrainian of Slovak Republic"
The date of this the most important festival is June 14-16 1996. It is placed in a beautiful Rusyns town Svidnik in Slovak Republic. I participated in this fest one year ago and it was really memorable time! You know our people in Slovak Republic live in the ethnic terytory and this fact is the most important! A lot of people from all Carpatho- Rusyns depart of Slovakia (nearly 1000 people) appeared on the scene in the amphitheatre. The variety of the traditional dresses and real playing in the town was characteristic for this days. It was a big pleasure to see our folk groups such as Sarisany with Stepan Vasilenko from Medzilabirce, Makowica from Svidnik and beatiful voice of Natalia Petraszkowa from Humenne. The one song is memorable. This song in our language (in Latin letters) looks like:
"Mam hruszoczku w haju"
Mam hruszoczku w haju weczur pidu na nju (2 x)
I have a pear in the forest and in the evening
I will come there
Szto krasy od krasu frairki ponesu (2x)
From beautifull to beautifull I will bring it my
lover
Mam taku chyzoczku szto barz kolorowyj (2x)
I have colorfull house
Taku frairku mam sama za mnom hodit (2x)
I have lover which go follow me
........ And then appered traditional Rusyns dance..
Mam taku frairku a mi jej ne widno (2x)
I have such a lover, but I don't see her
Lem jej za drazeczkom bosy nozki zimno (1x)
Only it is cold in her barefoot
Mam taku frairku jak szumna roziczka (2x)
I have such a lover as beautifull rose
Lem zaczerwenilo jijo kruhle liczka (2x)
Only her cheeks were red
Jak szumna roziczka jak trawa zelena (2x)
As beatiful rose as green grass
Uz wid toho roczku bude luba zena (2x)
From this year she will be my beloved wife
On the other hand in Svidnik perfomed foreign groups...Rusyns from Yugoslavia , Ukrainian group from Cernihov and Gypsy group too.
It was possible to buy cassetes with our music and visit interesting places :
a) Rusyns Scansen Museum,
b) Museum Rusyns and Ukrainian of Slovak Republic,
c) Dezider Milly Painting Gallery.
I am going to write more about this places.
The first day (Friday) was the international conference about Rusyns , but I came to Svidnik on Saturday after night travel by train ( 600 km from Wroclaw ). This day was a real first day of this festival. People perfomed on street, but the general fest finished lately at night (1 a.m.). The third day was Sunday with the mass in orthodox church in Scansen and traditional folk playing there. The pictures will come soon. Then was the second part of performence in the amphiteatre till afternoon. On Sunday on the scene appeared Rusyns deputes in Slovak Republic, the cultural minister of Ukrainia and the president of town Svidnik. Ukrainian culture minister said that Ukrainian minority has better cultural situation in Slovakia than in Poland, Romania, Belarussia. The president of town Svidnik had speech in Slovak language and this was unnatural becouse all people on scene use Rusyns or Ukrainian language. I didn't wait untill the end of this festival I took the bus to Polish border and came back. On the end I saw colorfull road to border with our villages and wooden churches ( for example in Nizny Komarnik). I thought I must come back there to my homeland to green mountains...
Zyndranova is a small village in Poland (Krosno district) in our homeland near small town Dukla. There is Fedor Gocz museum. One week ago I participated in 42nd Carpatho-Rusyns Festival in Slovak Republic in Svidnik. (More information about this days will come soon). There I meet Fedor Gocz and he gave me the program.
Piate Lemkiwske Swiato w Zyndranowej
The 5th Lemko's Festival in Zyndranowa
This fest will be on June 29-30 1996 in Zyndranowa.
The science-historic conference about Lemko's people.
Opening of the art exibition: sculpture, painting and traditional dresses in a new building. Sightseeing museum and Jewish house.
The traditional fire with with shepherding tradition. The short music concerts with "Lemkowina" , "Lemko-Roma" and Rom's team from Slovak Republic.
The mass in the Orthodox Church.
Welcome guests and music concert with teams from Poland, Slovak Republic and Ukraine.
The Lemko's evening with guests. The end of program end Fest.
It will be the 14th Lemko's festival in Poland "Lemkiwska Watra
96" for a period of time July 19-21 1996. This festival is organized
in a small village Zdynia in Nowy Sancz district. For more information
about program and special events please contact with organizers:
LEKOWSKA WATRA
UL. HALLERA 20/19
33-300 GORLICE
POLAND.
This information is from Ukrainian weekly paper "Nasze Slowo"
from Lemkiwska Storinka (Lemko's Page)
We are looking forward to additional material and photos from Rafal....check here often.
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